Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Thomas Courtis was 34 years of age, divorced with four children who were in his custody when he signed up to fight for King and country in Bendigo on July 10, 1915.

 He was a dairyman and had a small property on a share system near the Racecourse at Grassy Flat where he kept his horses and grew tomatoes. We know this from a court report in 1906 where a stray bull lead to an assault on William by a neighbour.  

William stated he had trained in the Bendigo Militia for 15 years and on enlisting he is given the role of ‘Driver’ in the 8th Field Company, Engineers.  

We know from the Honour Board, he was one of thirteen 'scholars' from the White Hills Methodist congregation who had signed up to the AIF.

 It is not known who took care of his four children whilst he went off to war however, he lists his mother as ‘Nearest of Kin’ on his enlistment paper.

He would embark for war from Sydney on HMAT Ceramic A40 on November 24,1915 arriving in Egypt joining the surviving Gallipoli campaign veterans. William was transferred into the 4th Field Company Engineers stationed at “Tel-el-kebir’ before embarking from Alexandria on June 6 arriving in Marseilles on June 11, 1916.  William and his company would have been trained up through France arriving at the British staging base of Estaples in Northern France.

Whilst performing duties at the front, William was in and out of hospital throughout 1917 with various ailments including tonsillitis, fever (Pyrexia) and Heart problems. His condition worsens in December and he was taken back to England on December 16, 1917. Here he is admitted to the Red Cross Hospital at Harefield in Winchester.

He would spend the winter in England and he was discharged from Hospital to Duty on March 18, 1918. William would have been in the thick of the action which saw the Australian five divisions thrown into line to successfully stop the German massive push in the battle for Amiens in April 1918 in an attempt to divide the British and French troops in Northern France. As with most AIF soldiers on the chaotic western front, William’s army records are short on detail in which battles and areas he served.

William would serve right through to the Armistace in November 1918, and most likely spent another winter in England before boarding H.T Orca at Liverpool on February 19, 1919 arriving home six weeks later in Melbourne on March 31, 1919.

William Thomas Courtis is remembered by the people of White Hills. The names of local men and lads who sacrificed their lives and those that were fortunate to return from the Great War are shown on the embossed copper plaques on the White Hills Arch of Triumph, at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens.

 Field Engineering Companies

Each Division had three Field Engineer Companies under command, numbered the same as the Brigades of the Division. During WW 1 the Engineers undertook a raft of tasks broadly divided into mobility, counter mobility and construction as well as survey and mapping, and specialised tunneling and mining operations.  The Field Companies' scope of works concentrated on the former rather than the latter.  

They undertook a broad range of tasks including preparation and supervision of the construction of defensive and gun positions, excavation of trenches and dugouts, erection of wire and other obstacles, preparation of command posts, signalling and water supply, field engineering, road and bridge construction and route maintenance.  They also undertook obstacle breaching and crossing.