SENSATIONAL INCIDENT AT SYDNEY.
COMMONWEALTH CONTINGENT IN DISGRACE.
DRUNKENNESS AND DESERTION
ADDRESSED BY GENERAL HUTTON.
Sydney, April 2. A sensational development occurred in connection with the departure of the third battalion of the Commonwealth Contingent. The men yesterday boarded the troopship Manhattan, which was anchored down the harbor.
Prior to the departure to-day rumours were afloat that numbers had deserted and many others managed to get ashore during the night.
Major-General Hutton and the Ministerial party visited the Manhattan this afternoon to bid the men farewell. The men were drawn up on the deck, and not a few cases displayed such unsteadiness as caused General Hutton to severely reprimand them, while others were being helped aboard in a state of intoxication.
Addressing the Contingent, General Hutton said that he was not satisfied with what he had heard. He then read them a very severe lesson on the necessity of discipline. Something had happened which he heartily regretted to say Australia had reason to be ashamed of. He understood that some of the men, after receiving the pay, deserted. They were liable to be courtmartialled, and he hoped they would be caught and made an example of. In all his experience of Australian soldiers in South Africa he never had a single ease for courtmartial, nor any serious lapse of discipline in a force of six thousand men. He trusted that the officers and men would realise their grave responsibility, and maintain the high name, gallantry, good order, and discipline in the field which were the proud attributes of the Australian troops. Referring to the shooting of Australian officers, he said that we in Australia had heard the defence only, but he knew and regretted to say, although not officially, that there was a truer version of the tale, and it would be a sad one when published. Concluding General Hutton said: — "I wish you cordial good luck, but for goodness sake remember you take with you the honour and renown already won by Australians; and for God's sake don't tarnish it."
Immediately after the speech a sensation was caused by the announcement. that Colonel Wallack, the officer in command of the battalion, had been relieved of the command, and Major Clarke, the second in command, ordered to take command till the transport reached Adelaide, where it would take on the new commanding officer.
The Manhattan sailed in the afternoon. -Marlborough Express, 3/4/1902.
“GO YOURSELVES!”
NEW SOUTH WALES COMMANDANT’S APPEAL.
Colonel Wallack, State Commandant in New South Wales, appealed to riflemen at the smoke concert of the Metropolitan District Rifle Club’s Union, Sydney, on Tuesday of last week, not only to act as recruiting agents, but to volunteer themselves.
“No one can deny,” he said, “that the war is at a critical stage. The enemy are going strong, and they are not yet defeated. In France and Belgium they hold the same lines as they did months ago. They have succeeded in forcing the Russians back many miles and Warsaw is threatened. The Allies have to make a great effort, and John Bull cannot make a decisive pull unless the whole of Britain’s manhood responds to Lord Kitchener’s appeal. The call comes with increased force now, and greater sacrifices must be made by all parties.
“To give an idea of the number of men required, I would say that not only has a second division boon formed, but eight lots of reinforcements have already been sent to the late General Bridges’s division. Each battalion of that division has been sent more men as reinforcements than it numbered on leaving Australia.
“The Australian losses, killed and wounded to date, number 12,097, and the British at Gallipoli have lost 31,000. The total losses there, including the New Zealanders, is well over 45,000. The peninsula is one large fortress, and the Turks will defend it to the last gasp.
“You riflemen should all act as recruiting agents, and persuade all the men you know to volunteer. But that is not all; you should set the example, and go yourselves. Single or married, you should all stop into the breach if you are physically fit. It is a solemn duty.
“I regret to say that I have received letters from mothers and wives asking me to prevent their menfolk from going. The women, too, must make a sacrifice. It is not properly understood to what extent Germany’s men, women, and businesses have been organised. We should be, and are, capable of even greater organisation.” -Taranaki Herald, 5/8/1915.
MOTORING
[By Carburettor.]
Otago Motor Club meet the first Tuesday in the month. Secretary, Mr F. W. Oakden.
The annual meeting of the club will take place, in the Savoy on Saturday, the 18th inst., at 7.30 p.m
Captain Hankey has purchased an 8cylinder Cadillac which is an extremely powerful car. It is capable of running from 3 to 75 miles per hour on top gear, and I am told it will take any hill in Dunedin on top. Captain Hankey drove the car down from Christchurch recently.
As there are a number of inquiries concerning the providing of machine guns for our forces at the Dardanelles, I would like to see the authorities approached with a view to discovering whether they could make use of motor-cycle machine guns. Some time ago the N.S.W.. Government gave one of these now weapons an exhaustive test in the presence of Colonel Wallack (the district commandant), Captain Harrison, Lieutenant Shipley, and other gentlemen over rough country which included scrub and sand dunes. As for its shooting, 70 shots in 70sec at 400 yds were all placed on the target. ' The machine is a 6 h.p. New Hudson, with three-speed counter-shaft and free engine; the gun-carriage and necessary fittings were made by Messrs Bennett and Barkell, and was the first motorcycle machine-gun in Australia. I believe that the combination, has been adopted by the N.S.W. Government for their Expeditionary Forces, and that the New Hudson Company are now at work on a large order for this purpose. If the Australians want them, should not we endeavor to procure motor-cycle machine guns, too? -Evening Star, 7/9/1915.
Colonel Wallack, State Commandant of New South Wales, has just lost a fine young son in the Dardanelles. Captain Wallack, who only got his promotion from lieutenant in our Permanent Artillery in 1914, was one of the tall, athletic type of Australians who are keen at sports in every shape. From a youngster he had taken part in all manner of militia services, and at the age of eleven or so was a bugler. In the hours when other boys were wagging it from school, young Wallack was looking for his fun on local drill grounds. -Free Lance, 11/6/1915.
SYDNEY LETTER.
NOVEL EXPERIMENT.
BUSINESS MAN AS COMMANDANT. (excerpt)
From Our Special Correspondent. SYDNEY, November 11. An experiment is being tried in New South Wales which will be closely watched by all the other States in the Commonwealth. This is the appointment as District Commandant of an officer who is not only a competent but one of Sydney's biggest business men. Last week we said good-bye to Colonel E. T. Wallack, C.B., who has held the position of State Commandant here since 1908. The strain since the commencement of war was very hard on him, and then the loss of his !only son in action, no doubt, tended to add to his already weighty burden. He has left in charge of a transport for Egypt and in his place we have Colonel Gustavo Ramaciotti. -Sun, 17/11/1915.
AUSTRALIAN CASUALTIES (excerpt)
The list states that Brigadier-General Wallack, New South Wales Commandant, who went to Egypt on a health trip, is dangerously ill. -Ashburton Guardian, 21/1/1916.
The Federal Defence Department announces that Brigadier-General Wallack, who has been three times reported dangerously ill, is now progressing favourably in a Cairo hospital. He is still officer-commanding the New South Wales military district, but some time ago went to Egypt in command of a troopship, with the view of improving his health. He received his promotion from the rank of colonel while on the water. Brigadier-General Wallack is 59 years of age and for his services in the South African War received the Queen's medal with five clasps, a C.B. and was mentioned in despatches. -Evening Post, 22/2/1916.
WAS IT A HOAX.
PLOT TO REBEL IN 1914.
GERMAN INTERNEES IN AUSTRALIA.
Sydney narrowly escaped a little war all to itself in the last week of December, 1914. At least the military authorities fully expected an armed rising, and made all preparations to meet force by force. The facts of the case, as gathered by the Sydney “Sun” from reliable sources, are distinctly interesting, and throw a somewhat lurid light upon the state of conditions which existed in the Defence Department in the early days of the war. It was just about a week before Christmas Day, 1914, that startling information was laid before the officers of the intelligence branch.
INTERNEES TO RISE. It was well known that the internees at the Holdsworthy camp, while for the most part outwardly peaceful, were in reality bitterly resentful of their confinement. Among the Germans and other aliens in the camp was a sprinkling of dare-devil men, ready for any enterprise, no matter how small the chance of success or how imminent the risk of disaster.
All the world loves a dare-devil, and it was but natural that these reckless spirits soon attracted to themselves a considerable following — in fact, nearly every fit man at Holdsworthy was prepared to throw in his lot with them if a rising could be carried out, with a chance of creating even a diversion, wherein some of them might get away from the hated compound.
An imprisoned man is always a discontented man, as any "Digger” who spent a season at Sennelager, Munster, Karlsruhe, or elsewhere in Germany, can confirm. The apostles of “direct action'” had fertile ground upon which to sow the seeds of rebellion.
Of course, the officers of the Military Intelligence. Branch knew how things were at Holdsworthy, but they refused to believe that anything really serious could happen there. But one day a naturalised Austrian brought to them a startling story, which set them investigating, with the result that confirmation was obtained from an entirely independent source.
WARSHIP WAS EXPECTED. The story told by the Austrian, it true showed the existence of a deeplaid plan to get the Germans out of Holdsworthy with the co-operation of the battleship Von der Tann. The Von der Tann, it was said, had got away from Buenos Ayres, and was then approaching the Australian coast, being timed to arrive off the Sydney Heads on Christmas Day.
At this time there were perhaps 1500 men interned at Holdsworthy. Those in the plot were to rush the guards, and, breaking away from the camp, were to get motor boats, for which arrangements had been made with outside sympathisers, and traverse Georges River to Botany Bay.
At Botany Bay a. fleet of motor cars was to be in readiness to convey the desperadoes to Sydney, where, after burning and pillaging, they would set fire to the wharves, first having seized the ferry boats in order to get off to the Von der Tann.
It was said that, in addition to securing a fair supply of rifles and other offensive weapons, the aliens had arranged to have at a preconcerted point 300 or 400 Australian military uniforms. The main object of the uniforms was to secure admission to the port at Watson's Bay. and put it out of action.
TO RECAPTURE NEW GUINEA. It was no part of the plot to take possession at Sydney. The instigators acknowledged that as far beyond their prowess. But they reckoned that a thousand or so desperate men could do a great deal of harm, that the authorities would be taken by surprise, and would have an effective organisation in existence to deal with them, and that a large proportion of their number would, be able to get away on the battle-cruiser Von der Tann. which was believed to be in the Pacific.
The German warship was then to make off north, and, her crew reinforced by the escapees, was to engage in a desperate attempt to recapture German New Guinea,.
Such were the outstanding features of the plot as laid before the intelligence officers. The story was taken seriously, and was immediately brought to the notice of Brigadier-General Wallack, then State Commandant. He lost no time in formulating a scheme to foil the plotters.
TROOPS MOBILISED. There was at the time a body of troops camped Randwick, and these were brought in to Victoria Barracks so that they might be handy in case of emergency. On the night of December 23 a conference of intelligence officers and police was held so that a uniform plan of action might he adopted. One of the police difficulties was that they could not arrest any man in Australian military uniform unless he was committing or promoting a breach of the peace. It was feared that some of the Germans, in making the “advance” arrangements would masquerade in uniform. To guard against this it was decided that every soldier passing through the streets of Sydney on December 24 must carry a special pass, issued by an authorised officer, and that failing to produce such pass he should be arrested.
SCHOOL COMMANDEERED. Brigadier-General Wallack came to the conclusion that the troops were too far out of the city at the Victoria Barracks, and accordingly search was made for a suitable building wherein to house them, while awaiting the critical hour. Finally the Girls' High School in Castlereagh Street was selected, and here they were transferred in parties of half a dozen, so as not to attract too much public attention.
About 400 soldiers were assembled behind the high walls of the school and. cleaning out the copper, they brewed coffee and altogether made themselves comfortable until such a time as the enemy should put in an appearance. Some members of the Officers’ Training Corps came across from the Rose Bay Golf Club armed with rifles and ball cartridges and joined the gallant band.
Sentries were placed on all the gates, with instructions to let none past without due authority. As a result one or two of the permanent officers, including a well-known intelligence officer, narrowly escaped being bayoneted.
STREETS PATROLLED. Patrols were sent out into the streets to watch for and report the slightest sign of the expected rising. All returned and reported, everything quiet. It was confidently anticipated that if there was to be “'anything doing” advantage would be taken of the early hours of the evening, when the streets would be crowded.
At midnight the streets were almost empty, and the patrols reported that they could locate no one more desperate than an occasional bacchanalian reveller, engaged in wordy warfare with a mate, or making a strategic attack on a crayfish.
Then the order to retreat was sounded, and the troops marched back to Victoria Barracks. Here the sentries on guard reported the presence in the vicinity of certain suspicious characters. A heroic band of officers and men volunteered to reconnoitre the surrounding country, and in due course they reported that the intruders were a body of more or less inebriated engineers from the Moore Park depot. During the excitement of the search, one of the party discharged his rifle, and as the shot rang out the soldiers in the barracks sprang to arms, ready for the overdue action.
While all this was going on in Sydney, Light Horse patrols were thrown out along the road between Liverpool and Holdsworthy, and the county between the camp and the George’s River was carefully watched. But the internees made no move, and the motor boats failed to show up. So ended the “German Revolution in Australia.” Whether any rising was ever planned, or whether the whole thing was a gigantic "leg-pull.” will perhaps never be known. -Star, 2/9/1919.
NELSON CITY CADETS
INSPECTED BY MAJOR-GENERAL WALLACK
On Saturday afternoon the Nelson City Cadets were inspected by Major-General Wallack, C. B., G.M.G. There was a good muster, 210 n.c.o.'s and men and three officers parading. Major Huggins was in command. After the inspection, Major-General Wallack expressed himself very pleased with the efficiency and smart appearance of the Cadets. The Cadets are now training hard for the Passmore Shield, awarded to the most efficient company in the Southern Command, which the company has held for five years. -Nelson Evening Mail, 28/3/1927.
OUTSPOKEN WAR BOOK.
SIR G. MacMUNN'S MEMOIRS.
ANZAC A PYRRHIC VICTORY.
LONDON, August 5. "The Army in general is quite convinced that Gallipoli was the most damnable folly that ever amateurs were enticed into," writes Lieutenant-General Sir George MacMunn, who served on Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia in the Great War, in "Behind the Scenes in Many Wars," which is being published by John Murray. "The cardinal fact that the general staff jaunted to France and left nobody controlling the affairs of an Empire at war will be ever remembered.
"I have long felt that harder thinking and a stronger line taken by Sir Ian Hamilton would have prevented the venture."
The author describes Anzac as "a glorious and desperate struggle which resulted in a Pyrrhic victory," and he says Sir William Birdwood demanded to be reembarked, which was refused as impossible.
Referring to Major General E. T. Wallack, of the Australian Forces, ho says Lord Kitchener sent him to take charge of Mudros Island, with no headquarters or personnel to help him. Sir George says: "The poor dear was walking about with his pockets stuffed with pink telegrams, which he did not know what to do with."
Sir George asserts that he found "indiscipline, dirt and beastliness" in the British and Anzac lines at Mudros a fortnight before the Suvla landing, while everything in the French lines was orderly and organised.
Speaking of post-war conditions in Irak, he observes that "Colonel Lawrence had been pouring out his hot air after setting up jerry-built principalities on the Hashemite family. King Hussein was the only card we had to play, but those behind the scenes knew the futility of his family — rave Lawrence never so madly." -NZ Herald, 13/8/1930.
PERSONAL ITEMS
Flight-Lieut. Money arrived on Saturday afternoon in a Moth aeroplane from Wellington, crossing in just under 1 1/2 hours.
Some weeks ago a message appeared in "The Mail" covering a review of a book by Lieut.-Colonel Sir George MacMunn, "The Lines of Communication in the Dardanelles."
A paragraph stated: "We were received with open arms by MajorGeneral Wallack, commanding at Mudros . . . and the General's pockets were stuffed with pink telegrams. . ." At the time Major-General E. T. Wallack, residing at Tahuna, wrote denying that he had ever been on Mudros. It now appears that the army officer mentioned was Major-General Wallace, as is made clear in an article in the April number of "The Army Quarterly." Major-General Wallack has been in, ill health lately, and his many friends will join in wishing, him a speedy recovery. -Nelson Evening Mail, 15/9/1930.
Major-General E. T. Wallack, who has been in a private hospital since 20th January, is now progressing more favourably. -Nelson Evening Mail, 13/2/1931.
MILITARY FUNERAL.
Major-general Wallack
\(From Our Own Correspondent.) NELSON, 15th February.
The late Major-General Ernest Townshend Wallack, C.B., C.M.G., whose funeral took place at Nelson on Sunday afternoon, was accorded military honours. After a service in the Tahunanui Chapel the cortege proceeded via the Port to town, where at the Post Office it was joined by the firing party, the Nelson, Marlborough, and West Coast Regimental Band, and military mourners, including officers of the regiment and returned soldiers, and the Hon. W. W. Snodgrass, M.L.C., president of the Silk and Wounded Soldiers Fund. The cortege passed through the city via Halifax, Trafalgar, Bridge, and Milton streets, the band playing "Garland of Flowers."
The pall-bearers were Lieut-Colonel W. C. Harley commanding the 1st N.M.W.C. Regiment; Major E. T. Rowllings, N.Z.S.C. (who represented the G.O.C., N.Z. Forces); Major F. W. Huggins, Major C. M. Rout, and Major C. P. Jamieson, of the N.M.W.C. Regiment, and Lieut. C. W. Duke, late of the Australian Military Forces, representing the Commonwealth. The services at Tahunanui and at the graveside were conducted by the Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett.
At the conclusion of an impressive service the firing party fired three volleys, and as the last salute was given, the ''Last Post" and "Reveille" were sounded by Bandsman A. Smith. -Evening Post, 16/2/1933.
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