Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William was born in Jul 1894 at St Cryus (near Montrose, Scotland)  to William Tulloch and Jemima Tulloch.  There were 3 children in the family, all boys, of which he was the youngest. The name is spelled both Tulloch and Tullock in the military records.

 William came to Australia in early 1914 on a labour sponsorship program undertaken by Ted Hudson of Butler.  Ted had already sponsored William's two elder brothers, David and Robert (Bob) in 1913 as well as his step brother Alexander Dowell. All of the boys enlisted in the Army at the outbreak of WW1, William enlisting on 7 Dec 1914 at Oakdale (SA); at the time he gave his employment as farm labourer.

On enlistment he was sent to 2nd Depot Battalion (Bn) at Mitcham for initial training before being posted to 3rd Reinforcements/16th Bn.    

The 16th Bn AIF was raised on 16 Sep 1914, six weeks after the outbreak of the WW1. Three quarters of the Bn was recruited in Western Australia, the remainder in South Australia. The recruits were first united when the Bn concentrated in Victoria. They embarked from Melbourne for overseas on 26 Dec 1914  on HMAT "Ceramic". After a brief stop in Albany (WA) the Bn proceeded to Egypt arriving in early Feb 1915, where they undertook further training.

The Bn landed at Anzac Cove  late in the afternoon of 25 Apr 1915. A week after the landing the 16th was thrown into the attack on Bloody Angle suffering heavy casualties. It was during this action that William joined his Bn and was taken on strength. It must have been a very testing time to be joining your unit.

From May to August the Bn was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead. It was during this time that William was wounded in action (WIA) on 18 Jul 1915 and was evacuated to 1st  Australian Casualty Clearing Station with "shell wounds to the body". Later that same day he died of wounds (DOW) and was buried at Beach Cemetery, which is located on the Southern section of Anzac Cove.

To give some idea of the rudimentary medical assistance that was available at the time it is interesting to note that Beach Cemetery was established adjacent to the Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) for the burial of those who died at this facility before they could be evacuated to the Hospital Ships waiting offshore. It was not an uncommon practice throughout WW1 to establish cemeteries adjacent to CCS.

Again indicating the difficulty of communication at this time, William's parents, who still lived in Scotland, were not notified of his death until 26 Apr 1916, almost a year after his death. His parents were refused compensation for the loss of their son, the reason being because he had emigrated to Australia and therefore they did not rely on him for support.

His name is recorded on the Tumby Bay Memorial.

Medals and Decorations

1914-15 Star                                                                                          

British War Medal                                                                                 

Victory Medal