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From Elizabeth Heffernan

Australian War Stories: Lost boy Bill Stray’s road to Battle of Fromelles

In 1894, a toddler was found wandering the streets of Sydney, “homeless.” By 1915 and that lost boy found himself in one of the darkest episodes of Australian history.

Driver William “Bill” Stray had a curious road to battle.
Twenty years before Britain declared war on Germany, in 1894, a young Bill was found wandering the streets of Botany, Sydney, “homeless, friendless and unknown.” Authorities estimated him to be about 16 months old.

He was given the surname “stray” by the state and shuffled between foster and boarding homes for most of his childhood, before settling in Cessnock in the Hunter Region of NSW, where he worked as a colliery employee from age 13.

Fast-forward to June, 1915. Bill, now 22 — though he would never be sure of his exact age and birthday — made the 150km journey from Cessnock to Sydney to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force.

Those streets he had wandered as a lost little boy now led him to war.

Bill listed a friend, a Mrs Mary Forward of Hall Street, Cessnock, as his next of kin.

On 8 October 1915, Bill embarked for war on HMAT Warilda, bound for training in Egypt.

Bill was intended as a reinforcement for the 1st Battalion, but was transferred to the newly-formed 53rd as part of the reorganisation, called the “doubling,” of the AIF following Gallipoli.

Existing battalions were split in half and topped up with new recruits, like Bill, to create the 4th and 5th Divisions.

Six months later, those Gallipoli veterans side-by-side with the new recruits set sail for France.

The 53rd Battalion had a baptism of fire on the Western Front, taking part in the devastating Battle of Fromelles on July 19, 1916. The attack was intended as a diversion from the main offensive against the Germans on the Somme, but it was a deadly feint.

Over the course of a single night, Australian forces suffered 5500 casualties, including more than 2000 dead. It is believed to be the greatest loss by a single division in 24 hours in World War I, and one of the darkest episodes of Australian history.

Young Bill was wounded, a GSW or “gunshot wound” that did not appear to be too serious, as he was back with his battalion by end of August. But his grandson, Peter Hammill, recalls how “Bill carried a piece of shrapnel next to his spine for the rest of his life.”

Peter continued, “I understand during his time fighting in Europe he [Bill] was gassed with some form of chemical, this didn’t seem to affect his lungs but left him with a skin condition … I remember he was always treating his hands and feet with some kind of tar-like solution and wrapping his arms and legs with bandages after catching his skin on something that you and I would not give a second thought about.”

After Fromelles, Bill and the 53rd Battalion fought at Second Bullecourt and Polygon Wood in 1917. Between these offensives Bill was made a driver for the battalion. This role often involved perilous work, as the men drove horsedrawn transports to ferry supplies to and from the front lines. To avoid detection by the enemy, this work was often done at night, on treacherous roads.

n 1918, the 53rd Battalion notably took part in battles at Peronne, Mont Saint-Quentin and Belincourt during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. Belincourt was the final battle fought by Australian forces in World War I. The 53rd Battalion was so depleted by this time that it was organised into two companies, rather than the usual four.

Bill returned to Australia in April 1919, and was discharged from the AIF on July 18. He went back to mining in Cessnock, where he met and married Doris May Stray (nee Maher) in 1923.

The couple had two children, William Bernard (known as Bernard) and Jill May.

He was a regular RSL attendee after the war, and both he and his wife were very involved in the caring of wounded and disabled veterans of both World Wars.

“He was well known in the area,” his grandson Peter remembered. “Everyone referred to him as ‘Pop Stray’.”

For someone like Bill, with no material or personal possessions during the early years of his life, building something so permanent must have been its own reward. And he did it all carrying that shrapnel in his body: simply another testament to add to the pile of his strength of character.

Later in life Bill suffered from osteoarthritis in his hips. “I was always amazed how he limped around but never complained,” grandson Peter recalled. “He just did what he had to do.”

Grand daughter Julieanne Hammill agrees: “Without exception, we all have wonderful memories of what Pop provided us. A safe, caring, loving and learning environment.”

“He was a lovely man … he’d actually educated himself, he taught himself how to read and write, he had no formal schooling … so given everything that he was served up, he was remarkably successful and just a lovely man.”

“Pop’s lasting legacy is of course, his family. We are extremely proud of his life and achievements. Quietly, I suspect we all desire to be just a little more like the man we loved and who loved us unconditionally.”