Dispatches

Show notes, memorial journeys, and stories from Australia's military history.

8 March 2024

Commander Richard Stanley Veale CMG VRD** RANR: The Admiral of Elwood

4-AUGUST-1914/4-SEPTEMBER-1939. While serving as a Naval Reservist, Midshipman Richard Stanley Veale ordered the first shot fired by British Forces in the First World War. Twenty years later while in command of the same shore battery that fired the first shot in the First World War, Commander Richard Stanley Veale would order the first Australian shot fired in anger during the Second World War.

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27 January 2024

Sergeant William Charles Bullock Beech: The Inventor of the Periscope Rifle

19-MAY-1915. While serving as a soldier of the 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, Sergeant William Charles Bullock Beech, horrified by the tragic loss of life of his comrades on Gallipoli, took a biscuit box, signal wire and a broken mirror to invent one of the most iconic weapons of trench warfare on Gallipoli, the Periscope Rifle.

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31 December 2023

Lieutenant George Burrows, Sapper John Henry Palmer, and Sapper Leslie James Strahan: The Capture of the Amiens Gun

8-AUGUST-1918. While serving as Engineers of the 8th Field Company, Australian Imperial Force, Lieutenant George Burrows, Sapper John Henry Palmer and Leslie James Strahan were attached to the 31st Australian Infantry Battalion when the Australian Corps participated in the Battle of Amiens, the start of the 100 Days Offensive. As they were deconstructing German fortifications at the old Amiens Defensive Line, they were called forward to deal with an obstacle in No Mans Land, it was the Largest War Trophy Collected by Australian forces that was brought back to Australia.

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29 November 2023

Private Edward Attfield: Was Once Lost, Now Found

27/28-JANUARY-1916, While serving as a soldier of the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, Private Edward Attfield did not let his diminutive stature prevent him from volunteering for overseas service. He landed at Gallipoli and despite wounds and illness served until the evacuation in December 1915. When he returned to Alexandria, he vanished, never to be seen again.

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11 November 2023

The Unknown Australian Soldier 30th Anniversary Special

11-NOVEMBER-1993. To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the unidentified remains of an unknown Australian soldier, exhumed from the Adelaide Cemetery in Villers Bretonneux in France was interred within the Hall of Memory of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia.

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20 August 2023

Surgeon Lieutenant Dr Kenneth Morris MID: The Sinking of HMAS Canberra

9-AUGUST-1942. While serving as a Surgical Officer aboard the Royal Australian Navy Heavy Cruiser HMAS Canberra, Surgeon Lieutenant Kenneth Newman Morris MID participated in the first American counter-attack during the Pacific Campaign, the Battle of Guadalcanal and the disastrous Battle of Savo Island.

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1 August 2023

Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel Statue

This morning, the Australian War Memorial unveiled the statue dedicated to Matron Vivian Bullwinkel on its grounds. It stands not just as a sculpture of Vivian Bullwinkel, but all Australian nurses who have lost their lives, survived atrocities made sacrifices in the service of their country. It also includes 22 stainless steel discs to reflect the 22 victims of the Bangka Island Massacre arranged as a reflection of the stars as seen the night of 16 February 1942 Lest we forget

Places of Pride Statue Second World War Australian Capital Territory

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30 July 2023

Chief Yeoman of Signals Stephen Lamont: The Sinking of the MV Montevideo Maru

1-JULY-1942. While serving as Chief Yeoman of Signals as part of the Royal Australian Navy, Chief Yeoman of Signals Stephen Lamont was selected as part of the network of observers stationed across strategic locations in Northern Australia and neighbouring territories known as the Coastwatchers. This Episode marks Two years since the launch of the podcast.

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