Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Harris presented himself for enlistment at Gladstone on 4th February 1916. He gave his address as Calliope, via Gladstone. The nearest recruiting centre was in Rockhampton and so it was that William was formally taken into the AIF on 21st February 1916. William gave his father; William Harris of Logan Road Mount Gravatt as his next of kin. This may be the same William Harris who was step father to Robert and Charles Evans (see above).

Upon arrival at Enoggera, William was initially placed in a depot battalion but was then drafted into the 4th Tunnelling Company. The attestation papers record that William gave his occupation as stockman, but his placement into a Tunnelling Company suggests that he had some mining experience, perhaps in the mines at Mount Morgan or Mount Chalmers near Rockhampton.

William travelled to Melbourne, and went into camp at Seymour where a number of tunnelling and mining units were being trained. When the 4th ATC was about to embark, William did not do so. There is no indication in his records of the reason except “Failed to embark.” Perhaps he was discharged as a second set of attestation papers are contained in his file, with a different number assigned.

William eventually embarked on 29th September 1916 for England and on the 27th January 1917 was taken on strength by the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company. Tunnelling and mining were a form of warfare that had arisen out of the static nature of the western front during 1916 and the first half of 1917; since it was impossible to advance through the German lines, perhaps progress could be made under ground.

The war diary of the 1st ATC reports that during the months of April and May, the company were engaged in digging galleries and tunnels under the German front line in the Ypres salient. The area of operations was a hill of spoil that had been created before the war when excavating a railway cutting. The hill; designated Hill 60 on maps was located at the northern end of a line of 19 mines that would all be detonated all at the same time on 7th June 1917.

The 1st ATC were engaged in digging tunnels, placing huge caches of explosives at the end of the tunnels, and listening intently for signs of German counter tunnelling. The work was tiring and stressful; with the constant threat of suffocation, carbon monoxide poisoning or tunnel collapse caused by German countermining. This heightened anxiety may explain perhaps William being charged with “Conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline.” He was given 7 days Field Punishment #2. The danger of mining is illustrated by a sobering statistic from the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company which was stationed on the Somme. The Hersin Communal Cemetery contains the graves of 55 Australians, 54 of them from the 3rd ATC.

The mines under Hill 60 were detonated, along with the 19 other mines along the ridge on 7th June 1917, thus opening the Third Battle of Ypres (often referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele). The craters created by Hill 60 and the nearby Caterpillar are still evident today.

A week after the firing of the mines, William was charged with drunkenness and received 14 days Field Punishment #2; and on 2nd July was charged with drunkenness again and having liquor in the billets, being given 21 days Field Punishment #2. It is recorded in the book about Hill 60 by Will Anderson that the men of the tunnelling companies were supplied with copious quantities of rum in earthenware jars marked SRD (service rum dilute) to compensate for the cold wet conditions in which they worked. William apparently learnt his lesson after three bouts of punishment, or at least kept his drinking a secret, as he faced no further charges for the duration of the war.

After the tense days at Hill 60, the Tunnelling Company was employed in constructing dugouts in locations that supported the advance towards Passchendaele. The dugouts and tunnels that would provide accommodation for HQ units and signals were well below the water table and had to be kept dry with pumps.

In 1918, after the German Spring Offensive, the tunnelling companies were moved south from Flanders to the Somme. The war had now become mobile and the need for tunnelling and mining was reduced. The tunnellers performed construction work on roads and railways as the front advanced to the east. When the war ended, William along with most of the AIF moved to England to await transport home. William was discharged from the army in Brisbane on 21st August 1919.

A final entry in his file is a letter from the Public Curator to Army records inquiring if William had made a will during his military service. The Public Curator advised that William had died on 27th December 1960.