Private Ronald Thomas Williamson, 45th Battalion, AIF
Australian War MemorialRonald “Bub” Williamson was born in 1893, the third son of Henry and Margaret Williamson of Goulburn, New South Wales. He probably grew up in Tarlo Gap, where his father worked a property.
Ronald likely had a difficult childhood; his father was a violent drunk and often threatened his mother’s life. He got worse as he got older. In 1912, Ronald married Myrtle Oliver. The following year, his father was charged with trying to shoot Ronald’s younger brother, Allen. By that time Ronald and Myrtle had moved to Sydney, where Ronald worked as a wagon driver.
Ronald enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in mid-1915, leaving Myrtle at home with two babies. He trained in Australia before leaving for overseas with reinforcements to the 13th Battalion in late August 1915.
Private Williamson’s military discipline was not the best, with a charge of 38 hours’ absence without leave before even leaving Australia. On arriving in Egypt, Williamson seems to have taken advantage of many of the vices on offer, with further periods of absence without leave. Although he reported being sick with blood poisoning and having been wounded in the foot, he had in fact contracted gonorrhoea during one of his periods of absence, and spent weeks being treated in hospital in Abbassia.
In the early months of 1916, the AIF underwent a period of expansion to accommodate the large numbers of volunteers coming in from Australia. Private Williamson was transferred to the 45th Battalion, and in June 1916 was sent to France to fight on the Western Front. He reached the battlefield in early August, although not before spending one more night absent without leave.
On 5 August 1916, the 45th Battalion moved into support lines near the French village of Pozieres, and two days later were called into the front lines to relieve a battalion of the 2nd Division.
Just after midnight on 8 August 1916, Private Ronald Williamson was standing in a trench with several of his mates when a shell burst nearby. Williamson was hit in the back by a large shell fragment which went all the way through, coming out of his chest. One of his mates, Private McNamara, caught Williamson as he fell but he was beyond help.
Another of his mates later said, “I can assure [you] that he was a good soldier, and he died as many more a brave heart.” Although his mates collected his belongings and reported the death, Private Williamson’s body was lost and today he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
In Goulburn, Ronald Williamson was remembered for his “sunny, open-hearted disposition [which] endeared him to all who knew him … he will be sadly missed.” He was 24 years old.
Meleah Hampton, Historian, Military History Section
Image: France, 1916-1918. Anzacs in France. Machine gunners leaving trench duty for their well-earned rest.
