First world war

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Slide 24

Unlike their counterparts in France and Belgium, the Australians in the Middle East fought a mobile war against the Ottoman Empire in conditions completely different from the mud and stagnation of the Western Front.

he light horsemen and their mounts had to survive extreme heat, harsh terrain, and water shortages. Nevertheless, casualties were comparatively light, with 1,394 Australians killed or wounded in three years of war.

Slide 25

This campaign began in 1916 with Australian troops participating in the defence of the Suez Canal and the allied reconquest of the Sinai peninsula.

In the following year Australian and other allied troops advanced into Palestine and captured Gaza and Jerusalem;

by 1918 they had occupied Lebanon and Syria. On 30 October 1918 Turkey sued for peace.

Slide 26

Australians also served at sea and in the newly formed flying corps.

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN), under the command of the Royal Navy, made a significant contribution early in the war, when HMAS Sydney destroyed the German raider Emden near the Cocos Islands in November 1914.

Slide 27

The Great War was the first armed conflict in which aircraft were used; about 3,000 Australian airmen served in the Middle East and France with the Australian Flying Corps, mainly in observation capacities or providing infantry support.

Slide 28

HMAS Sydney at full speed, ten minutes after the ceasefire was ordered in her battle with the German cruiser Emden.

Slide 29

9th Australian Light Horse bring in Turkish prisoners in the Sinai, 13 April 1916.

Slide 30

Australian women volunteered for service in auxiliary roles, as cooks, nurses, drivers, interpreters, munitions workers, and skilled farm workers.

While the government welcomed the service of nurses, it generally rejected offers from women in other professions to serve overseas.

Australian nurses served in Egypt, France, Greece, and India, often in trying conditions or close to the front, where they were exposed to shelling and aerial bombardment.

Slide 31

The effect of the war was also felt at home. Families and communities grieved following the loss of so many men, and women increasingly assumed the physical and financial burden of caring for families.