Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert Macquarie Nicoll #1028 25th Battalion

Robert Nicoll was born at Clune Station, Beaudesert to Elizabeth and Andrew Nicoll. Robert was employed as a porter with Queensland Railways and also served with the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery for 8 years prior to his enlistment. Robert reported to the Brisbane recruiting depot in Adelaide Street on 23rd March 1915. He stated at the time that he was 27 years old and nominated his mother as his next of kin. Robert was living with his mother (his father had died some years before) at Whites Road, Wynnum in a house named “Dugandan.” Robert reported to Bell’s Paddock Camp at Enoggera having been allotted into ”A” Company of the 25th Battalion with the rank of Lance Corporal.

In May 1915, the 25th Battalion’s initial training was complete. The entire battalion in company with three companies of the 26th Battalion and a contingent of Light Horse marched from Alderley to the city, down Queen Street to Fortitude Valley. This was the first occasion that the people of Brisbane had to farewell departing troops and huge crowds lined the route. After returning to camp, most men took the opportunity for a few days home leave and on 29th June, the battalion boarded a train for the wharf at Pinkenba. The movement of troops was supposed to be secret but many thousands of well-wishers lined the wharf as the men boarded the “Aeneas” which sailed to Sydney and then on to Egypt.

By the time of the 25th Battalion’s arrival at Gallipoli on 11th September, the entire front had settled into a kind of stalemate after the failures of August at Suvla Bay and Chunuk Bair. Robert would have been kept busy with carrying supplies from the beach up to the forward area as well as making improvements to trenches and saps. Robert was promoted to the rank of corporal while on Gallipoli. Once winter approached, the position at Anzac was untenable and over a series of nights, the Australians withdrew. By the 12th December, the Australians were gone.

The evacuated troops from Gallipoli returned to camps in Egypt to prepare for the next phase against a larger and more heavily equipped enemy; the German Armies on the Western Front. The 25th Battalion had escaped Gallipoli with very casualties and after a month or two or rest and reinforcement, was the first Australian Battalion in France, arriving in Marseilles on 19th March 1916.

The usual practice for new battalions arriving at the front was to give them a period of acclimatization in the front line on the French Belgian border near the city of Armentieres. The ground in this area was so boggy that trenches could not be dug; instead extensive breastworks provided cover for both sides. The nature of the ground also precluded any large scale infantry attacks. The men of the 25th settled in to their new surroundings enjoying the novelty of piped water in the front line as well as the cafes in the villages in the rear areas which served egg and chips and vin rouge. Many of the 25th Battalion men were farm boys and they relished the opportunity to help the local farmers with the summer harvest.


The somewhat idyllic sojourn at Armentieres was shattered with the launch of the Somme offensive by the British on 1st July 1916. Casualties on the first day of the Somme Offensive amounted to 60,000; of which 23,000 were killed. The “Pals” battalions of Kitchener’s New Army had been mown down in the face of machine guns and artillery; but with hardly any gain in territory. In spite of the horrendous losses, Haig had no option other than to push on. The three Australian Divisions available were ordered south from the French border to staging areas around Albert. The 1st Division AIF was put into the line on 22nd July to capture the village of Pozieres. Once the village was secure, the 2nd Division, which included the 25th Battalion, was tasked with capturing two lines of trenches on the summit of the ridge just above the village.

On 29th July, the 25th Battalion along with the other 3 battalions of the 7th Brigade attacked the first of the trench lines. The attack was repulsed. When the battalion was finally withdrawn from Pozieres, only 300 odd men answered their name at roll call (from a battalion strength of over 900). One of the casualties was Robert Nicoll, Killed in Action. Reports from witnesses to the Red Cross Inquiry Service stated that Robert was the corporal in charge of a group of signallers. Witnesses saw his body lying in no mans land after the second failed charge on 29th July. Robert’s file contains a hand written note; “Buried Pozieres battlefield” under the direction of an army chaplain.

Over the next few months, personal items of Robert’s were returned to his mother in Wynnum, including a developing tank, photographs and film. Robert also had a camera but that was not recovered.

The Pozieres battlefield apart from being heavily pounded by artillery in July and August of 1916 was fought over twice more in the course of the war. Any isolated grave such as Robert’s simply disappeared.

Today at the Australian Memorial at Pozieres there is a stone which reads in part :

The ruin of the Pozieres Windmill which lies here was the centre of the struggle in this part of the Somme battlefield in July and August 1916. …..It was captured by Australian Troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war.

Like many of the young men who “fell so thickly” at Pozieres, Robert Nicoll is listed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux along with 10,000 other Australians who fell in France and have no known grave.