TIMELINE June 2016
Thursday, 1 June 1916
William Allan Luther PHILPOTT left Alexandria in Egypt on the HMT Transylvania, and arrived in Marseilles in France on 8th June 1916.
Friday, 2 June 1916
Harold BAXTER, Harold Brooks DAVIS, William Emerton HUNTER, Alan Chesher JOHNSON (Alan Cheshyre JANION), Spencer John LETCHER, Joseph Raymond McGUIRE, Jack MORRIS, Rowland John WILSON , and 22 other Coo-ees embarked at Alexandria in Egypt with the 45th Battalion aboard the Transport Kinfauns Castle bound for France, and arrived at Marseilles on 8th June 1916.
Sunday, 4 June 1916
Andrew James MCGREGOR, John QUINN, Percy Walter HOLPEN, Joseph PARRISH , Samuel LUKE, Oliver James HARMON, Karl Alex Frederick NIELSON , John Thomas SMITH, Walter James GOODLET, John Herbert WATTS, Edward Joseph MCGARRY, and 20 other Coo-ees left Egypt on the HT Scotian, and arrived in Marseilles on 11th June 1916.
Monday, 5 June 1916
William Hilton SAUNDERS (Wongarbon Coo-ee in the 4th Division Ammunition Column) wrote in his diary: ‘Struck all our tents & my section No. I left camp for Railway station 3 pm & loaded our train in intense heat. Left for Alexandria 5 p.m. and arrived wharf about midnight. Loaded our horses on the Horseboat & then went aboard G062 P.S.N.C. Oriana”. [1]
Tuesday, 6 June 1916
William Thomas HITCHEN left Alexandria in Egypt [ship unknown], and disembarked at Plymouth, England, on 16th June 1916.
Wilfred Ernest MCDONALD, Ernest Charles Norman MAY, William Hilton SAUNDERS, Arthur Charles REID, father and son Lightfoot Lamonby HAMPSON and Charles Alfred HAMPSON , and 2 other Coo-ees left Alexandria in Egypt with the 4th Division Ammunition Column on the Transport Oriana, and arrived in Marseilles on the 13th June 2016. William Hilton SAUNDERS wrote in his diary: “Rest of D.A.C. arrived & came aboard 9 a.m. About 4 p.m. left the wharf & anchored out near harbour entrance”. [2]
Victor QUINTON, John TARLINGTON, Denis Roy GREEN, and Colin David WREN (4th Pioneer Battalion) proceeded to join the B.E.F. in France, and boarded the Transport Ionian at Alexandria in Egypt, and disembarked at Marseilles on 15th June 1916.
Wednesday, 7 June 1916
James CRAWFORD, Leslie Webster GREENLEAF, Alan John Burnett EASTERBROOK, William Joseph MUNRO, William Henry GRIFFITHS (13th Battalion), and 6 other Coo-ees, left Alexandria aboard the Transport Ionian bound for France, and disembarked at Marseilles on 14th June 1916.
James Gerald CAMERON, William John Luther HOWARD, Jack Henry HUNT, James MCKEOWN, Laurence Leslie MAGUIRE, Lewis LEOVILLE, and 4 other Coo-ees left Alexandria in Egypt on HT Huntspill, and arrived in Marseilles on 14th June 1916.
Monday, 12 June 1916
William Hilton SAUNDERS wrote in his diary about his arrival at Marseilles in France on the HT Oriana: “Arrived at Marseilles about 8 a.m. Anchored out till afternoon when we went in and moored to wharf. Very pretty scenery from boat: towering white cliffs. Railway running round side of mountain & large chemical works built on side of steep cliffs”. [3]
Tuesday, 13 June 1916
William Hilton SAUNDERS wrote in his diary about disembarking from the HT Oriana at Marseilles and travelling by troop train in France: “D.A.C. disembarked early & waited on the wharf till 3 p.m. Marched to troop station & left just before sundown. Went through very long tunnel & then were running through lovely green fields & orchards. Very picturesque & thickly populated. Change from Egypt”. [4]
Friday, 16 June 1916
Thomas THORNE is admitted to the Devonport Military Hospital in Devonport, England, sick with Pneumonia. [The date he arrived in England from Egypt is not recorded in his service record].
Mrs Thorne with her son Thomas Thorne who joined at Lawson (Mirror of Australia 13/11/1915)
Sunday, 18 June 1916
Thomas THORNE died of illness with Pneumonia at Devonport Military Hospital. He was the first of the Coo-ees to die while on active service overseas during the First World War. Acting Sergeant Thorne was buried at Plymouth (Efford) Cemetery in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 21st June 1916.
Thomas Thorne’s headstone at Plymouth (Efford) Cemetery, England (Photograph: H. Thompson 24/8/2014)
Maurice Bertram FREE, John Edward Leslie HOURIGAN, Ernest Stephen TAYLOUR, and 8 other Coo-ees left Alexandria in Egypt on HT Kinfauns Castle, and arrived at Marseilles on 29th June 1916.
Monday, 19 June 1916
Charles William Gordon CONROY, Donald Singleton STEWART, John MARTIN, Joseph Patrick WALLIS, Joseph ARMSTRONG, William Charles WALKER, Edwin Joseph FULLER, Henry James Naughton BLAKEMAN, and James Birrell DAWSON left Alexandria aboard the HT Caledonian, and arrived at Marseilles on 29th June 1916.
Wednesday, 21 June 1916
William FARTHING (13th Battalion) and William Thomas HITCHEN (45th Battalion) were both admitted to the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield in England, sick.
[1] William Hilton Saunders, 1916 WWI diary, 5 June 1916.
[2] William Hilton Saunders, 1916 WWI diary, 6 June 1916.
[3] William Hilton Saunders, 1916 WWI diary, 12 June 1916.
[4] William Hilton Saunders, 1916 WWI diary, 13 June 1916.
1915 Coo-ee March 