Moonee Valley At War

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The Moonee Valley area has a proud wartime history. Its citizens were thinking of national defence in the times of federation. On behalf of its citizens the Essendon Lord Mayor was presented with two large cannons by the Defence Department. The cannons were presented on the 13^th of July 1907, although they were made in 1864.

 The Valley’s concerns were the recent threats on the  British Empire in the form of the South African War (also known as the Boer War). Twenty young men went from the Moonee Valley to serve their King and country, and a few of these men died in battle. A shrine symbolizing their efforts is located near the centre of Queens Park in Moonee Ponds. 

Patriotism was building in this newly founded country; as a result town based militias started forming across the country. These town-raised forces became the foundation of military battalions. One of these militia battalions was the 58^th ‘Essendon Rifles’. Their inaugural parade was held at 3p.m. on Saturday the 19^th of July in 1913. Lt. Colonel Elliot said in his address, “They had now attained mans estate,” and also, “That a good name once gained is hard to lose, but that a bad name (which is far easier to acquire) is still harder to lose; and that on them, as the first fruits of the new defence system depended the name and the fair fame of the regiment” (Essendon Gazette, Thursday the 24^th of July, 1913). 

At the beginning of World War 1, Moonee Valley became active. The Showgrounds became training camps for young soldiers and thousands of horses were being trained for service in the Light Horse Brigade. The Flemington Meat Preserving Company in Ascot Vale supplied the military with cans of bully beef whilst Footscray, Maribyrnong and Flemington all had munitions factories. 

During the beginning of World War 1 the Australian Defence Department decided not to send the militia battalions, but instead send a unified group called the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F). Amongst its first troops, between 130 and 150 local men sent to battle. They were sent to Gallipoli. Following the tragic beach assault the Allied forces were pinned on an impassable peninsula. Tragically only about twenty men from the area survived the landing. Amongst those soldiers was a young Lance Corporal by the name of William Charles Scurry, age 20. He was to invent a device that saved thousands of lives and is one of the reasons Gallipoli is a revered moment in Australia’s wartime history. Lance Corporal Scurry’s invention was a simple devise designed to fire a rifle by itself. This self-firing device consisted of two bully beef tins, a piece of string, some water and the rifle. How it worked was quite simple. A tin was placed resting on a ledge, usually just dug into the trench wall, and a string attached to it was also attached to the rifles trigger. The second tin was placed above the first. It contained the water and also a hole to let the water drip into the tin below. When that tin became too heavy it fell firing the weapon. This was used by the Allies to hide their night time retreat from their Turkish enemy. The ruse was so effective that a firing front of about twenty miles was empty for about half a day until the enemy had realized that they had snuck away in the night. Amazingly over 100,000 men were evacuated without notice.

Veterans returning from Gallipoli raised the 58th Battalion during the First World War at Tel el Knebir in Egypt. This time the battalion had full military recognition on the battlefield. After four months fighting the Turkish, the troops were sent to Fleurbaix in France. This was the regiment’s baptism of fire, and in the subsequent battles their casualties numbered over 250 of a strength of 800 men. Although these casualties seem high the 58^th’s record is second to none, and its men's bravery won the battalion many honours and many individual medals. Captain R.V. Moon won the Victoria Cross, an individual’s highest honour, for storming and capturing three machine gun nests single handed at the Battle of Bullecourt in France. At the end of the war the 58^th had suffered the loss of 642 men and had won honours in many battles including the Somme, Bullecourt, Ypres, the Hindenburg Line and Egypt. Battle honours are awarded by the Sovereign as recognition of outstanding conduct in a major military battle and are shown by an emblem on the regiment’s flag.

During peace time the battalion was split up and the 58^th became the 58^th/59^th Battalion.

At the beginning of the Second World War the Australian Government formed the Second Australian Imperial Force. The 58^th/59^th was originally kept as a home defence force as with the other militia battalions, though the onset of Japan’s entry to the war changed that. The 58^th/59^th Battalion was in active service in the Asia Pacific area. This battalion fought fiercely to reclaim area lost to advancing Japanese soldiers; few battalions inflicted and received as many casualties in the Pacific battles. Even fewer battalions won all of the battles it entered. The 58^th/59^th was one of these, achieving many battle honours on its way. Some include Bobdubi Ridge and the Liberation of Australian New Guinea. 

At the close of the Second World War the unit was disbanded only to be reformed as a combined unit, the 58^th/32^nd. Known as the Melbourne rifles it formed part of the 4^th Infantry brigade. With no real military commitments the designation of the unit was changed back to the Essendon Rifles in 1955. It then took an active role in the National Service Training Scheme until 1960. In 1960 under the new defence policy all existing infantry battalions were amalgamated into the 1^st Battalion Royal Victorian Regiment. In a ceremony in November in 1967 the units’ colours were handed down from the previous regiments and their battle honours are now displayed on the combined regiment flag. Incidentally, in 1983 the regiment was split to form a second RVR called the 5^th/6^th Battalion whose barracks is in the home of the 58^th Battalion in Pascoe Vale Road Moonee Ponds.

Extract from, "That Moonee Ponds of Mine"  

                   A soldier from Victoria was dying in the Dardanelles;

                        There was a lack of women's nursing, there was a dearth of fond farewells;

                        But a comrade stood beside him as his life blood ebbed away,

                        All bent with pitying glances to hear what he might say.

                        The dying soldier faulted, as he took the comrades hand,

                        And he said: 'I never more shall see my own, my native land.

                        Take a message and a token to some distant friends of mine,

                        for I have come from Moonee Ponds, that Moonee Ponds of mine.

                                                                                           by E. Roberts.

Researched and designed by David Martin.

dczeitgeist@hotmail.com

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