Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Herbert Thomas Timmins was born on the 26th of October 1894 and was the 11th child of William and Elizabeth Timmins from Curragundi in the Gwydir district of New South Wales. His father was a selector in the district.

Landing at Gallipoli in August of 1915, Private Herbert Thomas Timmins was one of many young Australians who volunteered to serve their country in World War 1. In the space of five months, he was to see first-hand the horrors of war, discover the true meaning of mateship and ultimately pay the supreme sacrifice defending the freedom of his King and Country.

On 28 May 1915, one month after the first landing at Gallipoli, Herbert enlisted at the age of 20 years 8 months. He came from a well-respected pioneering family from Bullarah, Moree NSW. Working on the family property as a station hand, he was William and Elizabeth Timmins’ first son to enlist. Whilst no evidence has been found to clarify his reason for enlisting, perhaps the 139 names of volunteers from the Moree District published in the local newspaper that month, may have been a contributing influence.

Herbert was 6 foot, weighed 148lbs, of dark complexion, brown eyes, dark brown hair, a jovial lad with a high-pitched voice and easily met the 1915 entry requirements of the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.). He was assigned to 2nd Reinforcement, 20th Battalion, Liverpool, NSW 4 June 1915, which came under the command of the 5th Infantry Brigade.

Two weeks later he proceeded to Egypt on board the Transport Ship HMAT Kanowna A.61, part of the Ninth Convoy that left Australia from Sydney, NSW on the 19th of June 1915. On the eve of his departure, his mother presented him with a silver watch. During the voyage, he was vaccinated against smallpox and inoculated against typhoid fever in preparation for his destination.

Once disembarked on the 26th of July, Herbert’s Battalion along with other units proceeded by troop trains to Palisades Kofta, near Zeitoun and then marched to Aerodrome Camp at Heliopolis. The following day his unit began training in ‘musketry, protection, entrenching and attack,’ until orders were received on the 14th of August requesting the 5th Brigade to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.

Those days spent in training would prove invaluable in what he was about to face in the coming months. Herbert did not elaborate on his time training, but instead gave a cursory remark about the country when he wrote his brother, ‘I had a good time the two days I was in Egypt. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but one has to do what one is told in the army.’

Herbert’s battalion boarded the Troopship “Saturnia” heading to Lemnos, where they regrouped and awaited orders. It was recorded in the battalion diary: ‘Arrived after uneventful voyage, troop ship very dirty, no mess utensils or cleaning gear. Food indifferent.’

On the 21st of August, Herbert was finally heading to ANZAC Cove. At 0200 hours the following morning, after a two-hour wait off-shore, the troops were loaded into barges and sent ashore. Once landed confusion ensued grouping the troops into their companies and units in the dark, owing to poor instructions from the Disembarkation Officer. Eventually, the Unit was sent to Reserve Gully awaiting marching orders that would send them to Bauchop Hill. Casualties were reported in the Unit Diary with men wounded by snipers and stray bullets. Although not in full combat, Herbert no doubt would have felt the imminent danger of his situation.

Orders were received on the 25th of August, to march to Walkers Ridge and relieve the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at Russell’s Top. Herbert’s battalion provided relief for the 8th, 9th and 10th Light Horse in the trenches. Movement between positions was dangerous, ‘Just prior to moving out a shell burst & made causalities of 4 men.’ The 5th Brigade Diary notation the following day indicates the 20th Battalion was successful in ‘drawing heavy fire from enemy’ indicating ‘trenches held by enemy were strongly manned.’ At the end of August when the offensive was slowing down, their instructions were to remain in defence of Russell’s Top.

Two months prior to Herbert’s arrival at Gallipoli many men fell sick. Most cases of sickness were due to dysentery and a type of enteric fever (paratyphoid A and B), which was immune against the typhoid inoculations previously given. Although protocols were in place to improve the sanitary conditions in which the soldiers lived and fought; the abundance of flies, attracted by rotting corpses; and trench lice added to their grief. By August/September, the corps were waging a losing battle controlling the spread of these contagions within the trenches. Reinforcements coming in were basically covering the numbers of soldiers leaving sick.

Herbert soon succumbed to a bout of gastroenteritis and was transferred to the Casualty Clearing Station on the 27th of August, and as per military procedure was removed from Gallipoli and transported to Mudros until deemed fit for duty.

Whilst sick, Herbert managed to write home and gave a chilling account of one close call: ‘I have been in the firing line several weeks. In one big charge, my bayonet was broken, and rifle knocked clean out of my hands. I thought the time had come for me to go under but luck seemed to be in my way. I don’t know what --- would say if he was here and saw some of the sights I have seen since I have been here. It’s enough to make the hair stand on your head.’

In one letter, he acknowledged reading the newspaper his mother had sent and commented,’…quite a number were enlisting’. He mentioned seeing a couple of his school mates in the trenches, not recognising them at first because, ‘we are so dirty and our beards are so long.’

These extracts give us insight into how Herbert was possibly coping with his circumstances. Although not in-depth, his letters show he was matter-of-fact in describing what was occurring around him.

He was to spend one month recuperating before taken back on strength from the 2nd Reinforcements on the 28th of September 1915, and rejoining his unit at Russell’s Top, in occupation of the trenches yet again. (A handover report regarding this fighting position dated early Dec 1915 states: ‘Russell’s Top is a most important section in the line of Defence. This section has no second line and if the Hill is taken Anzac is lost. Therefore, the utmost carefulness, watchfulness and readiness is required.’)

Herbert died two weeks later, on the 19th of Oct 1915 defending this line. Information contained in five eye-witness statements concurred that Herbert was on sentry duty when struck by a stray bullet, resulting in a head wound. All reported seeing him return to his post after the wound was attended to and at that time he was smiling and commented in passing to one witness, ‘… that the doctor said it was only a scratch’. Although their reports differ for the time of death, each witness has stated that sometime later he collapsed suddenly and died. In one report, it was implied that shrapnel may have shifted onto his brain causing death. These written accounts illustrate Herbert’s strength of character, sense of purpose and commitment to his duty.

The local Vicar informed the parents of Herbert’s death one week later. Herbert’s body was laid to rest above Anzac Cove in Shrapnel Valley.

He is remembered on the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour and was granted the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal. His name was added to the Honour Tablet located inside the Church of England, Church at Moree, NSW.

A letter written to Herbert’s mother in 1916 expressed the anguish felt for the loss of a friend. ‘… I cannot write any more now as words cannot express how I feel; … some day in the dim future if I am spared, I will tell you more of your noble son, and my true and loyal friend.’

At 3:57 am on Sunday 29th October 2017, the name of Pte Herbert Thomas Timmins was projected onto the exterior wall of the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT.

One hundred years on, Herbert’s sacrifice has not been forgotten. A life cut short in pursuit of freedom; a selfless act to protect King and Country. He now rests peacefully under the open fields of a foreign land.

Source Material:

1) NSW Birth Certificate Herbert Thomas Timmins 21656/1894.
2) Service Record of Herbert Thomas Timmins B2455, National Archives of Australia.
3) ‘The Late Mr. Timmins’, Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW: 1901-1940), 9 November 1915, p. 2.
4) ‘The Roll of Honor’, Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW: 1901-1940), 14 May 1915, p. 2.
5) ‘Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files’, Australian Red Cross Society, 1914-18 War, 1DRL/0428, AWM
6) Australian Imperial Force, ‘Orders for Australian Imperial Force’, Issued with Military Order No. 359, 1915, (Reprinted with Amendments, M.O. 279/1916), pp. 18-19.
7) Greville Tregarthen, Sea Transport of the A.I.F., Melbourne, Naval Transport Board, 1920, p. 118.
8) C.E.W. Bean, ‘The Story of ANZAC: from 4 May,1915 to the Evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula’, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Volume II, Chapter XIII, Eleventh Edition, Sydney, 1941
9) 20th Infantry Battalion Unit Diary, AWM4 23/37/1, July-August 1915,
10) ‘The Late Private Timmins’, Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW: 1901-1940), 7 January 1916, p. 3.
11) 5th Infantry Brigade Unit Diary, AWM4 23/5/2, August 1915
12) Australian War Memorial, “Units – 20th Battalion”, https://web.archive.org/web/20110313200906/http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11207.asp, Accessed 20 April 2017.
13)  ‘The Late Private Timmins - letter dated 25 September 1915’, Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW: 1901-1940), 7 January 1916, p. 3.
14)  ‘The Late Private Timmins - letter dated 9 October 1915’, Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW: 1901-1940), 7 January 1916, p. 3.27.
15) Australian War Memorial, ‘Russell’s Top Handover Report’, December 1915, p. 19. https://www.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RC09950-ENTIRE-0-.pdf, Accessed 20 April 2017.
16) ‘Personal Notices’, Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW: 1901-1940), 2 November 1915, p. 2.
17) The A.I.F. Project, “Herbert Thomas Timmins’, https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=301663, Accessed April 2017.
18) ‘Roll of Honor’, Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW: 1901-1940), Tuesday 1 August 1916, p. 2.
19) ‘Moree Soldier’s Death’, Inverell Times (NSW: 1899-1954), Friday 14 January 1916, p. 5.