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

.

ANZAC Girls connection with Ballarat

Those who have watched the recently completed mini-series on ABC TV the ANZAC Girls may be interested to know that one of the nurses portrayed in the series has a connection to Ballarat. 

Alice Ross-King was born in Ballarat on August 5 1891 to Archibald Ross King, a storekeeper and his wife Henrietta (nee Ward).  Alice and her family moved to Perth when she was quite young but a terrible accident on the Swan River resulted in the drowning deaths of her father and two brothers.   Soon after this Alice and her mother returned to Victoria and settled in Melbourne.

Alice had a distinguished nursing career during World War 1: she was a recipient of the Military Medal for bravery, only one of seven nurses of the Australian Nursing Service during the war to receive this award.

She married Sydney Appleford, who Alice met on the ship returning to Australia, on the 29^th August 1919.  They settled in Lang Lang in South Gippsland where Sydney, a medical doctor, continued to practice medicine ably supported by Alice.  Alice died on 17 August 1968, survived by her four children.

(Photo taken from ANZAC Girls by Peter Rees. Photo provided to the book by Marion Sanders)