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William was the son of Mary Jane McConnell nee Stonehouse and Hugh McConnell He married Catherine  Amelia Clifford at Noorat, Victoria. He worked as a dairyman at Kolora on McConnell family properties.

 He served in the 24th Battalion, before returning to Australia. He was promoted to Corporal, then Sergeant. He was a Gallipoli veteran. He sailed back to Australia on the 24th June 1916 after a knee njuyan synovitus. His wife Amelia of "Mytle Grove" Kolora applied for an Anzac Medallion for him in 1967.

Ref WW1 Service record and Magill family Tree.

Born at Mepunga, near Warrnambool in South West Victoria  25 December 1885, the son of Hugh and Mary Janet (nee Stonehouse) McConnell.  His aunt Elizabeth Magill assisted at his birth.  His father, Hugh was a native of Ballyvernestown, County Antrim, Ireland and had migrated to Australia on the SS Great Britain in 1874 with his parents and a large family group.

William attended the Allans Forest State School for a number of years.  Soon after the family moved to Kolora, he enrolled at the Kolora State School 5 October 1897.    

William, known as Billy, went to work on the family farm when he left school, probably at the end of 1898.  He’d have been just under 15 years old when his father, Hugh’s Bacon Factory started operating in 1900. So, Billy’s early working life would have been spent assisting on the dairy farm and in the Bacon Factory.

From a young age he showed talent as a musician.  Billy played violin, and the bagpipes.  He was a member of the Warrnambool Orchestral Society, and the program from the ‘Nelson-Trafalgar Centenary and Grand English Night’ (Oct 19 1905) lists him among the violinists in the orchestra.  He’d have been 19 years of age at the time. At a young age he also joined the Noorat Pipe Band and played with this band at local events.

Billy was a keen sportsman, and he was a member of Kolora’s cricket and football teams in the pre-war era.  He filled various roles in the Kolora Cricket Club, including player (wicketkeeper batsman), committee member and selector.

While his name does not appear in the passenger list, it is believed that he accompanied his parents on their trip to Ireland in 1907, possibly as a member of the orchestra.  He certainly played in the orchestra on the ‘Otranto’ in 1911. 

In 1910 he was best man (and witness) at two of his sisters’ weddings at Kolora: Lil’s marriage to Ted Wood in January, and Maime’s marriage to Jack Maskell in April.  He was also the best man when his cousin, Thomas David McConnell (known as TD) married Adeline Rollo in February of that year. 

In 1911, at the age of 25, Billy accompanied his parents, Hugh and Mary Janet, aunt Rosanna (nee Holden) McConnell (wife of Tom) and his sister, Annie Lucas Mitchell McConnell (known as Dot), on a trip to Britain.  They embarked on the Orient Liner ‘R.M.S.Otway’ from Port Melbourne on the afternoon of April 5th (The ‘Otway’ had started its return voyage from Brisbane on 22 March 1911 on what was advertised as the ‘Coronation Trip’).

The ‘Otway’ travelled from Melbourne to England via Adelaide, Perth, Colombo, the Suez Canal and Naples.  Shipboard entertainment included sports (quoits, tennis, tug-of-war, pillow fights, potato races, egg and spoon races etc.), fancy dress balls, concerts, and parlor games etc.  A surviving photograph shows Mary Janet and Dot taking part in a tug-of-war competition.  Billy was particularly impressed by the quality of the musicians.

The ‘Otway’ reached England in May 1911, and Billy, together with his parents, aunt and sister, travelled on to Ireland, spending much of the time visiting friends and family in and around Larne, and sightseeing.  It was Hugh’s second trip ‘home’ since moving to Australia in 1874.  They visited Hugh’s birthplace at Ballyvernstown, the old McConnell home, and Belfast city. 

A surviving letter from the time, written by Walter Creek, a fellow passenger on the ‘Otway’ from Lincolnshire, England, was addressed to ‘William McConnell Esq., Ballyvernstown, Larne, Ireland.  So it appears that William (and probably the other family members) stayed at Ballyvernstown, possibly in the old McConnell home.  It is known that his aunt Rosanna stayed with her HOLDEN relatives for some of the time.

By November Billy, Hugh, Mary Janet and Dot were back at sea in the South Indian Ocean on the return voyage to Australia, travelling on ‘R.M.S.Otranto’.  Billy joined the Otranto’s orchestra, playing violin at balls and concerts.  The ‘Otranto’ arrived back at Melbourne in November 1911.

At least one significant family event occurred during their absence, the birth of the Maskell twins, Harold Robert and Norman John.  Ted and Lil’s first child Gillam Albert McConnell Wood was born soon after their return on 6 December 1911. 

In October 1912 his father bought allotments 4 and 5 at the ‘Noorat Park’ subdivisional sale for Billy and his brother, Robert John, known as Bob.  The allotments totaled just over 183 acres, and the property fronted the Darlington Road.  The two brothers worked this land together for three years.  When they bought it the property was overrun with thistles and they worked hard to keep them down.  Rabbits were also a problem.

On the 3rd of April 1915 Billy McConnell and Nathaniel McWilliam (known as Nat), who had recently emigrated to Australia from Ireland, rode their bikes from Kolora to Camperdown and enlisted in the AIF.  Billy was 29 years old, while Nat was 25.  Billy, a dairyman, was described as being 5ft 9 ¼ inches tall, 168 lbs in weight, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.  He had a tattoo of two hearts on his right forearm.  Nat McWilliam was described as being 5 ft 4 ¼ inches tall, 136 lbs in weight, with a medium complexion, grey eyes and auburn hair. He also had a tattoo, a ‘Scotchwoman’ in red and black.

Billy had met Nat during his trip to Ireland in 1911.  Nat came out to Australia just before the 1st World War and was living with Hugh McConnell’s family at Kolora.  He’d been born at Browndodd, Larne in County Antrim and his occupation was recorded upon enlistment as Engine Fitter and Engine Driver.  He’d served a seven year apprenticeship in Belfast at a ship building works.

Clarrie McConnell, Billy’s youngest brother, recalled seventy years later that when he first arrived at Kolora Nat used to say that ‘Billy was Shamrock mad’.  Billy enjoyed working with wood, making ornate boxes, and frames for pictures and mirrors.  At least one of the boxes was designed with an Irish theme, with shamrocks carved into the surface and painted green.   He also enjoyed playing Irish tunes on his violin.

With Billy heading off to war, he and his brother, Bob McConnell decided to lease out their property on the Darlington Road, and David James was their tenant for the next five years (till 1920).

After five weeks training at Broadmeadows Billy and Nat, together with Jack Sadler, another friend from Kolora, embarked on HMAT Euripides on 10 May 1915 from Melbourne for overseas service with the 24th Battalion.  Nat was recorded as No. 481, Billy 502 and Jack 535 on the roll.  On arriving in Egypt they received a further three months training before proceeding to join the British Expeditionary Forces at Gallipoli.  Billy and Jack embarked on August 30, while Nat set off to join them on September 3.  (Billy’s brother, Jim, had been taken off Gallipoli a week earlier in a hospital ship, suffering from enteric fever / dysentery)

Billy was promoted to the rank of Corporal upon landing at Gallipoli.  He first went into the line 7 September 1915, occupying trenches around Courtney’s Post.  On the 10th they moved to White’s Valley and took charge of the ‘Lonesome Pine’ position.  The Battalion Diary records that there was intermittent sniping and bombing from the Turks, day and night, and that the Battalion’s first death on active duty occurred on 13 September when Pte Frank Keighery (no 445), a 20 year old printer from Lang Lang in Victoria was killed at Lone Pine.  During the weeks and months that followed Billy McConnell, and the other men of the 24th Battalion spent periods on ‘Garrison duty’ at Lone Pine, rotating with periods in reserve at White’s Valley (roughly two days in the front line, followed by two days in reserve).

The men endured heavy shelling and bombing on the 19 September when Sgt Major Tippett was killed.  They were kept busy repairing the trenches and parapet.  The first case of shell shock in the Battalion was reported soon after.  Some men of the 24th Battalion were employed tunneling from Lone Pine towards enemy positions.  On 23 September the enemy fired machine guns continuously into the parapet, killing three men and wounding seven.

By the end of September ‘great sickness’ had struck the 24th Battalion.  112 men were in hospital, more than ten percent of the unit’s strength.  Reinforcements arrived to replace them.  From October the Battalion supplied fatigue parties to work on the beach at ANZAC Cove on a regular basis.  The enemy started using ‘buckshot’ shells at Lone Pine, apparently in an attempt to put the Australian’s trench periscopes out of action.   The Australians retaliated with howitzers, and a ‘Catapult machine’ which fired percussion bombs.

On 16 and 17 October the Turks bombarded Lone Pine heavily, causing great damage.  The position had been increasingly well fortified by the men of the 24th Battalion, so casualties weren’t high this time.  The enemy also found and blew up some of the Australian’s tunnels there, killing at least one Sapper.  In addition to bullets, shells and shrapnel, the men had to now contend with cold too.  The first casualties due to the effects of the cold were reported in the 24th Battalion.  In addition, cases of Diptheria and Scarlatina were reported.

Jack Sadler became ill, and was hospitalized, suffering from pyrexia, 14 October 1915.  He was taken to Egypt, but his condition worsened, and he contracted influenza and enteric fever.  Jack was eventually sent back to Australia to recover.  (After recovering, he served in France for six months before being killed in action 4 May 1917). 

Nat McWilliam was also sent to hospital, sick, on 27 October 1915, suffering from cellulitis of the right hand, and a poisoned finger.  He was taken to Malta by hospital ship.  It was serious enough to keep him out of the rest of the Gallipoli campaign.  (Nat went on to serve in France with the Field Company Engineers for two and a half years).

Billy McConnell remained with the 24th Battalion at Gallipoli until the evacuation.  He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in November.  The 24th Battalion continued to strengthen their position at Lone Pine, setting up machine gun posts, and tunneling.  The pattern of shelling, bombing, and firing continued. 

The men built their own winter quarters at White’s Valley while in reserve.  The 24th Battalion received increasingly regular attacks of stick bombs at Lone Pine, and occasional enemy aircraft were seen overhead. On 27 November 1915 the weather was summed up in the Battalion Diary by one word, “freezing”.

Very severe casualties were reported on 29 November as the men were heavily bombed while relieving the 23rd Battalion, 72 NCOs and men killed or wounded.  27 men were killed during the month of November.  On 1 December the following entry was recorded in the Battalion Diary- “Stood to arms, but no attack, busy until relieved by 23rd Battn to White’s Valley.  Enemy dropped a few shells in bivouac, men very tired, many still very shaken from the shelling”.  Several men were suffering from frostbite and exposure after long hours spent digging out comrades buried by the shelling at Lone Pine.

15 December 1915 orders for the planned evacuation by the ANZAC forces were ‘promulgated’, and Lone Pine garrison duty was taken over solely by the 24th Battalion.  On 18 December 6 officers and 255 members of the 24th Battalion withdrew from Lone Pine in two parties and were evacuated.  On 19 and 20 December the remainder of the Battalion participated in a highly organized gradual withdrawal from Lone Pine, a remarkable achievement considering that in some places the Australian and Turkish trenches were as little as 15 feet apart. The last men left their post at Lone Pine at 2.40 am, and the last lighter left the North Beach about 4.00 am.

Billy McConnell spoke little about ‘The War’ in later life, but he was known to take pride in the fact that he was among the last of the Australian troops to leave Gallipoli.  He spent Christmas Day 1915, which was also his 30th birthday, on the island of Mudros, and disembarked at Alexandria (from Mudros) 7 January 1916.  The effects of spending three months (on and off) at Lone Pine began to tell.  On 28 January he was sent to hospital at Telel Kebir, with influenza.  On 3 February he was transferred to No. 2 Australian General Hospital, Ghezirah, suffering from Synovitis.  His knee was badly injured, and he spent the next two months in hospital. 

He was discharged from hospital and on 3 April he was transferred to the Anzac Police Corps, in which he served for two months at Abbassia (or Abbasiyya), a district in northern Cairo.   Abbassia was the site of the Australian Detention Barracks which had been opened late in 1914 to deal with the high level of indiscipline and crime amongst the troops serving in Egypt.  The Military Police, or Provosts, were hugely unpopular among other members of the AIF, so Billy must have found this a difficult period of time.  He was transferred back to the 24th Battalion (evidently at his own request) at the end of May, before once again being admitted to hospital suffering from Synovitis. 

On 24 June 1916 Billy McConnell sailed for Australia from Egypt for treatment on his left knee, his condition was described as ‘Internal derangement Knee’.  He was discharged at Melbourne 23 August 1916, and returned home to the farm at Kolora.  By this time his older brother Jim was also back home, having been discharged for medical and family reasons on 9 May 1916.  In the meantime Hugh, one of his younger brothers, had not long embarked for overseas service (1 August 1916).

Billy received a ‘Welcome Home’ at the Terang Railway Station when he’d first arrived back on Saturday 22 July on the evening train.  He was met at the station by a large crowd of people, and the Terang Brass Band played ‘Home Sweet Home’ and ‘Australia will be There’.  An official welcome was given by Cr J.Bradshaw, the Shire President.

His knee continued to give him trouble, but Billy tried to resume a normal life.  His ability to work on the farm, and play sport was limited by his injury for several years.    Prior to the war he had walked, or ridden his bicycle everywhere, but he was no longer able to do this, so he bought an Indian motorcycle with his army pay.  No doubt riding his motorcycle provided a means to let off steam too.   He also found an outlet through his music, and joined Fuller’s Orchestra which played at many Terang and district dances and other events.   In some ways his life was put on hold for a while.  Over time though his knee improved, and he was able to put in a full day’s work again, and he was back playing cricket by the early 1920s. 

Before the war it appears Billy planned to settle on his half of the block he and his brother Bob had bought on the Darlington Road.   He was an expert dry-stone waller, and he built a wall from the Darlington Road to the back of the property, dividing it in half.  In 1915 their uncle, Tom McConnell from Noorat, had built a weatherboard house for Billy on what was intended to be his part of the property.  Billy and Bob had built a dairy, and cattle yards, but Billy was never to settle there.   In 1925 Billy leased his part of the property to his youngest brother, Clarrie, who married Catherine May Burnett on 29 July that year.  Within two years, Billy had sold his land to Clarrie.

Billy was best man and witness at his younger brother, Harold Thomas’s marriage to Myrtle Gladys WHITING at Kolora 1 June 1921.  He again filled the role of best man and witness when his old friend, Nat McWILLIAM, married Ada Florence BURNETT at Northcote 10 March 1923.

He turned 40 on Christmas Day 1925.  It appears he lived at home with his parents for the next few years, until buying a 40 acre property in Kolora which he named ‘Glenarm’.

On 26 April 1928 Billy McConnell married Catherine Amelia Clifford (known as Kitty) at Noorat.  Catherine was the daughter of John Harriman and Mary Helen (nee Matthews) Clifford.  Billy and Kitty settled at ‘Glenarm’.  Two children were born to the marriage, Brian Clifford McConnell and Mary Helen McConnell.  Billy supported his family through dairy farming.  In the mid-late 1930’s his father, Hugh, bought Blain’s farm nearby on the Mortlake Road, and Billy leased it from him, increasing the number of cows he could milk, and thus the income he could make.

Despite having children relatively late in life Billy enjoyed the role, and always seemed to find time to join them for cricket, and other games in the back yard.  He had a good sense of humor and was known as something of a practical joker.  After being involved in the organization of the ‘Back to Kolora School’ celebrations held in April 1942, he sent many long letters to present and former Kolora residents, imposing ‘fines’ for a wide range of ‘offences’, fund raising for the War effort.  ‘Offences’ ranged from non attendance to causing ‘disturbances’ in the hall at the ‘Back to’.  He signed the letters ‘William McConnell, Truant Inspector’.

In 1952 Billy sold ‘Glenarm’ and bought Lot 5 at the ‘Troup Subdivisional Sale’ at Kolora, consisting of 172 acres, bluestone house (which had been built by William Harris Matthews in 1875/76) and woolshed.  The property was known as ‘Myrtlegrove’.  The buildings and gardens flanking the driveway were in need of work, and William thrived on getting the place back into good order.

Billy McConnell died at home at ‘Myrtlegrove’, Kolora 22 July 1961 at the age of 75.  It was 45 years to the day since his ‘Welcome Home’ at the Terang Railway Station.  His funeral service was held in the Noorat Presbyterian Church and he was buried at the Terang Cemetery, where an R.S.L service was held, and a piper played the Lament.  Kitty McConnell survived him by twenty years.  She died at Terang 19 November 1981, aged 82.

Sources:

Australian War Memorial:
   First World War Embarkation Rolls
   First World War Nominal Roll
   24th Battalion AIF Unit Diary

Kolora State School Roll

National Archives of Australia
   Personnel Service Records

Terang Express (Newspaper)
   Various dates

Public Records Office of Victoria
   Shipping Records
   Land Records  

Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.  
   Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates