Chapter 10 – Ronald

The route of the first full Brigade march for the First Infantry Brigade (1st to 4th Infantry Battalions) into Sydney on 6 October is as described in Nulli Secundus—A History of the Second Battalion, A.I.F. 1914-1919 , by F. W. Taylor and T. A. Cusack, pp36-37. This account states that “It seemed that all Sydney had turned out to see this section of Australia’s new army.” It also describes the daily routine, including eating breakfast in the open.

Archie Barwick, a private in the 1st Battalion, recorded in his WWI diary, In Great Spirits , how on the big march through the streets of Sydney “It was a very hot day” and “All along the route the streets were absolutely packed, & opposite St Mary’s Cathedral they were about 100 deep – even the trees were full” (p. 10). Barwick also describes the timing of reveille and other activities on a typical day (p. 9), and food they ate (p. 8).

Ernest Scott describes in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Vol XI, Australia During the War , a memorable route march in Sydney on 6th October 1914 where the men “took the salute” from the Governor-General who stood on a saluting base in Macquarie Street (p. 213).