Chapter 5 – Ronald

Archie Barwick, a private in the 1st Battalion, recorded in his WWI diary, In Great Spirits , how he signed up and joined the 1st Battalion in Sydney on 24 August 1914 (p.7). The men of the 1st Battalion received their khaki kit around this time and were proud of it. The basic food (p. 7-8) and daily routine (p. 9) is described. Barwick describes how many lived for pay-day and immediately spent all their money on alcohol.

Charles Bean records in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 , vol I, p. 134 – “The mere name of the “First” Australian Infantry Battalion meant something to the men who bore it.”

The History of the First Battalion A.I.F. records: “Not since the Boer War had Victoria Barracks been the scene of a rush of volunteer soldiers. From the city and suburbs came thousands, eager for the breathless adventure. Clerks laid down their pens. Shopkeepers walked out of their shops. Solicitors paused with their briefs. Workmen downed picks and shovels. And in the backblocks bushmen were setting out on the trek to the city, by train, by horse, and with Matilda on their backs. Old and young, with Sydney caught in a great wave of excitement, they marched to the birthplace of a new army at Paddington.”