Scotch College

’Their name liveth for evermore’

A memorable military history tour in June and July visited Gallipoli and the Western Front.

Words: KEITH WEYMOUTH

These words, inspired by Rudyard Kipling, who sadly lost his own son in Belgium in the Great War of 1914–18, are carved in stone in almost all the Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries throughout the world.

The words were particularly poignant to each one of the 20 Old Scotch Military History and Remembrance tour members who accompanied General Peter Gration (’48) in June and July on a comprehensive visit to battle sites of that war. The party visited Gallipoli and the Western Front in France and Belgium.

While particularly concentrating on Australian and Anzac sites in both areas, the tour included related engagements where other Allied armies were associated with our forces.

Throughout this splendidly organised pilgrimage, we followed the exploits of our distinguished Old Scotch Collegian Commander, General Sir John Monash, as Brigade then Division and ultimately Australian Corps Commander in 1918 in both areas. There was a special celebration of one of the highlights of his command career, the defeat of the German forces at Le Hamel in the Somme, close to Villers-Bretonneux, on 4 July 1918. It was a moving experience for the group to visit Le Hamel on the 90th anniversary of that victory.

When visiting the splendid military museum at Villers-Bretonneux, a town which deeply honours Australian troops for their action in its recovery from the Germans, the group was extremely proud to be shown that famous sign in the town school: ‘DO NOT FORGET AUSTRALIA’.

At the museum, by an extraordinary coincidence, the group met with Michael Monash Bennett (Scotch ’76), great-grandson of Sir John Monash. Michael and his family were touring the Western Front and, while in the Somme, particularly to visit Le Hamel on the 90th anniversary of his grandfather’s epic victory. Michael is a member of the Sir John Monash Foundation, of which General Peter Gration was founding chairman.

During the tour, General Gration particularly noted the exploits of Old Scotch Collegians during the war, and recalled the detailed events and men who are splendidly recorded in the 1926 publication of the history of Scotch College. This included Captain C S Steele (1910), who later became Major General Sir Clive Steele, Lt Col Norman Marshall (1901), Major General Sir James McCay (1880), Brigadier General Robert Smith (1898) and Capt C McE Lillie (1910), known as the ‘Pink Kid’. Many Old Scotch Collegians recall with honour our song: ‘All the Scotchies then did cry … Hi, Hi, Hi to Generals Monash, Smith, McCay!’

A special tribute was paid to Cpl J D Burns (1914) by visiting his grave at Shrapnel Gully, near Anzac Cove on Gallipoli, near where he was killed on 18 September 1915, aged just 19 years. Burns enlisted immediately on leaving Scotch in 1914, where he had been a Prefect and Editor of the Collegian. He is remembered for his inspirational poem, ‘The Bugles of England’. The group gathered at his gravesite, and the poem was read at a brief but memorable ceremony.

We visited yet another ‘Old Scotch’ gravesite at the Wavaans British cemetery near Beauvoir, on the Somme in France. This is the resting place of Old Boy Captain Robert Little (1915) of the Royal Navy Air Service and RAF, who was awarded the DSO and Bar, DSC and Bar, and Croix de Guerre with Star. He was killed on 27 May 1918, aged 22 years, having been credited with downing 47 enemy aircraft.

The rugged, difficult and indeed, awesome battleground overlooking Anzac Cove on Gallipoli contrasted sharply with the now beautiful, gentle Somme countryside in France, where in both areas such horrors had been experienced 90 years before, with horrendous loss of life.

While it was on the Somme in 1918 that General Sir John Monash reached the height of his brilliant military career, the group also journeyed to Flanders in Belgium to visit the battle sites of Messines, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde and Passchendaele, close to Ypres (Ieper), where Australian forces fought in 1917, including the 3rd Division under the command of Monash.

The horrors of Flanders, the destruction, desolation and mud, which have been so graphically portrayed in old photographs, contrasted dramatically with the now charming rural countryside of Belgium.

In Ypres at the magnificent British memorial, the Menin Gate, immortalised by Australian artist Bill Longstaff in his painting The Menin Gate at Midnight, the Last Post ceremony has been performed each night since 1928 (except between 1940 and 1944). During the ceremony, General Gration laid a wreath at the memorial on behalf of Scotch College. The notation on the wreath read:

‘Scotch College, Melbourne, Australia.
‘In memory of our most distinguished Old Boy, General Sir John Monash, and his many fellows who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War.’

A visit was made to Fromelles in northern France, the site of a very recent discovery of the remains of some 400 Australians buried by the Germans in mass graves in 1916. The site has received much recent publicity, and a small ceremony was held with the president of the Fromelles Museum Association attending, in honour of those men of the 5th Australian division who have lain unknown for so long.

We made a respectful visit to the National Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge near Arras in France, and the enormous French cemetery at Notre Dame de Lorette nearby, where thousands of known and unknown French servicemen are honoured. In the same area is the largest German cemetery in France, where almost 45,000 German soldiers now rest.

Completing the tour of the Western Front, the group visited important battle sites in the Eastern Somme, at Mont St Quentin, Peronne and the Hindenburg Line, where the Australian Corps under Monash achieved brilliant victories in the final months of the war.

Finally, in London we visited the Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner and the Imperial War Museum, before concluding with a celebratory dinner.

The members of this memorable Old Scotch Military History and Remembrance tour were deeply grateful to General Peter Gration for his leadership, and his excellence in sharing with the group his outstanding knowledge of Gallipoli and the Western Front during that Great War. Travelrite Balwyn and tour manager Simon Walliss (’86) are to be congratulated for the splendid organisation and management of the tour. GS