Those two men were identified through a series of Advanced Searches of the database. The first aimed to identify anyone from our region who had died in combat on 25 April 1918.
To mark the centenary of the third commemoration of ANZAC, Bob researched and presented the stories of two men listed in the World War I Service Personnel & Memorials database as having lost their lives opposing the Kaiserschlacht that was meant to turn the tide of the war in favour of Germany. He chose to focus on Francis Melbourne Zillman and Joseph Payne who had followed very different paths to the same sad end. Those two men were identified through a series of Advanced Searches of the database. The first aimed to identify anyone from our region who had died in combat on 25 April 1918. Since this produced just a single positive result (Payne), it was decided to broaden the search to any event in April 1918 (which might include enlistment, transfer, return home etc). When that generated a large list, it was refined to include only those with an explicit reference to Strathpine. Examining each of the five records identified by that process lead to the selection of Zillman as the second focus for the talk (although, had time allowed, each of the others deserves similar attention).
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Although your military ancestor's individual service record (available from the National Archives) will give you personal information, it should be complemented by details of what his unit was doing when and where during the War. That information is held in the Unit Diaries at the Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/ > Menu > Collection > Official Histories and Unit Diaries > Unit & Commanders Diaries > First World War The AWM4 series of records is divided into classes (such as Class 11 - Camel Corps or Class 24 - Machine Guns) by specialist roles but the largest group is Class 23 - Infantry. Within that you will find subclasses for Brigades (ordered by number from 23/1 to 23/15) and Battalions (similarly organised, but beginning at 23/18 for the 1st Battalion). It is important to remember that each Battalion formed part of a Brigade (in the chain of command), so you will need to look at (at least) two sub-classes to get a full picture. You will be able to read the Battalion to which your soldier was assigned from his own service record, but the Brigade is not always mentioned. For that you will need to consult an Order of Battle list such as this one on the ADFA site. So the 52nd Battalion (to which Joseph Payne was posted) fell under the overall command of Brigadier General Glasgow as part of the 13th Infantry Brigade. That means to understand Payne's service, I need to look into AWM4 Subclass 23/13 - 13th Infantry Brigade as well as AWM4 Subclass 23/69 - 52nd Infantry Battalion. Within each of these datasets, the documents are organised in date order. You should also be aware that sometimes the Brigade Diary will show that there was more than one Battalion involved in an action of interest, so you may want to go to their Diary to get a fuller picture. A short animated demonstration of the process for locating Unit Diaries can be viewed by clicking on this image. Brian M revealed himself to be a secret bibliophile with his description not only of the Official History but of his efforts to obtain a full set of volumes from a single uniform edition. The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 is a 12-volume series covering Australian involvement in the First World War. The series was edited by C.E.W. Bean, who also wrote six of the volumes and was published between 1920 and 1942. The first seven volumes deal with the Australian Imperial Force while other volumes deal with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force at Rabaul, the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Flying Corps and the home front; the final volume is a photographic record. For an overview of the work, see the Wikipedia entry. Or you can find more detail at
When you are ready to explore this amazing resource in depth then use this sequence of steps: https://www.awm.gov.au > Menu > Collections > Offical Histories & Unit Diaries > Official Histories > First World War > Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 > Volume 5 (or select other volume required) > Chapter XVII (or select chapter you want) > Download pdf document |
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