Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ormonde Leslie Petherick; an Australian Private of WW1

Life Before the War:

Ormonde Leslie Petherick, Private 2759, was born on the 17th of August, 1882, in Collingwood, Victoria. He was raised as a Presbyterian, a predominately Scottish religion, by his mother, Christina Humphrey, and father, Ernest James Petherick. He grew up on Napier Street, Victoria, alongside his three brothers; Ernest, Vernon and Edward.

Ormonde descended from Scottish/English sea-roving stock. His grandfather on his mother’s side was Captain George Humphrey of the Aberdeen. On the other side, his great-grandfather was Edward Jarman Petherick who fought as a Rear Admiral in the Battle of Trafalgar on the famous battleship, The Fighting Temeraire.

Prior to WW1, Ormonde and his brother Ernest moved to Adelaide some point before 1910 where he was employed by Bagshaw & Sons Cultural Implement Works as a storeman in Curry Street, Ernest becoming a Presbyterian Minister. During this time, Ormonde served for a part-time military unit called the South Australian Scottish Infantry Brigade from 1910 to 1914 alongside Ernest who further became an Army Chaplain. The SA Scottish Infantry was later a part of the 27th Infantry Battalion in 1915.

Life in Service:

Ormonde enlisted in Keswick, South Australia, just under a month of his 33rd birthday. Sadly, he enlisted on the 23rd of July, 1915, which was exactly a year before he was killed at the Battle of the Somme on the 23rd of July, 1916. He enlisted to be part of the 27th Battalion, a predominately South Australian unit, part of the the 7th Brigade. He left Adelaide for Egypt on the S.S. Geelong on the 2nd of August, 1915.

The 27th Battalion made a short stop in Albany, Western Australia, before completing their journey to Egypt where Ormonde proceeded to join the 10th Infantry Battalion, another predominately South Australian unit, in Zeitoun.

However, on the 28th of February, 1916, Ormonde was injured whilst training in Serapeum, Egypt. Despite there being no detail provided into how serious his injury was, it must have been easy to cope with since just two months later, the 10th Battalion embarked for the Western Front.

Life After the War:

Ormonde fought with the 10th Battalion in the Battle of the Somme in Pozieres Village, France. This was the first battle he had fought in since he did not take part in the battle at Gallipoli. The Australians first fought in Pozieres in late July of 1916. Unfortunately, Ormonde was killed in action on the 23rd of July, 1916, in the Battle of the Somme after fighting for only a few days.

The unit diary of the 10th Battalion details what happened on the day of Ormonde’s death in the Battle of the Sommes:

• Captain McCaan tried to enter the enemy’s trench.
• He was wounded and was forced to retreat because of the enemy’s heavy machine gun fire.
• Lieutenant Blackburn went to the 10th Battalion’s location and saw the amount of men dying as they tried to push out the enemy.
• The enemy began to bombard them, leaving their trenches obliterated into piles of dead bodies, dirt and craters.
• Troops were called for reinforcement, but they were delayed because there were no trenches for them to be protected by.
• The enemy held their position.
• Machine gun fire advanced again.

From this real-time description of the battle on the 23rd of July, it is no surprise that Ormonde was one of the eventual 296 Australian soldiers killed that day. The heavy machine gun force, the harsh bombardment from the enemy and delayed reinforcement all influenced the subsequent amount of fatalities.

After the Battle of the Somme, the 10th Battalion created a structure of a cross on the battlefield of what once was Pozieres Village. This was done in honour of the soldiers they lost from their unit during the battle.

Once news of the deceased soldiers from Pozieres was received in Australia, The Advertiser published two short articles dedicated to Ormonde. The articles, each labelled ‘The Late Private O.L Petherick’, described Ormonde both through what he did before WW1; occupation, hometown and relatives, and part of his journey as a Private; enlistment, travels and death.

Due to the brutal conditions in Pozieres, Ormonde’s body was most likely blown up by intense artillery fire or buried in rubble and dirt. In the make-shift Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Ormonde was originally buried in what was named ‘Plot F, Row 2’. The battle was so brutal that Ormonde’s experience was sadly what many of the other Anzac soldiers experienced. After his death, Ormonde was awarded the 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal and The Allied Victory Medal.

The ANZAC Spirit

ANZAC stands for Australian, New Zealand Army Corps. The term ‘Anzac Spirit’ has derived from this Australian and New Zealand connection and has come to stand for the positive qualities of bravery, leadership, justice and mateship that the Australian and New Zealand soldiers displayed throughout the war. Ormonde was one to demonstrate these qualities by enlisting to fight for his country alone, despite the possible, and eventual, outcomes. His training with the SA Scottish Infantry prior to WW1 has proven that he wanted to fight for Australia and the fact that he descended from leaders and fighters in other battles could reason that he too displayed leadership qualities amongst other Privates, but did not want the full responsibilities as higher ranks had.

Ormonde Leslie Petherick, whilst he was an average Australian Private of the first world war, displayed possibly the most prodigious and heroic case of the Anzac Spirit through dying on the battlefield for his country.