Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 105
Sudan
In February 1885, the English General Gordon was killed by fanatical
local Arab tribesmen at Khartoum in the Sudan, south of Egypt in
Africa. The newspapers carried emotional stories of Gordon’s bravery
in the face of impossible odds, and of his heroic death. General
Gordon, a ‘Boys’ Own’ hero, whose last message—‘Gordon fears
nothing, for God has created him without fear’—was a source of
inspiration for young Australians. There is a statue of him in Spring
Street, Melbourne.
Throughout the colonies there was a desire to avenge the death
of Gordon. New South Wales sent 500 infantrymen by March that
same year. The send-off was a huge celebration and public spectacle
that attracted wide newspaper coverage. Not all Australians agreed
with participation—some saw it as militarism (use of weapons and
force to gain power) run mad and unpatriotic ‘to shoot Arabs,
negroes, Abyssinians or Egyptians indifferently at 5 shillings a day’. At
an emotional public meeting, Prime Minister Edmund Barton expressed
the loyalty and fears of many when he said, ‘When the time of trouble
comes and we do not stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow
subjects of Great Britain, can we expect them to do so for us?’
Australian colonies would continue to support Britain as they
relied on Britain’s forces and power for their defence.
1
Draw a table setting out the reasons for and against sending men to fight in
the Sudan in 1885.
For
2
Against
Write a short postcard home explaining why you have volunteered to go and
fight in the Sudan. You could begin, ‘I’m off to fight in the Sudan, Father …’.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 105
The Boer War
The British wanted to assert their presence in South Africa and were
fighting against the Boers (people with a Dutch background) for
control of South Africa.
The Boer War started in 1899 and the first troops left Australia
that year. Sixteen thousand Australians fought in the Boer War and
588 were killed or died of disease by the war’s end in 1902.
It was not until after Federation that a national force, the
Australian Commonwealth Horse, left to join the fight. That year
Barton asserted in parliament that, ‘the Empire is one nation, and if so
much as one quarter is attacked, so is another’.
Australian soldiers were under British command and there were
many problems. The British seriously underestimated the Boers, who
fought in a way that was not covered in the army textbooks of the
time. The Boers wore no uniform, they did not march in straight
columns, and they did not carry out large frontal assaults. A new type
of soldier, the Boers were a civilian force, defending their homeland
and fighting on territory that they knew well. This is called guerrilla
warfare.
The Australians were quick to adapt to the fighting. Many of the
soldiers who went to South Africa were experienced bushmen who
rode well and were used to the heat and harsh conditions. They
gained a reputation for their resourcefulness; however, their discipline
was not all that the British officers expected.
The Boer War produced another imperial hero, Lord Baden-Powell,
who was later to found the Boy Scouts’ movement. A regiment under
Baden-Powell was surrounded by the Boers at Mafeking, but they held
out for six months until another force arrived to rescue them. When
the news of the relief of Mafeking reached Melbourne, there was a
public holiday in celebration.
1
What motivated the Boers in the war?
2
What qualities of the Australians made them successful soldiers in South
Africa?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
3
Rephrase in your own words, Barton’s reasons for supporting both the Sudan
expedition and involvement in the Boer War. What were the main factors
influencing his view?
4
Find out what the valuable natural resources of South Africa were over
which the British wished to retain control.
‘The Breaker’ b roken
Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant, a lieutenant, was charged with executing
Boer prisoners-of-war without authority. He was executed for this
crime, along with Lieutenant Peter Hancock. Morant claimed that he
was following the unwritten orders of his superior officer; however,
that officer had been killed and the British commander Lord Kitchener
would not admit that there had been any orders, official or unofficial,
about taking no prisoners. Incredibly, the execution was not reported
in Australia until after the event; even the prime minister was not
informed.
Conflict over British authority and the Australian soldiers’
dissatisfaction with British leadership led to other interpretations of
the lieutenants’ executions. George Witton, who was also charged but
sentenced to life imprisonment, implied in his version of the events
that they had been punished for carrying out orders that the British
were not willing to acknowledge. Witton’s account of Breaker Morant’s
execution, Scapegoats of Empire (1907), was developed into a novel
by Kit Denton in 1973 (The Breaker), upon which the 1980 film
Breaker Morant was based.
Morant was viewed as a victim of the conflict between Australian
soldiers and the British leadership. This was also to be a marked
feature of the World War I, in which Australian soldiers were not
always prepared to accept the rigid discipline of British officers.
Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant wrote poems for the Bulletin and was
married for a time to Daisy Bates, who was famous for her work with
Aboriginal peoples (see page 199).
5
For what crime were Morant and Hancock executed?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
6
What was their defence and why was it unsuccessful?
7
What treatment is expected to be given to prisoners-of-war?
8
Why would the British not admit that there were orders to ‘take no
prisoners’?
9
Whitton’s book was entitled Scapegoats of Empire. Explain why Breaker
Morant could be called a ‘scapegoat’ of the Empire.
Incompetent leadership
During the Boer War, the Australian war correspondent AG Hales
wrote that the British officers ‘looked on, and puffed their cigarettes
and talked twaddle under their eye-glasses—the fools, the idle,
empty-headed noodles’. The British command demonstrated
incompetence in a number of areas, including poor camp organisation,
lack of forward planning, not having accurate maps, and bad
sanitation leading to unnecessary casualties.
In the Boer War, baggage taken by the officers on active service
might well include pianos, long-horned gramophones, chests of
drawers, polo sticks and, in the case of the commander-in-chief,
General Sir Redvers-Buller, a portable iron bathroom and a wellequipped kitchen.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Of the tens of thousands of soldiers who passed through the
hospitals, only five per cent of the cases were caused by wounds. The
most common illnesses were typhoid and dysentery (diseases that
cause fever and debilitating diarrhoea)—the result of contaminated
food and water.
10
What caused 95 per cent of cases of hospitalisation during the Boer War?
11
Comment on the behaviour of the British generals during the Boer War. In
what areas and to what extent can their conduct be criticised?
Australian attit udes
In Australia support for the Boer War was not unanimous. Like Barton,
many accepted duty to the Empire and felt pride in the performance
of the colonial troops, but others saw it as a dirty imperialist war. In
October 1899, Labor politician William Morris Hughes said in the New
South Wales parliament, ‘we are … going to commit acts of shameful
immorality and the grossest injustice’. Henry Lawson wrote to the
Bulletin ‘some of us are willing—wilfully, blindly eager, mad!—to cross
the sea and shoot men whom we never saw and whose quarrel we do
not and cannot understand’.
12
What criticisms were made of Australian involvement in the Boer War?
13
What values or views about war are reflected in these criticisms?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
14
Working historically worksheet
Considering both Sudan and the Boer War, what motivated Australian
involvement in these conflicts? Address both the interests of the Australian
colonies and why young Australian men would be willing to fight in Africa.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 115
Troops’ preparation for the landing
Before the landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula, the army asked its
brigade commanders to check that the following task were carried out
by their units:
•
kit inspections were made frequently
•
water bottles were kept clean
•
men were wearing identity discs
•
bayonets had been sharpened
•
saddling up and harnessing had been practised in the dark
•
loading and unloading vehicles had been practised in the dark
•
the men had also practised in the dark:
– sitting in trenches
– digging
– bayonet handling
– carrying machine guns and ammunition for long distances
•
the soles of boots had sprig nails to make marching in grass
and mud easier
‘The One Day of the Year’, Circular Memo No. 18 to
Officers Commanding Brigade Units—Evidence Sheet 4
1
What is set out in the orders above?
2
Name five things you would check if you had to inspect the men in a unit.
3
List the items that were taken to support the attack.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
4
From the orders, what would you guess about the time set for attacking the
enemy?
5
What aspects of the training would have helped the soldiers in the landing?
6
Consider this instruction: ‘saddling up and harnessing had been practised in
the dark’. What does this tell about the plans for the landing?
7
How would this source be useful to an historian studying the Gallipoli
landing?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 116
Inscription at Anzac Cove
Mustafa Kemal was the Turkish commander in the area. His brilliant
leadership on the first day steadied the retreating Turkish troops.
Throughout the campaign he was an inspirational leader. After the
war, in 1923, he was elected the first president of Turkey. He was
given the title Atatürk, which means ‘Father of the Turks’. In 1934 he
erected a plaque above Anzac Cove with the inscription:
Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives …
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours …
You, the mothers,
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears;
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well.
Quoted in J King & M Bowers, Gallipoli: Untold Stories from War Correspondent Charles
Bean and Front-line Anzacs, A 90th anniversary tribute, Doubleday, NSW, 2005, p. 299.
1
Who are the ‘Johnnies’ and the ‘Mehmets’?
2
Rewrite Atatürk’s message in your own words.
3
Atatürk wrote these words 20 years after the war. What do you think
motivated his sentiments?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
4
How might an Australian visiting the war graves in Turkey feel in response
to these words?
5
In pairs, write an interview with Atatürk asking him about the importance of
Gallipoli to his nation and his reasons for erecting the plaque.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 122
First news report in Australia
of Gallipoli
AUSTRALIANS IN ACTION
THEIR BAPTISM OF FIRE
‘SPLENDID GALLANTRY’
‘MAGNIFICENT ACHIEVEMENT’
Message from British Minister
A GLOWING TRIBUTE
GALLIPOLI THE SCENE OF ACTION
The Australian troops have been in action,
and they have, in their first encounter with
the enemy, more than realised the highest
hopes. They have, indeed, covered themselves
with glory. The welcome news, dissipating a
veil that had hung over the movements of
troops for some weeks, was received yesterday
in the following cablegram to the LieutenantGovernor, Sir John Madden, from the Secretary
of State for the Colonies:‘His Majesty’s Government desires me to
offer you its warmest congratulations on the
splendid gallantry and magnificent
achievement of your contingent in the
successful progress of the operations at the
Dardenelles.’
The Age, Friday 30 April 1915
1
What format is the source?
2
How long did it take for news of the landing to be published in Australia?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
3
What aspect of the action has been emphasised?
4
Why do you think such prominence was given to the cablegram from the
Secretary of State for the Colonies?
5
Comment on the detail and accuracy of the cablegram.
6
What influences the attitude to events in wartime?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 133
Voluntary enlistment
Figures for voluntary enlistment
Period
Enlisted
Aug–Dec 1914
52 561
Jan–Dec 1915
165 912
Jan–Dec 1916
124 355
Jan–Dec 1917
45 101
Jan–Nov 1918
28 883
Total
416 812
Served overseas
331 781
Australian War Memorial, Canberra
1
Draw a column graph to present these figures. (Begin the vertical scale at 0.
Use a scale that shows the highest and lowest figures clearly.)
2
In which period were enlistments the highest?
3
In which period were enlistments the lowest?
4
Explain why the first and last periods are not whole years.
5
Why do you think enlistments were much higher in 1915?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
6
Enlistments were also high in 1916. Give reasons to explain this.
7
Why were the figures lower in 1917 and 1918? Consider not only the war
situation but also the factors that affected enlistment in Australia.
8
How useful are these figures in understanding the call for conscription in
Australia in 1916 and 1917?
9
What were the major factors influencing the number of men enlisting?
10
Draw a graphic representation to show the variation in enlistment during the
war. Annotate it with captions to highlight major campaigns and other
influential events.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 134
Conscription
The comments below show the views and attitudes of the two sides in
the conscription debate at the time.
Yes
No
Australia should support the Empire.
It is a dirty trade war in which
Australia has no part.
We need a negotiated peace to stop
the fighting.
All wars are civil wars—brother
against brother.
Sending more men will only prolong
the fighting.
Jesus Christ preached forgiveness
and the brotherhood of all men.
If we send the men away there will be
an influx of coloured labour—keep
Australia white until the boys come
home.
The wealthy classes would be very
glad to send the last man but have no
intention of sending the last shilling.
Too much militarism—too many boys
have died already. Why conscript
young men for a mincing machine?
Archbishop Mannix has told us that
conscription is wrong and that we
should not support the British
government that has dealt so harshly
with the freedom fighters in Ireland.
How can I, as a mother, send my son
or other mother’s sons to die on the
battlefields of Europe?
Our brave boys need support to finish
the job.
We all must do our duty.
Germany must be defeated.
Christ was a conscript—God called
him to do his duty.
We will only use conscription to make
up the shortfall in numbers of
volunteers.
The trade unionists who strike and
refuse to enlist and do their duty are
shirkers and traitors.
We must fight for the right; the more
men we send the sooner the war will
be over.
Our vicar, in his Sunday sermon,
reminded us of our loyalty to the King
and condemned that Irish Catholic
Archbishop Mannix as a disloyal
troublemaker.
It’s a mother’s duty to send her sons
to war. If we can shorten the war
there will be a better chance of my
Jack and Billy coming home safely.
Britain has conscription.
The prime minister, Mr Hughes, has
left the Labor Party to support
conscription. The new Nationalist
Party wants what’s best for all
Australians.
Blast Britain!
The men of the Labor Party are
against conscription—and I reckon
they know what’s best for working
men.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
1
Choose one of the following characters and, drawing on the comments
above, write a short speech that your character might have given in a debate
about conscription.
•
young working man
•
young woman of Irish background
•
mother of a son fighting abroad
•
mother of a son killed in the war
•
Christian pacifist
•
businessman
•
farmer
2
Draw illustrations to depict the contrasting views under the given headings.
Give each illustration a caption.
Attit ud e t o B rita in
The ca s ualtie s
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Endi ng t he wa r
The Anti’s Creed
I believe that the men at the front should be sacrificed
I believe we should turn dog on them
I believe that our women should betray the men who are fighting for
them
I believe in the sanctity of my own life
I believe in taking all the benefit and none of the risks
I believe it was right to sink the Lusitania
I believe in murder on the high seas
I believe in the Sinn Fein
I believe in the massacre of Belgian priests
I believe in the murder of women and baby killing
I believe that Nurse Cavell got her desserts
I believe that treachery is a virtue
I believe that disloyalty is true citizenship
I believe that desertion is ennobling
I believe in Considine, Fihhelly, Ryan, Blackburn, Brookfield, Mannix and
all their works
I believe in egg-power rather than man power
I believe in holding up transports and hospital ships
I believe in general strikes
I believe in burning Australian haystacks
I believe in handing Australia over to Germany
I believe I’m worm enough to vote ‘No’
Those who don’t believe in the above creed will vote ‘Yes’
‘Anti’s Creed’, ‘Reinforcements Referendum Council, 1917. Quoted in M Ashton &
P Anderson, Australia in the 20th Century: Working Historically, Macmillan, South Yarra,
2005, p. 82.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
3
What is the writer of the ‘Anti’s Creed’ asserting about what ‘no’ voters
support? Divide the assertions into categories.
4
List the main areas the writer targets. Explain how the writer intended to
influence people to vote ‘yes’.
5
Write eight lines in a similarly sarcastic vein about the views of those in
favour of conscription. You could begin:
I believe that I have the right to send young men to their deaths
I believe that war is the best way to solve international disputes …
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
Working historically worksheet
Name: ________________________ Class: _______ Date: __________
Worksheet: Chapter 4, page 140
Casualties of the British Empire’s
forces
Country
Population
Number of
troops
% troops in
field to
population
Killed/died
of wounds
Wounded
Total
casualties
%
casualties
Australia
4 875 325
331 781
6.8
59 342
152 171
211 513
64.8
New
Zealand
1 099 449
98 950
8.9
16 654
41 317
57 971
58.6
Canada
8 361 000
422 405
5.0
56 625
149 732
206 357
49.7
United
Kingdom
48 089 249
5 399 563
11.2
702 410
1 662 625
2 365 035
47.1
6 685 827
136 070
2.0
6 928
11 444
18 372
13.6
315 200 000
1 388 620
0.4
53 486
64 350
117 836
9.1
South
Africa
India
CEW Bean, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Angus
& Robertson, Sydney 1938–42
1
How many Australian soldiers served overseas in the Great War?
2
How many Australian soldiers were killed or died of wounds?
3
What was the number of New Zealand’s total casualties?
4
What percentage of the Canadian population served as troops?
5
What percentage of the United Kingdom’s troops were casualties?
6
Explain why the United Kingdom’s percentage for troops to population is
much higher than the other countries.
7
Why do you think the percentage of Australian troops as casualties is so
high?
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
8
Working historically worksheet
Draw a series of pie graphs to present to illustrate the percentage of troops
who were casualties. Below the graphs write a commentary on what is
shown.
Australia
New Zealand
Canada
United Kingdom
South Africa
India
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
Chapter 4 Volunteers all!
9
Working historically worksheet
Referring to the given figures, write a speech that the King might have given
expressing his understanding and appreciation of the Empire’s contribution
to the war effort.
Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution.
© H Calvert, J Herbst and R Smith 2006, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd