Private Patrick Thomas Pyne, 10th Battalion, AIF
Australian War MemorialPatrick Pyne was born on 25 June 1895 in Wellington, South Australia, to John and Elizabeth Pyne, the third of six sons.
He grew up in Wellington and attended Strathalbyn State School. When the Strathalbyn Post Office opened in 1913, Pyne became a postal assistant.
He was known for his “bright and cheery nature” and sporting ability. He was a member of the Strathalbyn Rifle Club and “a great shot”.
At the outbreak of war, Pyne was one of the first to enlist, travelling to Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide and joining the newly raised 10th Battalion.
He embarked from Adelaide aboard the Ascanius, disembarking at Alexandria in Egypt in mid-December.
Several months of hard training in the desert followed, but there were frequent leave periods to explore Cairo and its surrounds. In a letter to his parents, Pyne said:
“there are sights you see there that would not be permitted in S.A. In one part there is a place called Wazah Bazar. It consists of streets where all the lowest class gather.”
In March, the 10th Battalion and other battalions in the 3rd Brigade sailed for Lemnos in preparation for the Gallipoli campaign.
In the early hours of 25 April 1915, the men of the 10th Battalion rowed silently towards the Turkish shore at what would become known as Anzac Cove. The war diary of the battalion records:
“no sound was heard, except the splash of the oars; we thought that our landing was to be effected quite unopposed, but when our boats were within about 30 yards of the beach a rifle was fired from the hill in front of us above the beach, right in front of where we were heading for. Almost immediately heavy rifle and machine gun fire was opened upon us.”
The men finished rowing to the shore and dashed for the heights above the beach. The fighting which took place inland quickly became confused and at some point in the next four days, Pyne was killed.
He was listed as missing in action on the 5th of May. An investigation into his fate found that he had been killed in action between the 25th and 29th of April.
He was 19 years old.
Pyne was laid to rest in the “Valley of Death” by Padre William “Fighting Mac” McKenzie. By the time the Australians left Gallipoli in December, his remains had been relocated to Beach Cemetery on the Gallipoli peninsula.
After the war, his exact burial location could not be identified, and today a headstone states that Pyne is “Believed to be buried in this cemetery.”
One of his officers, Captain Eric Sexton later wrote of Pyne:
“I knew him well. He was a fine young fellow, a great shot, and the possessor of a record of which any soldier might be proud.”
Michael Kelly, Historian, Military History Section
Image: Members of the 10th Battalion waiting to embark on the transport ship Ionian for the Gallipoli Peninsula; Alexandria Egypt, 1 March 1915
- Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2278428
