Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Researched and written by Yvonne Atkinson

Henry (known as Harry) Clyne Christian, born in Dublin on 28 June, 1888, was only one year old when his father, David Clyne Christian (1838-1889) died. He married Margaret Pattison (1843-1913) and together they had 10 children, Henry being the sixth son. His brothers and sisters were: John Clyne Christian (1868-1893), James Donald Christian (1870-1940), William David Christian (1872-1907), George Pattison Christian (1873-1954), Neil McPherson Christian (1876-1965), Elizabeth Christian (1877-1966), Robert Burns Christian (1879-1916), Margaret Christian (1862-1896), and Mary McPherson Christian (1885-1958). By the end of World War 1 the siblings were reduced to five and both parents were also dead.

In 1901, Scottish born Margaret Christian was living with her surviving six adult children plus Mary and Henry who were still at school. They were living at 11 Lower Mt Pleasant Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin. All the men of the family were working and contributing to the income of the family with jobs such as telegraph clerk, tailor s cutter, Solicitors General clerks. In 1911, five of the children were still living at the same address ranging in age from 22 to 40. The three men were all working as clerks; James at the Overseas Telegraphs, Robert at the Tax Office and Henry at a newsagent and stationers. George married and moved to Western Australia in 1911. Family history reveals that all the Christian boys were interested in sport particularly gymnastics and cricket with George representing Ireland.

Henry also immigrated to Australia as an unassisted migrant in 1914 arriving at Sydney on 19 November, 1914 on board the Orontes that would soon be leased by the Australian Government and converted to a troop ship. Henry started a new life as a farmer in the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Eumundi. The township of Eumundi came into being in 1891 with the construction of the railway line between Cooroy and Yandina. Its main industry was timber getting and in its heyday the town boasted two saw mills. Once the scrub had been cleared, farmers also cultivated the land with a variety of crops including sugar cane, pineapples, vegetables and many dairy farms.

On the 25 January, 1916, Henry enlisted with his mate, Theodore Augustus Drake, who had both lived in Rathmines, Dublin, and had been together in Eumundi for some time, in the 20th Reinforcements of the 15th Battalion. He was 27 years of age, single, 5ft 6 inches tall (167 cms) and weighed 136 pounds (61 kgs). His hair was brown and he had dark brown eyes. The 15th Battalion AIF was raised from late September 1914, six weeks after the outbreak of the First World War. Three-quarters of the battalion were recruited as volunteers from Queensland, and the rest from Tasmania. With the 13th, 14th and 16th Battalions it formed the 4th Brigade, commanded by Colonel John Monash.

In 1916 the 15th Battalion recruits were trained for six months at Enoggera, Brisbane. On 7 September, 1916 Henry boarded the troopship Clan MacGillivray at Pinkenba wharf, Brisbane, bound for England where he arrived eight weeks later. They did not move to further training at Rollestone, a small village in Wiltshire, England until 11th November. The men received further training in trench warfare before joining their battalion in either France or Belgium. He joined his battalion in the field on 6 January, 1917, in France, during the harsh winter of 1916-1917. The weather made life unbearable for many Australian soldiers who were not accustomed to such bleak weather conditions. The bitter winter was the coldest in living memory for soldiers in France and Flanders. Soldiers suffered from frostbite and exposure, causing them to lose fingers. The trenches did little to provide shelter or warmth from the extreme low temperatures, especially at night, when even clothes and blankets froze solid. The muddy walls became hard as bricks, and any food and water became almost impossible to eat. Vehicles also succumbed to the cold. Engines wouldn’t start, prompting soldiers to attempt to revive them using hot water bottles.

Henry was a regular letter writer to his family. He wrote every week and one such letter written on 1 December, 1916, informed his brother, George, in Perth that their brother Robert had been killed at Beaumont Hamel on 12 November. He was a Lance Corporal with the 10th Battalion, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and had taken part in the suppression of the Sinn Fein Rebellion in 1916. He had been in France and Flanders since August. Henry appears to have been a very private man as he had become engaged to a girl in Dublin, but it is not known what her name was or when and where they met. The letter reads:

Dear George

I have sad news to give you. I have just heard from home that Bob has fallen in action. I have no particulars so far as their battalion was badly cut up and only one officer left I believe. It was an officer of the Middlesex s who wrote home and just told them he had been at the burial and had the service read. His troubles are all over now poor chap and I m sure he died as he would have wished. Theysaid he was mopy and depressed till after he enlisted and after that he seemed satisfied and God knows best so we must not complain. I had other sad news just two days before getting this letter. I didn t mention to you that I was engaged to a girl in Dublin. Well anyway I arrived in England in time to hear that she was going into Mercers hospital to undergo an operation for appendicitis. She was in for over a fortnight during which time I should have got my disembarkation leave and been able to see her. The operation took place and no leave was forthcoming then pneumonia set in and she passed away next day without me being able even to see her though she knew I was in England and was waiting to see me. We don t know why God sends these troubles on us but it must be for our own good. I feel now that I would like to follow Bob and die an honourable death as he did but I mustn t be selfish I suppose and it would cause those remaining at home more anguish. There are plenty of others with worse troubles and we all have to bury our individual sorrows just now and battle for a common cause no matter how hardly we seem to be treated or how we dislike our job.

It is when one comes over here that one realises what the war is doing. Everything is changed and living is dearer than in Australia in fact you wouldn t think there was a war going on to see things out there compared to here. It is bitterly cold at present and we have had some snow already. The training is severe and the organisation inefficient, food at times very scarce and today (1st Dec and we landed on 2nd Nov) we received our first pay since landed 30/-. I can't write about these things just now however as my mind is too much occupied with my other troubles. Give my best wishes to Lily and the rest of the family and goodbye for this time. Probably when you get this I may be in France as I will volunteer for the first draft going over.

Your loving brother Harry”

When Henry joined his battalion they were billeted in Melbourne Camp near Mametz Wood, north east of the village. Mametz in 1916 was in ruins. The men were cleaning and carrying on with general improvements to camp and field training. Snow at this time was very heavy and the men were rested as much as possible. Henry had his first experience of the trenches on the front on 24 January, 1917. Two companies were on the front line and two in support lines. German artillery was active on the trenches and saps. Little damage was done and the men continued work on improving the front line and deepening the trenches. The fine weather enabled good observation of the Germans moving as well as enemy planes flying low over the lines. Unfortunately “friendly fire” from artillery killed one officer and three other ranks. On the 28 January the allied artillery was shelling the German lines all day and the aim of the retaliating German artillery was also inaccurate as their own shells were seen falling on their own lines. The men were standing the cold very well and were cheerful. They were relieved by the 46th Battalion.

In February 70 men from Henry’s “C” company took part in an attack on the German frontline. The line was entered and 50 prisoners were taken. The Germans counter attacked twice over the next couple of days and forced back the Australians to their original line. The Battalion was relieved and moved to Perth Camp where the men were rested and were refitted. The battalion moved twice during the month and particular attention was being paid to training of specialists, ie Lewis Gunners, Bombers, Signallers and Intelligence Section.

Heavy snow returned in March and the battalion continued training, practising attacks and time was spent constructing shelters and consolidating the front line.

As the winter passed, in an effort to shorten their lines and move into prepared positions, the Germans fell back towards the Hindenburg Line. After the Allies advanced to follow up the withdrawal, the 15th Battalion fought its first major battle of 1917 in early April, around Bullecourt, where the 4th Brigade attacked as a complete formation for the first time since Gallipoli.

General Hubert Gough of the British Army had been convinced to attack the Hindenburg Line without the support of artillery but with twelve tanks. He had been told that the tanks could achieve what the guns had failed to do cut the barbed wire, in some places up to thirty metres thick, in front of the Hindenburg Line. Australian high ranking officers reminded him that Australian soldiers had never acted with tanks before and tanks had never been used in the manner proposed. The attack was timed to start at 5.30 am on 10 April, 1917. Upwards of 4,000 Australian soldiers began moving to their designated positions in front of the Hindenberg Line, in anticipation of the mechanical monsters arrival.

But the tanks failed to show. At around 5.30 am the battalion officers were informed that the attack had been postponed. Instead, they were to return their troops to the safety of the sunken road near Noreuil. With first light approaching they rushed back “like the departure of a crowd from a Test match” . Not all arrived safely back. Enemy observers spotted the last groups of Australians sprinting for their lives towards the sunken road and opened up with artillery fire. The bungling that had resulted in this grotesque fiasco was evident to everyone and confidence in the higher leadership was badly shaken. It was due more to good luck than to good management that the retirement had not ended in an Australian shambles.

Concluding that another attack was highly probable, enemy soldiers who were preparing to move north were instead ordered back into the forward trenches in front of Bullecourt. General Gough was unfazed by the absence of the tanks and doing exactly as the Germans had anticipated, he ordered another attack, scheduled for the same time the following morning. Australian officers greeted the news of the fresh attack with incredulity. The 15th Battalion was to attack on the right behind the 14th. At 3.00 am the first tank arrived and was followed an hour later by another two. Many of the tanks had mechanical problems and others became stuck in the gluey mud leading to the front. At 4.30 am the tanks moved forward. Almost immediately enemy artillery opened up, flares lit no man s land, making the slow moving tanks an easy target for their gunners.

At 4.45 am the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade advanced across no man s land. Two tanks had been hit and were on fire with another stuck in mud, leaving the infantry to force their way through. Fighting desperately, the Australian infantry managed to gain a brief hold on the German line but were driven out by fierce counter-attacks. Under heavy artillery shelling, machinegun fire, mortar and grenade exchanges, and even hand-to-hand fighting, the Australians suffered terrible casualties. They were finally forced to withdraw. After less than 10 hours of fighting, 2,339 soldiers from the 4th Brigade lay dead or wounded, out of 3,000 committed. In one day the 4th Division was essentially wiped out as a fighting force for months. This single day caused great bitterness among Australians towards General Hubert Gough and the newly developed tank weapon.

400 from the 15th Battalion had been killed by the end of the attack and only 52 men from the battalion's assault force remained uninjured. 1,170 Australians were taken prisoner - the largest number captured in a single engagement during the war.

Henry Christian was one of the causalities of this battle. He was officially listed as Missing since 11 April, 1917 and not until 8 November, 1917 was it confirmed that he had been Killed in Action. In June, 1917 his family in Dublin had not heard from their brother since his last letter of 8 April, 1917 and seeing that he had been a regular weekly letter writer they made an enquiry with the British Red Cross Society in Dublin. Several letters had been returned to them marked Missing . The society in London, who was investigating for their Dublin branch, was trying to find details of his death for his family.

Back in Australia the news of Henry s death filtered down via the Casualty Lists. His name appears on the 362nd Casualty List as Killed in Action in The Queenslander, Page 6, dated 8 December 1917. It is a sobering list to see so many names of Queenslanders killed or missing on the day of this battle in this newspaper.

Henry s body was never recovered and his name is memorialised at the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France. On the last Saturday of April the village of Bullecourt still holds a festival in honour of the Australians who fought to retake their village. His family have not forgotten him either as his Dublin family will honour Henry and his brother, Robert, this year (2015) at their church in Dublin on the anniversary of their deaths.

Back in Eumundi fig trees were planted in the main street. They were planted in remembrance of the twenty fallen soldiers from the district who perished during the First World War. These glorious trees are considered a living war memorial. They have been heritage listed. Initially they were protected by a white picket fence around each tree but only one tree on the Corner of Gridley Street and Memorial Drive has a fence around it today. Many of the trees have long ago outgrown their picket fence.

Today visitors to the Sunshine Coast's popular Eumundi markets often admire mature figs, camphor laurels, lillypillies, flame trees and a jacaranda along the town's main thoroughfare without knowing their significance. The Eumundi Women's Patriotic Committee raised £100 for the planting of 20 trees, representing local lives lost in WWI. Between 1914 and 1918, 87 men from Eumundi and the surrounding district enlisted