RECRUITING SONG: Western Mail 17th September 1915
Can you with calm, unruffled mien
Peruse the war news daily,
And go about, on business keen,
And take your pleasures gaily?
Your countrymen in hundreds fall
Before Great Britain's foemen,
Will you not answer to the call,
You stout Australian yeomen?
For Blackboy Hill is calling, ever calling,
At Gallipoli our boys are falling, falling;
But we'll soon drive out the Turk,
If your duty you don't shirk,
So come and lend a hand, for Blackboy's calling.
Ernest was the son of John Clarke and Harriet Willis. He was born in Glatton, Hampshire, England in 1879. He was one of ten children. He was working as a Domestic Groom April 1911, emigrating sometime after this to Western Australia. He accompanied his two younger brothers (Hugh and Willis) and a younger sister (Hilda) on this voyage. Willis Edgar Clarke is my maternal Grandfather who married Emily Matilda Jordan.
On the 4th August 1914 The United Kingdom declared war on Germany.
Twelve days later on 17th August 1914, the first Western Australian recruits march into Blackboy Hill. During the course of the First World War, some 32,000 Western Australian men marched away to fight. The majority had one thing in common- their initial training took place at Blackboy Hill Camp, in the Perth hills.
They formed the Western Australia’s 11th Battalion, the first raised in the state, and such was the enthusiasm that there were far more volunteers than were initially needed. As a result, the first 1400 chosen were considered particularly fine specimens of Australian manhood. They embarked for overseas after just two weeks of preliminary training at Blackboy Hill.
They arrived in Egypt to continue its training in early December. The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915 and so was the first ashore at around 4:30 am. Ten days after the landing, a company from the 11th Battalion mounted the AIF's first raid of the war against Turkish positions at Gaba Tepe.
Ernest joined the AIF at Blackboy Hill, on the 5th July 1915, a little over 2 months after the landing at Gallipoli. He was to be part of the 9th Reinforcements to the 11th Battalion , who were heavily involved in defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead. In August, it made preparatory attacks at the southern end of the ANZAC position before the battle of Lone Pine. The 11th Battalion continued to serve at ANZAC until the evacuation.
Ernest departed from Fremantle just 3 months after enlisting, aboard the HMAT Horoata on the 5 October 1915. The HMAT A20 Hororata weighed 9,400 tons with an average cruise speed of 14 knots or 25.92 kmph. It was owned by the New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd, London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 11 September 1917. She took three months to travel to Egypt.
Ernest arrived in Egypt on the 8th January 1916 as part of the 9th Reinforcemnets to the 11th Battalion. Over that evening and the next, 17,000 British soldiers were evacuated from Gallipoli, bringing the three-week evacuation, and the campaign, to a close. In just over a week, 35,000 soldiers, 3,689 horses and mules, 127 guns, 328 vehicles, and 1,600 tons of stores had been taken off Helles. Approximately 508 horses and mules were slaughtered or left behind.
After 8 weeks in Egypt the 51st Battalion was raised in taking on the 11th Battalion Gallipoli veterans and the 9th Reinforcements. Reflecting the composition of the 11th, the 51st was predominantly composed of men from Western Australia. The battalion became part of the 13th Brigade of the newly-formed 4th Australian Division. In March 1916, the battalion sailed for France and the Western Front.
Arriving in France on 12 June 1916 and moved into the front line at Fleurbaix three days later. The 51st Battalion's first major engagements with the enemy occurred at the ruins of Pozieres and Mouquet Farm during the period August - September 1916. During these engagements, the Battalion reached its objectives but was unable to hold the captured positions. In less than three weeks the Battalion had suffered in excess of 650 casualties.
Ernest was killed in Action at the second battle of Mouquet Farm on the 3rd September 1916, he was 37 years of age. He had been on the battle field for 80 days. He is buried on the field, and is honoured at the Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France and the ANZAC Memorial in Kings Park Perth, WA.
