10 august
Voluntary recruitment for Australian Imperial Force (AIF) commenced.
13 August 1914
The Australian Red Cross was established to raise funds to purchase comfort supplies for Australian service personnel overseas.
August–September 1914 saw the formation of variously named 'patriotic funds' in all States to raise money to send extra food and clothing to service personnel overseas.
1 September – 9 December 1914
The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) seized German New Guinea and nearby German-ruled island territories.
October 1914
C E W Bean was appointed as Australia's official war correspondent.
1 November 1914
Men of the Australian Infantry Force (AIF) marching through Melbourne, 1914—1918. The First Division of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) sailed from Albany, Western Australia, for Egypt.
9 November 1914HMAS Sydney sank the German cruiser, Emden, at the Cocos Islands, Indian Ocean.
25 April 1915
Australian troops landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, Turkey.
15 May 1915
Death on Gallipoli of Major General W T Bridges, Commander of the First Division, AIF. Bridge's body was returned to Australia, and buried in the grounds of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.
Australians repelled major Turkish attack on their positions at Gallipoli.
Acronym ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) used to describe Australian positions at Gallipoli.
Death on Gallipoli of Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick of 'Simpson and his Donkey' fame.
19–20 May 1915
Lance Corporal Albert Jacka, 14th Battalion, AIF, became the first Australian to win the Victoria Cross in World War One for his action at Gallipoli, Turkey.
24 May 1915
Formal truce on Gallipoli during which the Turkish soldiers who died in the attacks of May were buried.
6 August 1915 Australian in captured Turkish trenches at Lone Pine,Gallipoli, 6 August 1915.
6–9 August 1915
Battle of Lone Pine, Gallipoli – Australians were awarded seven Victoria Crosses.
7 August 1915
Charge of Australian Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, Gallipoli.
21 October 1915
Vera Deakin, daughter of ex-Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, established the Australian Red Cross Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau in Cairo, Egypt. During the remainder of the war the Bureau handled thousands of enquiries from Australian families seeking information about wounded and missing soldiers.
20 December 1915
Front cover of The Anzac Book, 1915, edited by C E W Bean, and composed of items written by Australians who served on Gallipoli in 1915. Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli Peninsula.
7 April 1916Australian soldiers took up positions on the Western Front at Armentieres, France.
25 April 1916First commemoration of Anzac Day.
6 June 1916The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA), forerunner of the current Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL), was formed.
19 July 1916 Men of the 53rd Battalion, ALF, in the front line minutes before the attack at Fromelles, France, 19 July 1916. 19–20 July 1916
Battle of Fromelles, France.
These deeds which
should not pass away
names that
must not wither.
[Epitaph, grave of Private W N Smith,
53rd Battalion, killed in action 19 July 1916,
age 24, Ration Cemetery, France].
23 July 191623 July–3 September 1916
Australians were in action in the Battle of the Somme at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, France.
3 August 19163–4 August 1916Australian Light Horse in Battle of Romani, Egypt.
1916–1918Ships of the Royal Australian Navy joined the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea and took part in the economic blockade of Germany.
24 August 1916 Red Cross workers at Government House, Melbourne, packing parcels for sending to soldiers overseas, 1914—1918.The Australian Comforts Fund (ACF) was officially inaugurated. The ACF coordinated the activities of the various State 'patriotic funds' set up in 1914 to collect money to send comforts parcels to service personnel overseas.
28 October 1916The first conscription referendum took place in Australia and among the forces overseas. The proposal to introduce conscription was defeated.
18 November 1916Somme campaign ended. Australian troops manned trenches throughout a severe winter on the Western Front, France.
20 March 1917Lieutenant F H McNamara, No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, became the only member of the AFC to be awarded the Victoria Cross following his action in the raid on Tel el Hasi, Palestine.
11 April 1917First Battle of Bullecourt, France.
21 April 1917Foundation of Imperial War Graves Commission, later Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The purpose of the Commission was to erect and maintain war memorials and cemeteries.
3 May 1917 Private James White, 22nd Battalion, AIF, and his family. Sergeant White was killed at the Second Battle of Bullecourt, 3 May 1917." src="http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/5environment/images/3may1917sm.jpg">Private James White, 22nd Battalion, AIF, and his family. Sergeant White was killed at the Second Battle of Bullecourt, 3 May 1917. Second Battle of Bullecourt, France.
May 1917
Destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy took part in extensive anti-submarine operations in the Adriatic Sea.
7 June 1917Battle of Messines, Belgium.
22 July 1917Four members of the Australian Army Nursing Service – Sisters Cawood, Deacon and Ross-King and Staff Nurse Derrer - were awarded Military Medals for rescuing patients trapped in a burning Casualty Clearing Station at Trois Arbres, France. These were the first bravery awards given to Australian nurses in action.
1 August 1917 Machine gunners of the 4th Australian Division, Garter Point, Ypres, Belgium, 27 September 1917. 1 August – 14 November 1917
Third Battle of Ypres – Australian soldiers were in action most notably at Menin Road, Glencorse Wood, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele.
31 October 1917Australian Light Horse charged Turkish positions at Battle of Beersheba, Palestine.
20 December 1917The second conscription referendum took place in Australia and among the forces overseas. The proposal to introduce conscription was defeated.
8 April 1918Establishment of the Repatriation Department.
25 April 1918Australians drove Germans from Villers-Bretonneux, France.
'The ships come back with honoured brave but none came back with our Dave'
[Inscription written by his family for the gravestone in France of Private D E Arnold, 55th Battalion, First AIF. Private Arnold was killed on 16 April 1918, age 20].
1 June 1918Appointment of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash to command the Australian Corps in France. The Corps brought all five Divisions of the First AIF under an Australian commander.
2 July 1918Prime Minister William Morris Hughes, the ‘Little Digger’, being carried through the streets of Sydney by returned soldiers, 1919.Prime Minister William Morris Hughes, the 'Little Digger', addressed Australian troops on the Western Front before the Battle of Hamel, France.
4 July 1918
Battlefield memorial, Quincone, France, to the men of the 53rd Battalion, ALF, who were killed in the battalion’s attack on Mont St Quentin, 1 September 1918.Battle of Hamel, France.
31 August –2 September 1918
Australians attacked and seized Mont St Quentin, France.
29 September 1918Australians stormed the Hindenburg Line, France.
Captain G H Wilkins, official AIF photographer, rallied American troops at the Battle of the Hindenburg Line. For this action he was awarded a bar to his Military Cross, becoming the only Australian official photographer to be decorated for bravery in the field.
30 September 1918Lance Corporal E A Corey, a stretcher bearer with the 55th Battalion, was awarded a third bar to his Military Medal. The winning of four Military Medals is a unique feat in the Australian or any other Commonwealth army.
September 1918
'Anzac leave' to Australia allowed for AIF veterans of Gallipoli.
1 October 1918Australian Light Horsemen took Damascus, Syria.
11 November 1918Germany signed an armistice and fighting ceased on the Western Front.
The number of Australians who died in the First World War (1914–1918): 61,919
Voluntary recruitment for Australian Imperial Force (AIF) commenced.
13 August 1914
The Australian Red Cross was established to raise funds to purchase comfort supplies for Australian service personnel overseas.
August–September 1914 saw the formation of variously named 'patriotic funds' in all States to raise money to send extra food and clothing to service personnel overseas.
1 September – 9 December 1914
The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) seized German New Guinea and nearby German-ruled island territories.
October 1914
C E W Bean was appointed as Australia's official war correspondent.
1 November 1914
Men of the Australian Infantry Force (AIF) marching through Melbourne, 1914—1918. The First Division of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) sailed from Albany, Western Australia, for Egypt.
9 November 1914HMAS Sydney sank the German cruiser, Emden, at the Cocos Islands, Indian Ocean.
25 April 1915
Australian troops landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, Turkey.
15 May 1915
Death on Gallipoli of Major General W T Bridges, Commander of the First Division, AIF. Bridge's body was returned to Australia, and buried in the grounds of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.
Australians repelled major Turkish attack on their positions at Gallipoli.
Acronym ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) used to describe Australian positions at Gallipoli.
Death on Gallipoli of Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick of 'Simpson and his Donkey' fame.
19–20 May 1915
Lance Corporal Albert Jacka, 14th Battalion, AIF, became the first Australian to win the Victoria Cross in World War One for his action at Gallipoli, Turkey.
24 May 1915
Formal truce on Gallipoli during which the Turkish soldiers who died in the attacks of May were buried.
6 August 1915 Australian in captured Turkish trenches at Lone Pine,Gallipoli, 6 August 1915.
6–9 August 1915
Battle of Lone Pine, Gallipoli – Australians were awarded seven Victoria Crosses.
7 August 1915
Charge of Australian Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, Gallipoli.
21 October 1915
Vera Deakin, daughter of ex-Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, established the Australian Red Cross Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau in Cairo, Egypt. During the remainder of the war the Bureau handled thousands of enquiries from Australian families seeking information about wounded and missing soldiers.
20 December 1915
Front cover of The Anzac Book, 1915, edited by C E W Bean, and composed of items written by Australians who served on Gallipoli in 1915. Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli Peninsula.
7 April 1916Australian soldiers took up positions on the Western Front at Armentieres, France.
25 April 1916First commemoration of Anzac Day.
6 June 1916The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA), forerunner of the current Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL), was formed.
19 July 1916 Men of the 53rd Battalion, ALF, in the front line minutes before the attack at Fromelles, France, 19 July 1916. 19–20 July 1916
Battle of Fromelles, France.
These deeds which
should not pass away
names that
must not wither.
[Epitaph, grave of Private W N Smith,
53rd Battalion, killed in action 19 July 1916,
age 24, Ration Cemetery, France].
23 July 191623 July–3 September 1916
Australians were in action in the Battle of the Somme at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, France.
3 August 19163–4 August 1916Australian Light Horse in Battle of Romani, Egypt.
1916–1918Ships of the Royal Australian Navy joined the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea and took part in the economic blockade of Germany.
24 August 1916 Red Cross workers at Government House, Melbourne, packing parcels for sending to soldiers overseas, 1914—1918.The Australian Comforts Fund (ACF) was officially inaugurated. The ACF coordinated the activities of the various State 'patriotic funds' set up in 1914 to collect money to send comforts parcels to service personnel overseas.
28 October 1916The first conscription referendum took place in Australia and among the forces overseas. The proposal to introduce conscription was defeated.
18 November 1916Somme campaign ended. Australian troops manned trenches throughout a severe winter on the Western Front, France.
20 March 1917Lieutenant F H McNamara, No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, became the only member of the AFC to be awarded the Victoria Cross following his action in the raid on Tel el Hasi, Palestine.
11 April 1917First Battle of Bullecourt, France.
21 April 1917Foundation of Imperial War Graves Commission, later Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The purpose of the Commission was to erect and maintain war memorials and cemeteries.
3 May 1917 Private James White, 22nd Battalion, AIF, and his family. Sergeant White was killed at the Second Battle of Bullecourt, 3 May 1917." src="http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/5environment/images/3may1917sm.jpg">Private James White, 22nd Battalion, AIF, and his family. Sergeant White was killed at the Second Battle of Bullecourt, 3 May 1917. Second Battle of Bullecourt, France.
May 1917
Destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy took part in extensive anti-submarine operations in the Adriatic Sea.
7 June 1917Battle of Messines, Belgium.
22 July 1917Four members of the Australian Army Nursing Service – Sisters Cawood, Deacon and Ross-King and Staff Nurse Derrer - were awarded Military Medals for rescuing patients trapped in a burning Casualty Clearing Station at Trois Arbres, France. These were the first bravery awards given to Australian nurses in action.
1 August 1917 Machine gunners of the 4th Australian Division, Garter Point, Ypres, Belgium, 27 September 1917. 1 August – 14 November 1917
Third Battle of Ypres – Australian soldiers were in action most notably at Menin Road, Glencorse Wood, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele.
31 October 1917Australian Light Horse charged Turkish positions at Battle of Beersheba, Palestine.
20 December 1917The second conscription referendum took place in Australia and among the forces overseas. The proposal to introduce conscription was defeated.
8 April 1918Establishment of the Repatriation Department.
25 April 1918Australians drove Germans from Villers-Bretonneux, France.
'The ships come back with honoured brave but none came back with our Dave'
[Inscription written by his family for the gravestone in France of Private D E Arnold, 55th Battalion, First AIF. Private Arnold was killed on 16 April 1918, age 20].
1 June 1918Appointment of Lieutenant General Sir John Monash to command the Australian Corps in France. The Corps brought all five Divisions of the First AIF under an Australian commander.
2 July 1918Prime Minister William Morris Hughes, the ‘Little Digger’, being carried through the streets of Sydney by returned soldiers, 1919.Prime Minister William Morris Hughes, the 'Little Digger', addressed Australian troops on the Western Front before the Battle of Hamel, France.
4 July 1918
Battlefield memorial, Quincone, France, to the men of the 53rd Battalion, ALF, who were killed in the battalion’s attack on Mont St Quentin, 1 September 1918.Battle of Hamel, France.
31 August –2 September 1918
Australians attacked and seized Mont St Quentin, France.
29 September 1918Australians stormed the Hindenburg Line, France.
Captain G H Wilkins, official AIF photographer, rallied American troops at the Battle of the Hindenburg Line. For this action he was awarded a bar to his Military Cross, becoming the only Australian official photographer to be decorated for bravery in the field.
30 September 1918Lance Corporal E A Corey, a stretcher bearer with the 55th Battalion, was awarded a third bar to his Military Medal. The winning of four Military Medals is a unique feat in the Australian or any other Commonwealth army.
September 1918
'Anzac leave' to Australia allowed for AIF veterans of Gallipoli.
1 October 1918Australian Light Horsemen took Damascus, Syria.
11 November 1918Germany signed an armistice and fighting ceased on the Western Front.
The number of Australians who died in the First World War (1914–1918): 61,919