On 11 September 1914, the first WWI Anzacs lost their lives in Australia’s first engagement of the Great War during the Battle of Bita Paka. During this mission, a few days later on 14 September, Australia’s first-ever submarine went missing.
“Australia’s first battle of the Great War occurred in September 1914, just a month after the outbreak of WWI and close to home in neighbouring Papua New Guinea (then German New Guinea),” says historian Mat McLachlan.
Around 2,000 men made up the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force that was sent to German New Guinea on a mission to capture the German radio transmission station and colony.
11 September 1914 – Australia’s first action of WWI, and first Australian casualties
On 11 September 1914, an Australian expeditionary team of 25 set out to capture a German radio station at Bita Paka, near Rabaul. The Australians battled a force of German reservists to successfully take possession of the wireless station, but in this action, six Australians lost their lives and five were wounded. These were the first Australian casualties of World War One.
14 September 1914 - Australia’s first submarine missing in action
During this mission, on 14 September 1914 - a day after the official German surrender of the colony near Rabaul - Australia’s first-ever submarine, operated by 35 crew, went missing. AE1 left Rabaul Harbour to patrol Cape Gazelle and never returned. AE1 was our nation’s first submarine (alongside AE2) and both were sent on the mission to Rabaul. An initial search lasted two days, but nothing was found. It wasn’t until December 2017 that the wreck was found off the Duke of York Island group.
Captain Pockley and Able Seaman Williams first Anzacs killed
Captain Brian Colden Anthill Pockley (from North Sydney) and Able Seaman William Williams (from Richmond, Melbourne) were the first Australian servicemen who lost their lives during the Great War, at the Battle of Bita Paka.
Brian Pockley was a medical practitioner when the First World War broke out in 1914. At the age of 24, he applied for a commission in the Australian Imperial Force and was appointed as a captain in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF).
William George Vincent Williams had spent nearly five years as a naval reservist and had just one week left to serve when he was placed on standby for this mission as part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.
Captain Pockley and Able Seaman Williams were part of the first landing force of the Naval Brigade at Kabakaul on 11 September 1914. During the advance towards a German wireless station, Able Seaman William Williams was shot in the stomach.
After tending to Williams, Pockley gave his Red Cross armband to another naval serviceman, Stoker Kember, so Kember could carry Williams to the rear and returned to fighting. Shortly afterwards, Pockley was also shot. Pockley and Williams were taken aboard HMAS Berrima, where they both died that afternoon.
“Pockley's action in giving up his Red Cross badge, seeking to protect another person’s life at the price of his own, was an act that became synonymous with the Anzac spirit and legend – with courage, bravery and comradeship demonstrated by Australians on the fronts time and time again,” says Mat McLachlan.
Today, Pockley and Williams lie in Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea.
Pockley's younger brother, Lieutenant John Graham Antill Pockley, also served with the Australian Army in the First World War and was killed in action, in France, on 30 March 1918 near Villers-Bretonneux. After the Armistice, his grave could not be found. He is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial along with nearly 11,000 other Australians who have no known grave.
Remembering WWI
Brian and John Pockley were among over 2,800 sets of two brothers who both lost their lives in the First World War.
Over 416,800 Australian men enlisted for WWI, of which over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. More than 3,000 Australian civilian nurses volunteered for active service during the First World War, and thousands of other Australians were involved in the war effort.
11 September 2024 marks the 110th anniversary of Australia’s first action in WWI – the Battle of Bita Paka - and the next four years mark the 110th anniversaries of many significant chapters in Australian history. The first Australian servicemen sailing from Albany on 1 November 1914 to training camps in Egypt, the Gallipoli landings on 25 April 1915, the Gallipoli Evacuation in December 1915, and then many significant Australian battles on the Western Front throughout 1916, 1917 until the Armistice which ended WWI on 11 November 1918.
"The marks from WWI can still be seen on the Great War battlefields around the world, and remembering the stories of the Anzacs, walking the ground and reflecting on this history is important," says Mat McLachlan.
Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours offers tours to follow in the footsteps of the Anzacs around the world – in both WWI, WW2 and Vietnam, including commemorative Anzac Day tours, scheduled group tours throughout the year, private tours and Custom Group tours. Visit www.battlefields.com.au
