Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Alston was a general labourer in Narrabri, when he enlisted in Gilgandra on 9 October 1915 and joined the Cooee March to Sydney. He was 6 foot tall and weighed 168lbs (76kgs), had a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. His sister, Jane Alston of Narrabri was his next of kin. He was born at Walgett on 12 May 1895 and was 23 years old.
A letter from William Alston was printed in The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate and reports his impression of the early stages of the Coo-ee March:
“We are having the time of our lives everywhere along the track. The people had most magnificent spreads and a most places a banquet at night….. I myself have had good times in Gil., but nothing to compare with this. If they keep on treating us like this I will have to get a new suit of clothes, as these will be too small. The crops from Dubbo to here look splendid.”
After completing the march, he went into camp at Menangle Park as reinforcement for the Camel Corps.
William embarked for Egypt on RMS ‘Mongolia’’ on 8 July 1916. After his arrival in Egypt, on the 19 August 1916 he was with the 1st Light Horse Training Regiment, until 7t September 1916, when he joined the Imperial Camel Corps.
The ICC remained an integral part of the force that advanced north through Palestine in 1917 and 1918. It suffered particularly heavily during the Second Battle of Gaza on 19 April 1917.He was one of 164 members of the Battalion wounded in the attack receiving a gunshot wound to his left arm and the side of his foot. Another 32 members of the Battalion were killed in the attack. He was hospitalised for his wounds and re-joined his unit on 17 July 1917.
In the operations conducted in November 1917 to destroy the Turkish defensive line between Gaza and Beersheba, William was again wounded by a gunshot and taken to hospital.
As the ICC moved into the more fertile country of northern Palestine, its practicality declined. The bulk of the ICC was disbanded in June 1918. William was transferred to the 14th Light Horse.
He was with his unit in Rafa and Surafend from February 1918 until July 1918 when once again he was sick and in hospital until October 1918. He was admitted to hospital 18 January 1919 at Kantara and then the 14th Australian General Hospital with an abscess in the groin. He was discharged from hospital in April 1919.
William returned to Australia on the ‘Dorset’ on 29 April 1919 and discharged from the army on 26 July 1919.
He was issued the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
William was 45 years old with a wife and 5 children when attempted to enlist in WW2 but was declared medically unfit. His wife was Ivy May Quinton of Gilgandra, a sister of fellow Gilgandra Coo-ee, Victor Quinton
In 1941 he requested a copy of his WW1 discharge papers and a replacement badge as they had been lost in a fire. At the time he lived at 46 Douglas St Redfern. In 1943 and at the age of 50 he died of drowning in Sydney Harbour. He is buried at Rookwood Cemetery, NSW.
William is on the Cooee Memorial Gateway at the Gilgandra Visitors Centre and the Virtual War Memorial.