Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The 30th Battalion was raised in NSW. Its colour patch indicates that it is part of the 5th Division by the vertical rectangle. The yellow sidebar is unique to the 8th Brigade.  The purple sidebar indicates it is the second battalion of the four that belong to the Brigade.

The 30th was embarked to become the second battalion in the 8th Brigade of the 5th Division when the latter was raised in Egypt during the  the 'doubling of the AIF' in early 1916.   The 8th Brigade was a composite Brigade with a Battalion each from Victoria, New South Wales, and two 'outer States' Battalions, one drawn from Queensland / Victoria and the other from Western and South Australia. Until that point the Brigade composition was numerically sequential but that went somewhat awry with the 8th Brigade.

The 30th and its sister Battalions of the 8th Brigade began embarkation for France from Egypt in May 1916.  They were destined for an area known as "The Nursery" in the Armentieres sector of norther France, near two villages either side of the front line;  Fleurbaix on the Allied side and Fromelles on the German side.

Little did they realise that the first major action would go down in history as the most costly in Australia's rather brief military history.

Commanding Officers

Clark, James William (/explore/people/51749)

Abbott, Percy Phipps (/explore/people/262579)

Street, Frederick (/explore/people/306281)

Decorations

6 DSO; 1 OBE; 19 MC; 15 DCM; 84 mm, 3 bars; 4 MSM; 30 MID; 4 foreign awards

Battle / Campaign /Involvement

Fromelles (Fleurbaix) (/explore/campaigns/2) 19 July 1916 to 20 July 1916

German Withdrawal to Hindenburg Line and Outpost Villages (/explore/campaigns/21) 15 February 1917 to 3 April 1917

Polygon Wood (/explore/campaigns/19) 26 September 1917 to 3 October 1917

Dernancourt/Ancre (/explore/campaigns/35) 27 March 1918 to 30 April 1918

Villers Bretonneux (/explore/campaigns/23) 5 April 1918 to 25 April 1918

Amiens (/explore/campaigns/14) 8 August 1918 to 11 August 1918

St Quentin Canal/Hindenburg Line (/explore/campaigns/81) 28 September 1918 to 5 October 1918

We would particularly like to encourage individual historians researchers or members of unit associations to contribute to the development of a more detailed history and photographs pertaining to this unit and its members.

Please contact admin@vwma.org.au (mailto:admin@vwma.org.au) for details on how to contribute.