Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William John Anderson was born in the year of 1893 in the town of Corryong. His mother’s name was Martha, nee Doran (1868 to 1961) and his father’s name was William George Anderson (1870 to 1945). He had four younger siblings; Francis Edward Anderson (1896 to 1986), James Hercules Harold Anderson (1892 to 1936), Stella Elizabeth Anderson (1898 to 1983) and Valerie Anderson (1902 to 1973). All of his siblings attended the schools of either Cudgewa or Corryong. William attended the schools at Cudgewa, Towong and Berringama.

William was married in 1912 in Sydney, New South Wales, to a lovely lady whom we don’t happen to know the name of. He was working as a station hand. His next of kin was his father, William.

William enlisted on the 3 September, 1915, in Melbourne, Victoria. On enlistment, he was only 21 years and 10 months old and he was living in Towong, Victoria. He was given the service number 1532 and was put on strength with the 8th Light Horse Regiment.

Upon enlistment, William had black hair and brown eyes. He weighed 11 stone 2 pounds (71 kgs) and his height was 5 foot 8.5 inches (174cm). His chest diameter was 36.39 inches (92 cm) and his distinctive marks were recorded as a mole on his back and right buttock, four vaccination scars and one normal scar on his left arm that he had acquired at some time in his life. William’s religious denomination was Roman Catholic, as was all of his siblings and his parents. The most common religion for the soldiers from the Upper Murray Region was the Church of England. And on top of that, a lot of the men thought the pommy’s were definitely not the sharpest tools in the shed! William did most of his training at the Broadmeadows Camp near Melbourne. The image on the next page shows members of the 8th Light Horse with their horses during training at this camp.

William was a Light Horsemen in the 12th Reinforcements for the 8th Light Horse Regiment. The Light Horsemen were a section of the army that rode their horses to a certain spot, dismounted and then ran at the enemy, brandishing their weapons. The most common colours for horses in the Light Horse were chestnuts, browns and bays. These colours were preferred as they blended in with the desert surroundings quite well. The horse breeds that went to war were usually either Walers or Brumbies, which had been caught up in the high country. The brumby is named after the aboriginal word “baroomby”, which means wild in an aboriginal language. The Walers were named after their state of origin, New South Wales. The Walers were part Thoroughbred, part Stock horse. The result was a muscular, hardy, agile, versatile and speedy horse. The men relied on their horses and the horses relied on their men as well. The horses were the soldiers best mates. The bond between the horses and soldiers was incomparable.

William embarked on the 10 November, 1915 on the ship of HMAT A11 Ascanius sailing from Sydney. The trip took him across the Great Australian Bight to Fremantle, on to Colombo, in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), before finally disembarking at Suez, at the southern end of the Suez Canal, in Egypt. The trip took about six long, hot, weeks.

The unfortunate horses and men that died on the ship from typhoid and influenza were thrown overboard into the water that was lapping at the sides of the boat. Most of the men got a funeral, but the animals didn’t. They threw the deceased overboard as there was nowhere to keep them until they had reached land and got unloaded.

William wasn’t long in Egypt before he was admitted to the No 4 Auxiliary Hospital at Cairo suffering from mumps. This condition would see him in hospital for about a month after which he was taken on strength with the 45th Battery of the 4th Division Artillery and remustered as a gunner. Two months later he embarked on a troop ship at Alexandria, disembarking at Marseilles on the 10 June and joining the BEF (British Expeditionary Forces) in France.

After a period of illness (bronchitis) and injury (sprained right ankle), William transferred to the 4th Australian Division Ammunition Column as a driver. A driver was a soldier who drove a horse-drawn wagon around to give the soldiers ammunition. This would have been a hard job as the horses would have had to trust the drivers with their very lives because the horses were cantering and pulling a cart into the enemies line of fire. It would have been a strenuous job both for the horses and the men.

On 27 October, 1917, William received a shell wound to the right hand and right knee. He was transferred initially to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance and then evacuated to England to the Royal Herbert Hospital at Woolwich. What with recovering from his wound and being ill due to other causes, William would not rejoin his unit until mid-May of 1918.

On the 4 March, 1919, he marched out for return to Australia, embarking on the HMHS China and arriving back in Australia on the 8 June 1919, much to his delight. He was discharged 18 days later. William received the 1914-15 Star as did all the soldiers that joined the war in either 1914 or 1915. He was also issued with the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

William had three beautiful children during his marriage. Their names were Ruby, Ivy and one son. William John Anderson passed away in 1968 in Sydney, New South Wales. He was 75 years old when he died. He was buried in Corryong in the memorial section.

Extract from "Light Horsemen of the Upper Murray", Year 5 and 6 Project, Corryong College.