Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

 
#183  O’BRIEN  Phillip                        9th Battalion
Phillip O’Brien was born at Beaudesert although his family home was located near Rathdowney. Presumably, Phillip attended school at Rathdowney. When he reported for enlistment on 22nd August 1914, 18 days after war was declared, Phillip advised the recruiting officer that he had served with Citizens Military Forces as well as spending time as a serving police officer with Queensland Police. It is possible his police posting was in the Yarraman / Nanango district which might explain the presence of his name on the Nanango War Memorial. Phillip stated his age as 22 years and named his father of Rathdowney as his next of kin.
Selection criteria were quite tight in those first few weeks but Phillip easily passed the test as far as height, 5’11”, and weight, 11 stone. He was posted to Enoggera where he was one of the first to be accepted into the 9th Battalion.
The 9th Battalion was the first Queensland battalion to be raised in 1914 and recruits came from as far away as Cairns, Charters Towers and Northern New South Wales. Uniforms and equipment were issued and rudimentary training begun. The Brigadier of the 3rd Brigade travelled to Brisbane to inspect the troops in early September. The battalion paraded through the streets of Brisbane prior to boarding the transport “Omrah” at the Pinkenba Wharf on 24th September 1914. The embarkation roll shows Private Phillip O’Brien of “B” Company. Phillip had allocated 4/- of his 5/- daily pay to a bank account. The “Omrah” departed Brisbane the next day.
 
At the outbreak of the war, the Australian Government was greatly concerned with the German presence in the Western Pacific; particularly the ships of Admiral Graf von Spee’s Cruiser Squadron which has slipped out of the home port of Qingdao in China and was somewhere in the vastness of the Western Pacific. Until the location of von Spee’s fleet could be established, coastal shipping along the eastern seaboard of Australia was potentially at risk. The Australian convoy containing the AIF would have to wait in southern ports until the location and destination of the German cruisers could be established.
 
The “Omrah” made it into Port Phillip Bay unharmed and the battalion disembarked from their transport in Melbourne and spent from the 1st to the 16th of October in training, with the other battalions of the 3rdBrigade. On the 17th October, the battalion was inspected on the Melbourne Town Pier by Prime Minister Andrew Fisher. Once von Spee’s ships were reported to be near Samoa and heading east, it was safe for the Australian troop convoy to depart. The 9th Battalion re-embarked on the “Omrah” and sailed for King George Sound, Albany, to rendezvous with the rest of the first division transports before sailing for Egypt on 1st November.
 
During the voyage, one of the convoy escorts, HMAS Sydney, encountered the German Light Cruiser Emden at the Cocos Islands. Emden had detached herself from von Spee’s squadron and was creating havoc in the ports of India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Emden was despatched with superior fire power from Sydney and the convoy continued unmolested. The convoy arrived at Suez on 29th November and sailed through the Suez Canal to Port Said and then on to Alexandria where the battalion disembarked and marched into the Mena Camp on the outskirts of Cairo. While the convoy had been at sea, news was received that Turkey had entered the war on the side of Germany and Austria Hungary
 
The three brigades of the AIF, some 1500 men, set about engaging in a training regime first on company and battalion levels and then brigade manoeuvres.  The work was hot and dusty but one saving grace was that Mena was so close to Cairo that men could easily take a tram into the city, whether they had a pass or not, to sample the delights on offer. To the Australians, many of whom had little experience of the world beyond their farms and country towns, Cairo and its exotic environment must have presented a memorable spectacle.
 
As the months at Mena passed, it became obvious that the Australians were being trained to become part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. On the 1st March 1915, the 9th Battalion and the other three battalions of the 3rd Brigade boarded transport ships for a journey across the Adriatic to the Island of Lemnos where the invasion force for the Dardanelles was being assembled. When the 9th arrived in Mudros Harbour on 7th March, the battalion disembarked and set up camp on the harbour shore from which position, the troops began to practice boat and landing drills.
 
The command of the entire AIF had been assigned to General William Birdwood (known universally as Birdie). Birdwood’s plan for the landing on the Gallipoli shore just north of Gaba Tepe was for the 3rd Brigade to be the covering force (first ashore) with the 9th Battalion taking up position on the far right of the line, closest to Gaba Tepe and the Turkish artillery emplaced there. The 9th Battalion men boarded the battleship HMS London late on the 24th April. The ships carrying the covering force slipped silently out of Mudros Harbour and headed for their designated station off the Gallipoli coastline. The men from “A” and “B” companies, who were the first wave climbed down the scaling ladders to a destroyer which took them closer in shore before boarding lifeboats which in turn were towed by steam launches to within a few hundred yards of the beach. All of this was achieved in complete silence and when the first of the 9th Battalion men waded ashore around 4:30am, there was very little opposition from the Turkish defenders. The 9th had been given the task of advancing as far as a third ridge across the peninsula. No reconnaissance had been possible prior to the landing, and being faced with almost vertical cliffs, the possibility of reaching the first day’s objective was exposed as being a mere folly. The situation on the beach at Anzac was chaotic and some men set about charging up the steep terrain without orders from an officer while other mingled about on the beach waiting for someone to take charge. The situation was so bad that senior commanders on the beach, including Birdwood, wanted to evacuate immediately. The senior command, out at sea on a British battleship, were informed that an evacuation could result in up to 50% casualties. The men on the beach and hills were ordered to dig in.
 
The war diary of the 9th Battalion is lacking in any details of those first few weeks at Gallipoli but the diary records that there was heavy fighting as well as shelling with shrapnel from the Turkish guns on the heights. On 5th May, the 9th was relieved from the front line and went into bivouacs in Shrapnel Gully. On 7th May, while still in the rear area, Phillip O’Brien was wounded in the right knee by a shrapnel burst. He was taken down to the beach at Anzac Cove and from there was taken out to a transport ship, the “Lutzon”, which was operating as a makeshift hospital ship. Phillip died of his wounds that same day and was buried at sea with a New Zealand padre attending the service.
 
A few personal possessions were forwarded to Phillip’s father, James, at Rathdowney who also signed for his son’s medals; 14/15 Star, Empire Medal and Victory Medal. Phillip had named his sister, Bridget, as the sole beneficiary of his will. Phillip O’Brien has no known grave. His name is listed on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli among the names of those buried at sea and those who are missing.