Recruiting at Rockhampton
ABOVE: Despite being subjected to relentless social, family and peer pressure to enlist in the First AIF during the darkest days of World War I – with stalemate on the Western Front and reams of casualty lists appearing in newspapers every day – perhaps some of these Central Queensland enlistees were persuaded to “do their bit” after hearing Canon Garland at the recruiting rally held in The School of Arts in Bolsover Street, Rockhampton, on the evening of Saturday, 26 May 1917. This photo appeared in “The Queenslander” of 24 November 1917 on page 24, with the caption: “A party of recruits from Rockhampton who recently marched through Brisbane streets to help the volunteer movement”. A report in 6 November 1917 issue of “The Telegraph” (page 5) stated that there were 40 Central Queensland enlistees in this contingent which travelled south in the company of Gallipoli campaign veteran and Rockhampton District Recruiting Officer, Sergeant-Major William Williams, who announced that he was re-enlisting.
RECRUITING MEETING.
SOME TELLING SPEECHES.
A recruiting rally was held in The School of Arts [ Rockhampton ] on Saturday night [ 26 May 1917 ].
The chair was occupied by the mayor, Alderman T.W. Kingel [ Theodore William Kingel ].
There were also on the platform: Mrs. P.J. Symes [ Mrs Philip James Symes ], the Rev. Canon D.J. Garland [ David John Garland ], Lieutenant-Colonel D.D. Dawson [ David Day Dawson ], Major J. Hill, Sergeant-Major W. Williams [ William Williams ], Sergeant W. Webb [ William Alexander Frederick Webb ], and the Rev. Mr. Beasley [ Herbert Cramer Beasley ].
The flags of Britain and her Allies hung from the gallery encircling the lower auditorium. They were interspersed with subordinate bunting, giving a charming effect.
The broad Union Jack was drooped from the top of the proscenium, and the Chairman’s table was spread with the flag of Australia.
The audience was a meagre one. There were not more than 200 people present, and they included more women, girls, children and elderly men than young men.
The Mayor said that he was there to introduce Canon Garland to a Rockhampton audience; but he felt deeply disappointed at there being only a small number to introduce him to.
He had met Canon Garland very often in Brisbane, and very often out at the soldiers’ camp at Enoggera, where Canon Garland had done so much towards giving pleasure to the soldiers that they had come to regard him as the soldiers’ friend, and he was equally good to those going to the Front and to the soldiers already there.
But he would ask Mr. R.F. Duncan [ Robert Farquharson Duncan ] to be the first speaker as Mr. Duncan had another meeting to attend.
Mr. Duncan, who was warmly greeted, said that he had come to this recruiting rally for the sole purpose of adding his voice to those who were about to urge all eligible men in Central Queensland to do their duty and go to the front in the interests of their wives, daughters, sisters, and, in many cases, sweethearts.
“Remember,” emphasised Mr. Duncan, “if we do not win this war, we, as a British nation, go down, down, down, never to rise again.” (Applause.)
It was their duty to fight for the maintenance of the British Empire in its integrity, and especially if they did not desire to see their wives, mothers, sisters, and sweethearts treated as the women in Belgium had been treated, by the ruffians of Prussia. (Applause.)
Wealth and the acquisition of wealth was nothing as compared with their duty to the Empire and to their kith and kin. (Applause.)
Were the men going to squib on their obvious duty? He personally was going on Monday – (Applause.) – and he felt able to go because he could leave his wife and family in good circumstances; but there were many good and brave men in Rockhampton who were not in such circumstances, and who had mothers and others dependent on them and who could not be expected to go away.
But there were others, thousands of others, in Queensland who were squibbing, and they were squibbing, not through fear, but through ignorance.
The fact was they did not know that if the war was not won by Britain and the Allies, Britain would go down – down under the iron heel of Prussian militarism. (Applause.)
“Boys. Men of Rockhampton: read your comrades’ letters, and you will see it is your duty to go and assist them. If you do not you are not comrades of theirs. (Applause.)
“If you see a man down in the street and a lot of others trying to kick him to pieces, you would all rush to his assistance. Well that is the case with your Empire. Are you going to her assistance? If you are, come with me on Monday; and if you are in danger, I will help you; and if I am in danger, I will expect you to help me; and we will stick together and fight together.” (Loud Applause.)
The Mayor said that Canon Garland would now address the meeting. He (the Mayor) would remind them that Mr. Garland’s only son was in the fighting line. (Applause.)
Canon Garland, who was in the uniform of a Lieutenant-Colonel, said that they had been through some period of political turmoil, and he was not sure that Rockhampton had not been in the middle of it. But it had distracted the minds of the people from the only thing that should be paramount in their minds – the ending of the war. (Applause.)
Now that the political turmoil was over, they should devote their minds to the ending of the war as quickly as possible.
He felt that recruiting – and he felt it with shame – was, if not an absolute failure, something very like it.
It made him feel that they were neglecting their boys at the Front. There were two things to be realised, namely, that they were at war and why they were at war or rather what caused the war.
No one would think that they were at war at all by the empty chairs at that meeting. He personally was no puritan in his ideals of life – but – this was no time for theatres, or picture shows, or races.
A voice from the back of the hall: “Why do you not go to the war?”
Canon Garland: “Come out into the open and let us see you! Do not be frightened. Come out!” (After a pause.)
“A man who makes that kind of interjection in the dark and does not come to the front is a shirker, a coward.” (Applause.)
“I have given my only son – and that is the hardest thing a man can do. God did it. He gave His only son for us.” (Loud applause.)
He (Canon Garland) had gone through Australian cities and had seen people hurrying to the races.
They must condemn themselves for, as a community, not going to the war.
What caused the war? Some said “the assassination of the Archduke of Austria”, but such persons would say today that the assassination of the Archduke of Austria was only like a match placed to the train of gunpowder prepared during years of preparation by the German Emperor to dominate the world.
What would that domination be if it came off ? What had it meant in the conquered areas in Belgium and the north of France? It had meant women violated in front of their men folk.
The men folk had been taken out of their homes into the streets and lined up under military guard and the women – mothers, wives, and daughters – had been dragged out and violated by German soldiers one after the other, acting under the direction of their German officer standing by, their agonised men folk looking helplessly on.
When they thought of these outrages and of all the outrages since the war began, not the isolated cases, but the cases which were more numerous than could be detailed – of the more than one case of the baby child skewered on the German soldiers’ bayonet and tossed in the air while the soldiers sang – not the song of hate, but a song of joy; when they thought of these, not as things of the past, but as things which were being experienced in Poland and Servia [ sic ] today; and when they read, as they could, of 300,000 Belgians being driven into slavery in Germany; and when they read the instructions published in the German newspapers telling the people (in regard to those Belgian slaves) to plant the land with food because there was plenty of labour to do the work, they should have enough to think about, enough incentive to do something to stop it all. Oh those wretched slaves!
It was like the slavery practised in the days of ancient history with this exception – the slaves of those days had a money value, and, through that, some found some relief.
Those Belgian, French, Polish, and Servian [ sic ] slaves, however, had no money value. And the Belgian women had been taken to Germany – for what? To help to keep up the population. Could they go on resorting to pleasures while such outrages were going on?
(Cries of “No, no”, and applause.)
There was only one way to applaud, and the women possessed that way – see that there was not a man left there who could go and help to stop it. (Applause.)
It was the duty of all to see that every eligible man was doing his duty.
Some of them might say: “There is no danger in Australia”. Had none of them ever heard of the letter written by a German officer to his Australian wife, a lady whom he had married in Australia when he lived here before the war broke out?
That letter was intercepted. In it he said to his wife: “Get out to where you will be safe. Once we get there, no woman is safe.”
What had saved them from the horror threatened in that letter, from the horrors that had occurred in poor little Belgium? He would tell them.
Poor little Belgium’s gallant and unexpected resistance; their gallant General French with his insignificant force of 160,000 men; the brave French women, who had driven their men to fight, they themselves taking up the men’s tasks that the men might be at liberty to fight; the Japanese navy, that had convoyed the boats carrying commerce to Australia and Australian troops from Australia to the war. (Applause.)
It was a real danger in the early days of the war, and it was not a remote danger today.
Supposing anything unexpected should happen to the British navy, and supposing Russia should withdraw from the war, and the German prisoners in Russia be released, and the German troops on the Russian frontier be taken, with their released comrades, to the western frontier in France?
What would happen? He could tell them that Germany did not want England. She would only want an indemnity from England. But Germany had sixty millions of her people looking for a seaboard, for an outlet. The only outlet was Australia.
Did they in Australia know that the military authorities in Berlin had complete maps of Australia, with every harbour and inlet perfectly outlined; maps that had outlined, not only every hamlet in Australia, but also – what? – every blacksmith’s shop in Australia was known in Berlin!
And every German in Australia was prepared to help to take Australia. And what would be the danger? The Union Jack would cease to fly over them as their insignia and freedom and safety, and its place would be taken by the Black Eagle, the German insignia of outrage, murder, and slavery. (Applause.)
Some of them might say “but we are winning on the Western Front”.
There was something in that, but – not much. The territory taken by Germany totalled 133,450 square miles, and up till July last only 100 square miles had been re-taken by the Allies.
Certainly that was better than being pushed back. There had been some little more captured since then; but what was that? It was doubtful whether the total captured by the Allies totalled the odd 450 square miles.
The opinion expressed by General Sir William Robertson on the 6th of April was this – “Germany had a long start, and it is hard to keep up with her. She is stronger than she was in 1916”.
Britain needed more men before July, before it was too late, in order, with God’s help, to save the freedom for which the war had been undertaken.
So far was Germany from being beaten that she was numerically stronger than ever. In December, January, and February, there was such a falling-off in voluntary recruiting in Australia that the reinforcements for the men in the trenches got a long way behind requirements.
Was “disgrace” too strong a word to use for that? Letters from the Front that were published in the newspapers showed how the boys in the trenches felt the want of reinforcements.
In a few months they in Australia would still hear of a Canadian army and of a New Zealand army; but the Australian army would have ceased to exist and the glory of the Anzacs would have passed away.
In France, on a fighting frontier 500 miles in length the Australians were entrusted with a section three miles only in length.
As the reinforcements failed, the three miles section shortened, and the places of Australians were being taken, not only by New Zealanders, but, in direct destruction of the White Australia policy, by Hindoos [ sic ] from India, whom they would have excluded from Australia, just as they were dependent for protection on the Japanese navy when they would exclude the Japanese from settling in Australia.
As they had seen from the newspapers, they had recruited at Brisbane a number of half-castes from Barambah.
Two months ago the Government had prohibited the enlisting of half-castes; but now it was begging them to enlist.
About three months ago one of the Australian battalions at the Front saw some boys come marching along, and when they saw the Australian hats, they cheered and called out: “You were a long while coming.”
They were Kaffirs. They in Australia who took pride in their White Australia policy were accepting black labour to help their boys at the Front because they wanted help and white help was not forthcoming.
Their Australian army would cease to exist by the end of the year. How was this affecting the boys themselves? The wounded who should have rest had to go back to the Front because of lack of reinforcements.
Those at home here could only blame themselves for shirking.
Here was another way in which the boys at the Front were affected. The English and French ‘Tommies’ were allowed three days’ rest after three days’ fighting; but the Australians were so reduced by lack of reinforcements that they could get only three days’ rest after eight days’ fighting, and they in Australia were fighting and striking for an eight-hour day instead of enlisting. (Cries of “Shame”.)
There were no eight-hours in the trenches. (Applause.)
The doctors used to wonder why the Australians succumbed to enteric, dengue and other fevers quicker than the English and French; but they had since discovered that the mortality was due to longer hours with lack of rest. And there were some wounds they had died of for the same reason.
Was there any sense of shame, any sense of honour, left in Australia? They could cheer and sing in the street and shout “Rule Britannia!”
That was all flam! There was only one place for the man who should be in khaki, namely, to be in khaki. The women could put him there.
In England there were over a million women doing men’s jobs while the men went to the war, and some of the Englishwomen had gone to take men’s jobs in France to let Frenchmen get to the war.
They need not do that in Australia; but they could create an atmosphere that would compel the male creatures who hid behind their petticoats to enlist.
Whom did they wish to be the fathers of their future families? The man who shirked his duty to his country and his women folk, who shirked and hid behind their petticoats? (Applause.)
He (Canon Garland) believed that Australia was worth fighting for, but he was beginning to wonder if some of those “things” in Australia were worth fighting for. (Loud applause.)
Mrs. Symes recited: “We want 300,000 men. Can’t you see that this means you?”
Sergeant-Major Williams said that he spoke as one who had been at Gallipoli and at the Front, and desired to preface his remarks with the announcement that on that evening fortnight they would have the honour of hearing that fine Australian officer, Lieutenant Maurice Little, who had lost the use of both eyes and of one arm and one leg, yet who felt compelled to come out and go on his remaining knee to beg of men to do their duty.
The most important word in the language was ‘Mother’, yet how many were letting their schoolmates go to their mother’s assistance and were themselves standing by doing nothing.
“Look at the theatres tonight, filled with men who liked to be called ‘sports’ – sports of the kind that thought more of their own skins than of their honour and of the duty they owed to their mother.
“The time had come for plain speaking. The man who could stand plain speaking.”
A lady (interjecting): “He is no man.” (Applause.)
Sergeant-Major Williams: “I am glad to hear a lady say that.” (Laughter.)
“There is no shortage of men at the theatre, nor in backing winners, yet there is a war on hand that has cost to date fifty-one billions sterling, or at the rate of £24,000,000 per day.
“And people grudge 2s. 6d. [ two shillings sixpence, equivalent to 25 cents ] subscription to the Red Cross Fund. How much longer could they expect to go on in that way?
“Young Garland, Canon Garland’s son, was now only nineteen years of age, yet he had already been seven months at the war.
“It was not Australia that had done well in this war, but the small band of 300,000 men who had made the honour in which the ‘sports’ of Australia were basking today – basking in the honour that a few true Australians had given their lives for.
“And they were ‘sports’ enough to fall back on the half-caste for the help they were too cowardly to give themselves.” (Applause.)
He, personally, appealed to the married men. He was sick of asking single men. The rates of pay were 5s. [ five shillings, equivalent to 50 cents ] per day for seven days a week with an allowance of 1s. 5d. [ one shilling, five pence, equivalent to 15 cents ] a day for the wife, and 4½d. [ fourpence halfpenny, equivalent to 4.5 cents ] a day for each child until the pay reached 10s. per day. There was also 1s. [ a shilling, equivalent to 10 cents ] a day deferred payment – deferred until the soldier returned home and claimed this useful nest egg.
And the majority did return, the percentage of killed being only five per cent of the whole of the forces. The nest egg might not amount to much; but it proved very useful while a man was deciding to settle down to work.
During his experience of camp life in Egypt and afterwards in the firing line no man ran short of food, but got plenty of the best of everything, even to smokes and his regular daily allowance of rum, and good rum, too.
In hospital the care and attention by doctors and nurses to the sick and wounded was everything that could be desired.
On the way from Gallipoli he was witness to the fact that the doctors and nurses went two and a half days without food through their attending all the time to the suffering wounded on the ship. There was no talk of eight hours there. (Applause.)
They were all too anxious to do their duty. (Applause.)
He was prepared to offer a free trip to any Labour [ sic, Australian Labor Party ] man to France to get to the front and see how he would get on in trying to organise a strike for eight hours. (Applause and laughter.)
He would never forget the remark of an officer in Brisbane to a man to whom he had explained at much length, and by the exercise of great patience, all his arguments and hearsay knowledge against enlisting.
At the conclusion the man feebly remarked “I will consider what you have been telling me,” and the officer rejoined, with pungent irony, “You are a – deep thinker.” (Laughter.)
The man who said “Australia is doing her duty” did not know the meaning of the word “duty”.
As Canon Garland had repeatedly said there should not be one single eligible man left in Australia.
France was bled white of her male population, the women taking their places at home; and in England, a glance at the railways, municipal councils, banks and business houses would show anybody women everywhere doing the work of men, even on the water carts, in order to relieve the eligible for active service.
The sooner men here realised these things the sooner they would go also.
He would make this appeal:– “Is there a man here who will say ‘I will go’? (There was no response.)
“You can have from two to three months to fix up your business affairs. The sooner you realise what is your duty the better it will be.” (Applause.)
Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson said that they were all pleased to hear that Mr. Duncan’s last act in his own city was an appeal to men to follow him.
Canon Garland had come at great inconvenience to tell them things that must have startled them – things that he, as an officer, would not have dared to tell them if they had not been true.
Unless reinforcements came forward, one of two things must happen – the Australian Imperial Forces at the Front would cease to exist altogether, or would cease to be Australian.
He would never forget how, when he arrived at Gallipoli, the Seventh Infantry Battalion had to take the place of four battalions composed of Australians, New Zealanders and Maoris at Upper Cheshire, Lower Cheshire, and The Apex. Some of the relieved men had to stay behind to show the new arrivals round.
But he would never forget the things he saw amongst those brave men when they found that at last they were to be relieved.
Their nerves relaxed, and, in many instances, they had to be carried out of the trenches. That kind of thing was happening in France today, and men in hospitals in England and France had to be hurried back to the firing line directly they could be declared fit.
Yet there were in Australia today 1,200,000 men, and Australia could well spare a few hundreds – nay, a few thousands – of them, and the women could do what the women in England and France had done to let the men get away.
He backed up what Sergeant-Major Williams had said. There should be 500,000 men ready now to go to the Front.
He hoped the inspiring words of Canon Garland would be taken to heart by the boys of Rockhampton. He had much pleasure in moving a hearty vote of thanks to the Canon. (Loud and prolonged applause.)
Canon Garland said that he was pleased at their appreciation; but the best way in which they could show it would be by going out and getting recruits.
He had pleasure in moving a vote of thanks to the Mayor, who had given his time down in camp as he (Canon Garland) could testify.
He congratulated the people of Rockhampton on having such a Mayor. One whom he wished a happy and lengthy term of office. (Applause.)
The proceedings were brought to a close by the singing of the National Anthem.
Canon Garland held a soldiers’ mission service in The Theatre Royal [ Rockhampton ] on Sunday.
The Mayor presided. The Rev. Mr. Beasley was also on the stage.
The organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Mr. F. Crawford, acted as accompanist at the piano, assisted by Mr. R.B. Baillie [ Robert Baillie ] on the violin.
The vocal numbers included “Lord, I Believe”,” sung by Mr. W. Deakin; “Behold I Stand”, sung by Mr. G.H. Mackay; and “Onward, Christian Soldiers”, “Nearer, my God to Thee”, and “Jesu, Lover of My Soul” by the assemblage. Mr. Baillie played the solo “Legende” (Wieniawski) on the violin.
A prayer by Canon Garland, followed by The Lord’s Prayer, in which all joined, prefaced a sermon explanatory of the existence of human responsibilities to the Supreme Being freely illustrated in the lives of the greatest and best human intelligences that had existed and still existed.
A prayer and hymn concluded the service.
– from page 5 of “The Rockhampton Bulletin” of 29 May 1917.
