Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sydney Frederick James Farrell was born in Solomontown, Port Pirie, South Australia. His mother was named Margaret Farrell. Sydney was only a young man and worked as a brickmaker at the age of 19. When he heard the army needed men with little hesitation, he joined the army. Sydney had little idea he would be involved in some of the most gruesome and bloodshed battles to this day including the fighting on the Western Front. On this fateful day, 1st of September 1914, he enlisted for the Australian Army at Morphettvale. Sydney also had previous experience in the army for a little under a year. Reasons he might have joined were patriotism, peer pressure and even adventure as he was only young. Later, Sydney embarked on the HMAT Ascanius A11 on 20th October 1914. 

Sydney began as an infantry soldier and worked his way up to a sergeant from the lowest position of a private. Sydney would’ve been a leader and shown leadership skills to achieve this role. He was most likely a strong, confident man. His responsibilities were for him to control and lead his squad which consisted of around to 10 to 11 soldiers. He also would have been a skilled soldier. Part of the reason for this was since he had previously trained and been involved with the army before the war. Being part of the 10th Battalion Sydney and his squad would’ve had to endure some of the most gruesome battles of the World War 1. Sydney was also a single man like many soldiers chosen in WW1. This would have caused him to have a strong mindset going into battle as he has less to lose than a married man with kids.

The 10th Battalion was one of the first battalions created. Sydney and his battalion had some basic training in South Australia. After this, they were then shipped to Egypt for more complex training until they took part in the Gallipoli campaign. The 10th Battalion made it further inland than any other battalion. Sydney was extremely lucky to have survived the Gallipoli campaign. Afted the evacuation he was promoted to Lance Corporal in January 1916 and to Corporal in March 1916, before becoming a Sergeant in August 1916.

After the survivors of Gallipoli had evacuated including Sydney the 10th Battalion reorganized and trained in Egypt until March 1916. The 10th Battalion was transferred to the western front in trench warfare all the way till the Armistice in 1918. The first major battle that Sydney would have undergone on the western front was the Battle of Somme. This was a battle between the French and British allies against the Germans. Australia was allied with the British. Australian troops including Sydney were involved in bloody, gruesome trench warfare at Pozieres, France. The battle of Somme was the largest battle on the western front. When the Australians joined the Battle in Pozieres it had become a series of attacks. The first day of the Battle of Somme was considered a slaughter so many men were killed. During this time the Australians and their allies battled hard and endlessly against the Germans. Although they had only pushed them back. The Germans put new tactics in play. The Germans had machine guns installed and artillery which obliterated men. Sydney and other Australian and allied troops were forced to run forward and be ferocious and fearless into machine gunfire. Although this is how many men ended. Sydney would have been running, gunshots flying by, the whistle of artillery shells coming down and fellow soldiers dying by his side. It’s almost a miracle for Sydney to have survived this bloody war. In less than seven weeks the three Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties at Pozieres. During the battle at Pozieres in France Sydney was wounded in action on 20th August 1916 and taken out of the front line and back to the medic’s station before rejoining the 10th battalion on the 3rd of October.

Whilst Sydney was fighting in the western front in France he was wounded again on the 7th May 1917 at Bullecourt and then sent to a Stationary Canadian Hospital in Etaples, France. This shows fighting on the western front was challenging especially getting injured soldiers into a safe place for recovery. He later rejoined from wounds in France on the 29th July. After two weeks, he went on leave to the UK and then spent the autumn of 1917 with the 3rd Training Battalion in England, meaning he missed the fighting at Ypres. He rejoined the 10th Battalion on 26th December 1917.

After this Sydney fought in France until on the 22nd March 1918 where he was wounded for the last time. Sydney suffered from a shrapnel wound in his shoulder, wrist and ankle which was a very serious injury. He was wounded whilst battling in England and submitted to a general hospital in Plymouth immediately. Shrapnel is fragments of a bomb, shell or object thrown out of an explosion which pierces through your skin into you. They are very painful and resulted in many deaths during the war. After this injury, Sydney never returned to the battlefields and was sent home a few months down the track in September after some recovery. This injury shows the severity and brutality of the war as it was very progressed, and weapons were being used that had never been seen before.

Sydney Frederick James Farrell returned home on 23rd of September 1918 to his mother, Margaret Farrell, who was eagerly waiting for his arrival. For families back in Australia having relatives and people close to you at war was very stressful as you received little information about what happened to them. When Sydney returned home to Australia, he received 3 medals. The medals were the 1914 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. Sydney was a lucky man as he survived the war all the way through from 1914 to 1918. These were the 3 medals that all soldiers who served in the Australian World War 1 army.