First to serve

Two names that are on the Sutherland War Memorial in Sydney are W Clarke and O N Hayes. William Edward Clarke of Sutherland and Oswald Norman Hayes of Como were amongst the first Australians to enlist during the First World War. William Clarke, aged 20, tailor’s presser, enlisted on 11 August 1914 and Oswald Hayes, aged 24, wool classer, enlisted on 12 August 1914.  Hayes’s enlistment date was later changed to 11 August 1914 on his enlistment papers. Both these young men joined the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF). Hayes was in C Company and Clarke was in D Company.

At the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914 Germany had a number of colonies in the south and central parts of the Pacific Ocean. On 6 August 1914 the British Government contacted the Australian and New Zealand Governments and requested them to seize control of these German territories. The Australian Government quickly responded, especially as German New Guinea was on the country’s doorstep, and formed a military force of 1,500 servicemen, comprising 1,000 soldiers from NSW and 500 naval reservists from NSW & other States. This became the ANMEF.

On 18 August 1914 around 1,000 soldiers marched through the streets of Sydney to Fort Macquarie, where the Sydney Opera House is today. They then were taken by ferry to Cockatoo Island where the next day they left Sydney on the HMAT A35 Berrima. The men only found out where they were going when they were out at sea. They stopped at Palm Island for jungle training before travelling to Port Moresby in the Australian territory of Papua and then onto German New Guinea in early September 1914.

The march through the streets of Sydney was reported enthusiastically by the Sydney Morning Herald on 19 August 1914.   

The Australian War Memorial has in its collection a photo of the ANMEF men aboard the ferry Kulgoa as it left Fort Macquarie on its way to Cockatoo Island.