DEATH.
SUTHERLAND — At Invercargill, on October 25, 1922, Robert Mills, dearly beloved husband of Lily Sutherland, and eldest beloved son of A. and D. Sutherland, 6 Grace Street; aged 33 years. 12/871 Main Body, Auckland Battalion. Interment at Dunedin — J. Fraser & Co., Undertakers. -Southland Times, 27/10/1922.
About People
One of the first New Zealanders to land on the Gallipoli peninsula, Mr Robert Mills Sutherland, died at the Southland Hospital on Wednesday. He joined the 16th Waikatos at the outbreak of war and was a member of the Main Body, Auckland battalion. When the battalion embarked for the landing Mr Sutherland was in the first boat. He was wounded in the shoulder on Gallipoli and sent to England for hospital treatment, returning to his battalion during the rest in Egypt prior to the embarkation for France. In the Somme battle of 1916 he was again wounded, this time severely, in the hip, and from that wound he never fully recovered, it being the ultimate cause of his death. When discharged from the army he tried working at his trade, that of an engineer, and accepted a position with the Southland Times Company, but was unable to continue owing to his war disability. Despite his severe handicap he was always cheerful and confident that he would eventually recover sufficiently to accept another position. However, other complications set in and proved too much for his constitution, already weakened by war service. He was a keen volunteer and was a member of the old Awarua Rifles, and while with that company gamed a reputation as a rifle shot, winning many trophies. He was married about a year ago and leaves a young widow. -Southland Times, 27/10/1922.
Robert Sutherland served in the Auckland Infantry Regiment and was first wounded on May 8, 1915, on Gallipoli. There was supposed to be a dawn attack on Turkish positions on that day, but bad staff work saw them well short of their starting point at dawn. After making their way up a winding creek bed there was a couple of hundred yards of open ground to cover under fire. The Regiment's Official History describes the attack: "The Colonel came along: "Well, boys, the orders are to go ahead, and we have got to carry them out." The Regulars were not encouraging. "What! You are going to cross the Daisy Patch — God help you!" They had tried the day before, with no success. "Yes, of course we are going!" and on the signal every man of the first line was over the parapet and down the slope. Then the hail of Turkish fire smote them. Riflemen and machine-gunners from the stunted pines on the right poured in a hell of fire. The enemy batteries back on Achi Baba picked up the range and swept the ground with shrapnel. Not a man of the first wave faltered, most of them went down, but a few crossed the little field, and in the scrub beyond formed up some sort of a firing-line. The second wave came on, and were shot down to the last man. A third wave tried to cross, but it seemed as though all the Turkish fire was converging on them, and the pleasant field of daisies was full of agony. Yet men got across somehow, somewhere — dashing a few yards from shallow cover to shallow cover, crawling inches at a time, changing direction slightly. Turks in front took their toll, and then before the gleaming bayonets reached them, vanished back through the scrub. The Daisy Patch itself was a tangle of Auckland dead and wounded. Even when all who could had crossed, it was swept by a hellish fire, and many a poor wretch was hit again and again."
Robert was admitted to a hospital ship which took him to Egypt. He had received a gunshot wound to his head.
He rejoined his unit the following July, to be evacuated again, this time with typhoid fever. After hospital time in Cairo and England he was released to a second-line role for a while.
His next hospital stay, back in Egypt in March 1916, was for a venereal disease. He embarked with the rest of the Regiment for France in May.
At the height of the Somme offensive, on September 18, Robert was wounded again. While in hospital he was further treated for his venereal disease. He was eventually declared unfit for service and discharged in October, 1917.
Robert Sutherland died of a cerebral abscess caused by tuberculosis.
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