Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Skelly was the sixth son of John Skelly and Caroline Wade, he was born in 1882 near the outback town of Mt Hope, New South Wales.  His mother Caroline Wade's real surname was Wedge, she was the daughter of a white man Edward (Ned) Wedge and an Aboriginal woman. William was the first of four Skelly brothers to join the AIF on 14 March 1915 giving his occupation as shearer, address at that time was Brisbane Street,  Dubbo.  He was 32 years and 8 months, was single, his next of kin was his half sister, Catherine Ann Byrum who also resided at Brisbane Street, Dubbo.  William stated on his enlistment papers that he was once fined £1 for being drunk and disorderly.  

William embarked from Sydney on board HMAT Runic on 9 August 1915 as part of the 3rd reinforcement of the 20th Battalion arriving at Gallipoli 29 September 1915.  3 October William was transferred to A Company 18th Battalion when the 18th suffered casualties of 50% during the battle at Hill 60.  After the evacuation to Egypt from Gallipoli in December William was charged with AWL and visiting a place out of bounds on 22 January 1916.  

William was faced with another transfer on 31 January 1916, this time to the Camel Corps.  For many years there had been at Abbassia, on the outskits of Cairo, a school for teaching British soldiers to ride and handle camels, and when, in January 1916, it was decided to send a few companies of camel troops made up of Australian and New Zealand, against the Senussi, on the western desert, this school was revived to give the neccesary training.  The call for volunteers failed to provide the numbers required so the Australian battalion commanders seized upon it as an opportunity to offload some of their more difficult characters.  The new recruits found the camels strange and difficult, sometimes even dangerous but, being Australian with a strong sense of humour, they also found them very entertaining.  The men of the Camel Corps were very resourceful and effective. 

Three months had always been the period necessary to train British regular soldiers to handle camels effectively however the Australians and New Zealanders cut this time by half and after just a few weeks marched out to Sollum in the western desert and for six months were constantly engaged in various operations against the natives of the desert.  Most of the work of the Camel Corps was a prolonged and exhausting patrol to prevent the hostile tribes of the desert from raiding the Nile Valley.  Depending almost entirely upon a ration of bully beef and biscuits, they would push out from their post in the terrific heat of the summer for periods of three to five days, and then return to water. 

William was promoted to Lance Corporal 24 February 1916 but lost his rank when charged with being drunk while on duty 9 July.  On 14 July 1916 while at El Alamein William disobeyed an order to ride a camel to Moghara, at his Court Marital, held 19 July 1916, William was sentenced to 1 year hard labout but on 19 August that sentence was suspended and he rejoined his unit 23 August. 1916.

Just a few weeks later William was to find himself in front of another Court Marital, held at Mageibra on 23 September 1916 facing two charges.  The 1st charge was: 'When on active service conduct to the prejudice of good conduct and military discipline'.  The FGCM was told that when William was given an order to stand guard at an outpost he gave the reply 'What do you bloody well think of that, mine is the only name he knows in the section.'  He was found not guilty of the 1st charge.  The 2nd charge, 'When on active service using threatening language to his superior officer', this charge William was found guilty and was sentence to 3 years penal servitude.  The sentence was then commuted to 1 year imprisonment with hard labour and was to run concurrently with the previous suspended sentence of 1 year hard labour. 

William was then placed in the Detention Barracks at Cairo on 7 October 1916 but he was not going to stay there.  The Commander-in-Chief of the British Army had decided that it was necessary to establish a complete camel brigade and by the end of 1916 the new Imperial Camel Corps were formed.  It included 1,210 Australians, 981 British and 370 New Zealanders and others from Hong King, Singapore and Egyptians.  On 23 January 1917 William's sentence was suspended and on 17 February was transferred to No 4 Company, 1st Battalion of the new Imperial Camel Corps.  For the next six months William had kept himself out of trouble but a notation on his Service Records shows that at 9.00 am on 3 August, 1917 he was found drunk while on duty at General Headquarters.

After the Es Salt operations in May, 1918 the decision was made to dismount the men from their camels and the Imperial Camel Corps was broken up.  The camels had proved their worth in the desert but now in the hilly arable Jordan Valley they were out matched by horses.  The Australians of the Camel Brigade were given their horses and after retraining became the 14th and 15th Light Horse Regiment.  On 1 July 1918 William was transferred to the 14th.

That summer in the Jordan Valley was one of extreme temperature and humidity and for weeks on end the temperature did not fall below 100 degrees Fahrenheit and occasionally the shade temperature rose to 125 degrees during the day making rifles and tools almost too hot to touch.  At night the troops found sleep impossible due to the heat and mosquitoes, and as the months went by the threat of malaria became a reality as the overworked men became exhausted. 

on 30 August 1918 William was taken by Field Ambulance to the No 14 Australian General Hospital suffering from malaria and after a few weks at a rest camp returned to his unit but William and his fellow troopers, weakened from the rigors of the campaign from the first crossing of the Canal, suffered from malaria and pneumonic influenza which was raging in many parts of the world and within a short time more than half of the men of many regiments were on their backs.  On 23 October 1918 William was re-admitted to Hospital, this time suffering from influenza but just days before the Armistice had re-joined his unit by the end of the month. 

During November the Australian Mounted Division had, after handing in their equipment, was moved by sea from Tripoli to Moascar to await embarkation to Australia, however, the light horse regiments found that before their campaigning was over they were employed in the work of suppressing a rebellion in Egypt which broke out in March 1919.  There were no large forces of British troops left in Egypt so horses and equipment were rapidly assembled and within a short time the Australian Light Horsemen, that had not left for Australia, were on the march across the desert.  The Egyptians lost their nerve at the sight of the horsemen, and within a month peace was restored although the Australians did suffer about twenty casualties during the short rebellion. 

The Australian troopers that stayed in Egypt were engaged in patrolling and peace keeping and were comfortably billed enjoying fresh rations passing several pleasant weeks camped beside the Nile.  William returned to Australia on the Dongola 24 July 1919 and was discharged from the AIF 29 August 1919.

On his return to Australia William would learn that his older sister, Catherine Ann Byrum had died from influenza just a short time before his arrival back in Australia.  William then moved to Deniliguin where he married Amy Lena Lewis nee Horn, a widow, in 1927; he died 28 February 1941 and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Deniliquin. 

Patricia Kennedy (great niece of William Skelly)