The Sheppard brothers of Ballarat East

Recently I was helping a couple do some research on their house.  They were so excited and happy about their property, and were seeking some information about the family that built it and lived there for many years.

A usual part of research when we are “hunting up” Ballarat people is to look at a little book called Citizens and Sports which was compiled and printed in 1916, by a gentleman named M.M. McCallum.  This book provides brief biographical details in very abbreviated form, so you have to be up with your acronyms, to understand it.  But it often provides a clue or a key that leads to further information, and it is very valuable to us.

On this day I checked Citizens and Sports, actually looking for the father of the family, but what I found was information on two of the sons, and it astonished me.  Here it is:

Citizens and Sports, Ballarat 1916 p. 93

You can see that the brothers were corporal and sergeant of the same company of Field Engineers, and that they were both at the Gallipoli landings.  They have both received high military honours. How proud the Sheppard family of Rowe Street, Ballarat East, must have been.

The National Archives of Australia holds records about service in the Australian defence forces from Federation in 1901, and the Archives have digitised all the WW1 records.  I haven’t been able to look at the Sheppards’ war records - somehow I don’t want to know their fates.  But here are the links, and I will leave it to you to check for yourself, if you want to …

Albert Sheppard    
 

Charles Sheppard

 

Allchin Bros and one enormous tent

Ballarat Courier, Monday 26th October 1914

The above article attracted my attention as turned the pages of the 100 year old Courier.  Messrs. Allchins, the firm known as Allchin Brothers, have made a very large tent for the YMCA, in order that the YMCA be able to support and assist the troops in training at Queenscliff.

In the very next column is a letter from the secretary of the YMCA thanking various dignitaries for their donations to the YMCA fund, and suggesting to the general public that they might like to donate more as well! The YMCA aims to raise 200 pounds.  I wonder how much this tent cost.

Allchin Brothers operated at 14 and 16 Doveton Street North, and the building is still there - now the RACV - although the numbering has changed.  It is somehow appropriate, the RACV looking after our transport needs via the motor car.  Allchin Bros looked after the transport needs of people at the time, via the horse.

They claimed to be the largest manufacturers of saddlery in the colony.  But this isnt all they did - as we see above they worked with canvas, making tents, tarpaulins and horse rugs, they did all kind of leatherwork, not just saddles but collars and harness, all kinds of bags "from the dainty lady's handbag to the solid leather trunk". Perhaps the most interesting bit of canvas work they did was making firemen's helmets and buckets!  They also made footballs - in the 1900 season they made almost 4000.

So such an enormous tent probably didn't tax them at all.  Here is a photograph of Allchin's from the book Ballarat and District, 1901 from where the above information is taken. Ballarat and District, 1901 is one of our most important resources in the Australiana Room; if you would like to look at it any time, just ask a member of staff.

Allchin Bros, Doveton Street North from Ballarat and District, 1901

The Regimental Colours

Today marks the centenary of the 71^st (City of Ballarat) Infantry receiving  Regimental Colours, as reported in both today’s Courier, and the Courier of 19th October 1914, which reported on the solemn ceremony which took place at the City Oval, attended by the Governor-General Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson and Lady Ferguson.

The first part of the article stresses the gravity and importance of Colours, and how they will be protected right to the very last.

                            

 

If you follow this link to TROVE you will be able to read the article in full, which describes the Ballarat companies parading and marching from the Curtis St Drill Hall, up Sturt St to the City Oval, where the Colours were presented. It happened that the South Street Highland Gathering was in full swing at the time, considered appropriate given “what Highland regiments have done in the Empire’s battles of the past”. 

Another step in Ballarat soldiers’ preparation for war.  The war still seems far away and an adventure to be part of. Some worry it will be over before Christmas, before they even get away from Australia.

C.E.W. Bean's "Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918"

In the Ballarat Library we have a collection of Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean’s (C.E.W. Bean) Official History of Australia in the War of 1914- 1918. This collection is comprised of 12 volumes with Bean having written Volumes 1 – 6 himself, as he was a journalist, war correspondent and historian. He was able to write these as a correspondent for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Gallipoli, France and Belgium.

Bean was appointed as the official war correspondent with the AIF Troops in September of 1914. He was given the rank of Captain in the AIF and was able to follow the Australian infantry campaigns for the war. Bean landed with other troops at Anzac Cove at 10am on 25 April 1915 and remained on the peninsula for most of the campaign. When the AIF moved to Europe, Bean followed and would survive the war.

Bean’s volumes were published between 1920 and 1942 and can be found in the Ballarat Library Non-Fiction Area to be loaned out. The Australian War Memorial website also has digital copies that can be downloaded as PDF versions.

https://www.awm.gov.au/histories/first_world_war/

Source Material:   Australian War Memorial <https://www.awm.gov.au/histories/first_world_war/>
                                    Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bean>


By coincidence, Radio National's Saturday Extra program this morning featured Ross Coulthart, investigative reporter with Channel 7, discussing Charles Bean and his legacy.  This link will lead you to the episode page, where you will find links to listen to or download the segment.

Embarkation of Victoria's First Convoy to World War 1

During the month of October the first convoy of Victorian troops, nurses and many others embarked to the Great War.  The convoy made its way to Albany in Western Australia to meet up with convoys from other states. The First Convoy of the AIF sailed from Albany Sound on November 1st bound for Egypt to prepare for the Gallipoli landings.  

On Sunday the 19th October  2014  from 4-6pm there will be a special ceremony taking place at Station Pier in Melbourne to commemorate the departure of the first convoy from Victoria 100 years ago.  You can read more about the ceremonies and book your tickets here.

Included in this first convoy were many horses, some of them requisitioned from Ballarat, as the advertisement and article from the Courier below, indicate.

 

Key Embarkation Dates September/October 1914 (Source ANZAC Centennary) A2 HMAT Geelong 17 Sep to Tasmania – 12th Battalion, 20 Oct from Hobart A1 HMAT Hymettus 17 Oct Victoria Dock – baggage, horses, men A4 HMAT Pera 18 Oct Victoria Dock – ammunition column A27 HMAT Southern 18 Oct Victoria Dock – Army medical units, horses A18 HMAT Wiltshire 18 Oct Port Melbourne Town Pier – 4th Light Horse A20 HMAT Hororata 18 Oct Railway Pier – 6th & 7th Battalions, horses A21 HMAT Morere 19 Oct Victoria Dock – Field Artillery, horses A22 HMAT Rangatira 19 Oct Pt. Melb New Pier – QLD artillery A24 HMAT Benalla 19 Oct Railway Pier – 8th Battalion, horses A25 HMAT Anglo-Egyptian 19 Oct Victoria Dock – various small units, horses A5 HMAT Omrah 19 Oct Railway Pier – QLD Infantry A9 HMAT Shropshire 20 Oct Port Melbourne Town Pier – Div. HQ, 2nd Field Artillery, horses A10 HMAT Karroo 20 Oct Victoria Dock – signallers, horses A15 HMAT Star of England 20 Oct Port Melbourne New Pier – QLD Light Horse A26 HMAT Armadale 20 Oct Victoria Dock – Army service, horses A28 HMAT Militiades 20 Oct Port Melbourne Town Pier – Imperial Reservists A3 HMAT Orvieto 21 Oct Railway Pier – 2nd Field Company, command staff, engineers, 5th Battalion, horses

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