Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Daniel Cocking led an adventuresome life before he enlisted in the AIF at Blackboy Hill during September 1914, being amongst the earliest Australians to join up. He was an impressive and legendary soldier at Gallipoli until his life was cut short by a heavy German bombardment soon after arriving on the Western Front in France.

Dan was born in Ballarat during 1884, the son of Joseph and Frances Cocking.  During 1902 as an eighteen-year-old he was mining at place called Tullah on the West Coast of Tasmania, about 30 kilometres from Zeehan. Tullah has since disappeared from the map. He became a noted axeman in the area, when mining was in its heyday. In 1908 he took part in a private chopping match against another local champion, the event being worth 50 pounds, (worth over $8000 in today’s currency). Daniel lost the match but added his fame on the West Coast of Tasmania.

By 1912 Dan was mining or prospecting at Cue in Western Australia, as he was mentioned as playing football for Cue. He had gone from one remote town in Tasmania, being noted for its mountains, cool weather and rainfall, to another remote mining town in Central Western Australia, over 800 kilometres north east of Kalgoorlie, where it was exceptionally dry and very hot. His mother and father and some brothers and sisters were also living in Cue. He gave his occupation as 'prospector'.

Dan Cocking took part in the Anzac Day landing with the 11th Battalion. He wrote a letter home which was printed in West Australian newspapers, under the heading, ‘Why the Turks Ran Away’, “We landed here on 26th April, at 4 am. The Turks were in the trenches on the hills here, but they left when they heard the language used against them when we landed. The air was blue for a time. We are entrenched on the hills now, and they have got to shift us out before we leave. I will write more-later on.”

Another article appeared in the Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette, the Cue newspaper during December 1915, “Corporal Frank Chapman, an old Murchisonite, who left for the front with one of the first batches of soldiers, recently returned to Perth, having received a wound in the shoulder, which necessitates his being on sick leave for some time. Speaking of Private Dan Cocking he said the last time he saw Dan was in August, and he was then looking real well. He further said that Private Dan Cocking is considered the crack sniper of his regiment, and when you hear his rifle go, you can bet your life a Turk has gone out. Private Cocking has been offered stripes several times, but always declines the honour. Private Cocking with Sergt. Flynn were the two first volunteers from Cue, and so far, both have got through unscathed.” (764 Corporal Frank Chapman 11th Battalion, wounded in action 10 July 1915 and invalided to Australia)

Dan Cocking became one of the famous snipers of the 11th Battalion and is mentioned in Bean’s Anzac history and the history of the 11th Battalion AIF, for his work shortly after the capture of Leane’s Trench on 31 July 1915. In a letter to the Perth Western Mail during 1937, Captain Max Ulrich Hubbe M.C. (an 11th Battalion original) wrote, “In the Leane's Trench show Dan Cocking struck a patch during the Turkish counter attack and scored 21 off the rifle. I can vouch for that score, because Paddy Moran and I were loading for Dan and passing the rifles up to him.”

Cocking was evacuated from Gallipoli during September 1915, suffering from debility and dysentery. He rejoined the 11th Battalion on Lemnos during November 1915 before they returned to Egypt.

Early in May 1916 a letter appeared in the Murchison Times written by Sergeant Wiiliam Sexton, under the heading “The Hero of the Battalion.” “Sexton mentions that there are a lot of old Murchison boys in his battalion, amongst whom is Dan Cocking, of Cue, Dan was one of the first to enlist from Cue, and was right amongst the great landing at Gallipoli, and spent a long time in the trenches there. The letter says, ‘Dan is the hero of our battalion. He did some great work at Gallipoli.’ Good luck to him.”

In France Cocking was part of the intelligence section, or scouts, and he was again mentioned in Bean’s history and the Battalion history for an incident which occurred on the 23 May 1916, “On the night of May 23 a party of scouts from the 11th Battalion was out looking at the wire opposite "B" Company's front, and Pte. Drummond was well into the enemy's wire. Drummond was killed, his body falling on the German wire, where it was seen next day. It was resolved by his mates to bring in the body that night. After dark, a machine gun barrage was skilfully placed round that part of the German trenches, while the scouts crawled over to the wire and Dan Cocking cut the wire and freed the body, and with the help of Les Riches, tied a rope on it and pulled it clear. Then the body was brought back to the 11th Battalion lines and buried in the cemetery close to Cellar Farm.”

On 30 May 1916, in the line near Fromelles, four days before it was relieved from front-line duty, the 11th Battalion came under a fierce German artillery bombardment. Two officers and 36 other ranks were killed in an incessant hail of high explosive and shrapnel fire. Among the dead was Private Daniel Cocking, Gallipoli veteran. His body was recovered and buried in Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, not far from where he was killed.

His death was reported in the Zeehan and Dundas Herald in Tasmania, “Mr Dan Cocking, the well-known ex-West Coaster, who in other years was one of our best known and favourite axemen. He won many contests on the Coast, and our ‘sports’, who always got a fair run for their money when Dan stood on his timber will read the account of his death with regret tinged with admiration.”

The Murchison Times of Cue, Western Australia, also reported, “The bad news of the death of Private Dan Cocking, of the 11th Battalion, First Australian Division, was received in Cue on Tuesday evening. The message was received from the Minister for Defence, by the post master, Mr. H. G. Creagh, to the effect that Private Cocking was killed in action in France, on 30th May last, and asking him to convey the news to his mother, brothers and sister. The deceased who was 30 years of age, was with E Flynn, one the first to offer their services for Australia and the Empire from this district. He was at the historical landing at Gallipoli, and went right through the campaign. He was slightly wounded three or four times, but would not leave the trenches, until he was ordered away on sick leave which he put in on Lemnos Island. Private Cocking was then given the choice of returning to Australia on long furlough or to England, but he preferred to go on fighting and went to France. He on several occasions refused to accept officers' position which he has earned on the field. From the letters of his comrades, it is apparent that the late Private Cocking was most popular with his regiment. Only recently one writer said "Dan is the Hero of the W. A. boys." He was also one of the best snipers on Gallipoli. His many friends throughout the Murchison will regret to hear of his death, but at the same time are proud in the knowledge that he was a soldier and a man. The deepest sympathy is extended to his mother, sister and brothers in their bereavement. The flag on the Roads Board Chambers was half-mast in respect to the deceased. The deceased soldier resided for many years at Morgans and Murrin, and his friends on the northern fields will no doubt hear, with regret, the news of his death.”

During September 1916, another letter was printed in the Murchison Times, “A few days ago, Mr. Dave Watson received a chatty letter from Private George Boland, an old Cueite. The writer was somewhere in France, and had been promoted to the position of a trench health inspector. He served throughout the Gallipoli campaign, and was slightly wounded on two occasions but never left the trenches. He feelingly refers to the death of Private Dan Cocking (Cue), and states that there was never a braver or more popular soldier serving his country.”