Participants:
Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ004110S
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00:24 Have you ever wondered what secrets lurk in your family's 00:27 past? Have you ever thought you might be related to a celebrity, 00:32 a tinker, a tailor, a soldier or sailor? Maybe even a thief? 00:39 There was a time when a convict in the family tree was something 00:49 to hide. A skeleton in the cupboard you wanted no one to 00:53 see. But today it's something of a badge of honor to have one in 00:58 your ancestry. But perhaps it's even more prestigious today to 01:05 have an Anzac in the family. My wife Robyn's family history can 01:10 boast both for not only does she have several Anzacs in her 01:14 family but also a fair share of convicts who actually spent time 01:19 in this very building, the Hyde Park Barracks way back in 01:24 1839. The story of her family is one that's shared by many 01:29 Australian families. So join us as we discover what shaped the 01:33 lives of our ancestors and watch the story unfold. In a sense, 01:41 it's the story of Australia. I'm sure we'll unearth plenty of 01:46 secrets and surprises along the way. 01:49 ♪ ♪ 02:08 Seven generations ago in 1838 Joseph Pengelly from Devon, 02:14 England was convicted of stealing a sheep to feed his 02:18 starving family. He was given a 15 year sentence and was 02:22 transported to New South Wales. He was one of 266 prisoners on 02:28 on the convict ship Teresa that arrived in Sydney in January 02:34 1839 and was processed at these Hyde Park Barracks. But it was 02:39 nearly 20 years before his wife and two children were able to 02:43 join him in Australia where they were able to forge a new life 02:47 for themselves in Country New South Wales. Joseph's great 02:54 granddaughter Edna married Robyn's grandfather Robert King 02:58 who served in the Great War as did Robert's brother Oliver. 03:03 We knew it would be reasonably simple to find more service 03:07 records on the Australian National Archives website. 03:10 However, I'm going to get some professional help so that I can 03:14 really understand what all these documents mean. Dr. Daniel 03:20 Reynaud, associate professor of history at Avondale College of 03:24 Higher Education has studied the stories of many Anazc soldiers 03:29 and will guide us through our search. 03:31 I'm interested in 03:34 finding out about my family and their history and in particular 03:38 my grandfather's service record. 03:41 Well, that's easy enough. We go to the National Archives here 03:45 do a personal search Name Search Name? King, K-I-N-G. 03:51 One thousand two hundred sixty five Kings served in the 03:58 I World War. First name, Conrad, which is a little bit unusual. 04:06 No Conrad's, that's interesting Now you mentioned family. Are 04:12 you talking about brother? Yes. Maybe we can track from there. 04:15 Give me a name. Oliver. Oliver. Okay. Here's Oliver. Oliver 04:23 Daniel. That's him, Weir Whar, Yes, sir, there's the man. 04:28 Well you can see here you've got details about him, 04:32 he joins up in up 9/14 and he goes to Egypt 04:37 and then to Gallipoli. 04:41 Okay, now back to Conrad. He's not coming up. Is there anything 04:45 else you can tell me that will help me find him? 04:47 Well there is a family story that he did enlist with his 04:52 younger brother. But before he was sent overseas, he read some 04:54 religious literature and deserted. Ah! 05:00 Apparently on reading the religious literature he joined 05:04 the Seventh-day Adventist Church which encouraged the young men 05:07 to serve their country but were morally opposed to killing. 05:13 So he decided then that he would desert and leave the army and he 05:17 went selling religious literature for a year. But one 05:21 of the church leaders on hearing this said Conrad you enlisted 05:26 you've made a commitment, you've made a promise and you need to 05:31 keep it. So he encouraged him to return and to reenlist. 05:36 So he went back and enlisted? 05:38 So then apparently he would have gone back and enlisted. 05:41 Now this is interesting. Because if he goes back as Conrad King 05:47 he's going to be put in jail for deserting. So I think he's 05:52 enlisted under a false name. 05:54 Oh so that would explain why he's not under Conrad King. 05:57 Now false name. With a name like King he probably doesn't have to 06:04 falsify that. We're just seeing 1,265 of them. What's his middle 06:09 name? Robert. Robert okay. 06:12 And he was not really called King. 06:14 He would have probably enlisted under Robert. Robert King. Let's 06:21 see if this is him. Born in Melbourne. 06:26 No born in Wewor. 06:31 Well that makes sense doesn't it? I mean, he's not going to 06:33 say Wewor. They'd soon track him down. 06:36 They track him down. So this is him. 06:40 This is him. In fact, if we click through. Do you know where he 06:44 lived in later life, because here is an address. 06:48 We know that he lived in Cooranbong. 06:50 That is Cooranbong. This is him. We've found him. 06:54 That confirms it doesn't it? 06:55 We found your grandfather. 06:58 Ollie could have arrived in Egypt around the 25th of April 07:03 the day the Anzacs landed in Gallipoli his time in Egypt 07:08 would be short. Less than two weeks later he landed in 07:12 Gallipoli among the first reinforcements to make up for 07:15 the losses during the landings. While he landed here on the 07:22 7th of May 1915 and joined their battalion up in those hills on 07:28 400 Plateau. The battalion was defending a line at Weigelli. The 07:33 They had cut the front line at Johnson's Jolly. But Ollie had 07:38 only been on Gallipoli eight days when he got into trouble. 07:41 Having twice volunteered for the long and dangerous hike to fetch 07:46 items from the store here at the beach he felt imposed on when 07:50 asked to go a third time to collect a tin of biscuits. 07:53 He swore at his Sergeant and found himself under arrest and 07:58 court marshaled for disobeying an order. He was sentenced to 48 08:03 days field punishment number two which meant hard labor. But his 08:08 sentence was cut to 14 days due to good services in the field. 08:13 So Daniel was only a bit of a larrikin. 08:17 He probably was but I think the situation's more of an Aussie 08:23 fair guy. You know, these soldiers tended to see 08:26 themselves as civilians in uniform and they thought that 08:30 things ought to be done justly. While he's volunteered for a 08:34 trip to the beach, he's done a second one. Besides, he said no 08:38 more and then he turns around and asks him for another one. 08:41 So I think Ollie lost it, swore at the Sergeant but in fact he 08:44 intended to do the trip. But it was too late. The Sargeant 08:48 had reported him and he was up in front of the Colonel. 08:51 So the good services that he did to have his sentence reduced in 08:58 time down to 14 days, what would that have involved? 09:02 To be honest, I think that's the Colonel being diplomatic and 09:06 wise. He probably recognized that it wasn't a serious 09:11 situation, that Ollie wasn't really trying to disobey the 09:15 Sargeant. He just got caught out in a bad moment. So he's 09:21 diplomatically found that these good services which is just the 09:26 routine things that Ollie was doing. He was a perfectly good 09:29 trooper. He was fetching supplies from the stores, he did 09:33 his job, he was basically a good soldier and so the Colonel found 09:38 a way to let Ollie off while saving face for the Sergeant. 09:41 So he does get 14 days of hard labor and what would that have 09:45 involved? 09:46 Well probably any rotten job the Colonel could think of, to be 09:49 honest. And that probably was more trips to the supply store 09:54 for poor old Ollie. 10:01 This is why I gallied where a terrible battle 10:04 was fought on the 18th and 19th of May Turkish counterattack and 10:08 Ollie was actually present at this battle. The Turks are 10:12 coming in droves to try to push the Australians back into the 10:16 sea. They had no cover at all and they're shot down Some of the 10:20 Australians describe it as being like a rabbit shoot. It was that 10:25 easy. And at first, there's this sense of exaltation but then 10:30 there's hundreds of bodies. There's wounded men that no one 10:34 can get near because it's so exposed on both sides. And so 10:38 the Australians are forced to listen to these men slowly die 10:42 and then an overwhelming horrible stench of these bodies 10:47 rotting in the sun. 10:48 So Ollie's in the trenches here firing his rifle. After the 10:55 battle what happens next? What is he involved with then? 10:58 Well it gets so bad that the Turks negotiate with the 11:03 Australians a truce to remove the dead and Ollie's involved 11:08 in going out on this battle ground, identifying the dead, 11:12 having to go through their pockets and take out the 11:15 identifying marks, letters, diaries and then take the Turks 11:20 to the Turkish side and the Australians to this side and to 11:24 bury them. And it is awful work if you can imagine the smell and 11:29 often the soldiers were stopping to wretch from the horribleness 11:34 of it. There is an absolute confrontation with how terrible 11:39 war is at this place for Ollie. 11:42 So here Ollie is really confronted with the horror of 11:46 war. 11:48 Absolute undiluted horror. 11:49 The soldiers' monotonous diet with insufficient fresh fruit 11:53 and little water also added to the problem and dysentery became 11:58 widespread. On the 12th of July Ollie was evacuated with 12:03 debility to a hospital at Moudros a Greek island off the 12:07 coast of Gallipoli. His enteritis was so severe that he 12:12 was transferred firstly to Malta and then to Britain where it 12:16 took over a year for him to recover. It was to be mid 12:20 September 1916 before he rejoined his battalion in 12:25 Belgium Flanders but within a couple of weeks the battalion 12:28 moved to the Somme's for the winter. (Sounds of battle) 13:00 Now I want you to imagine living conditions here. Robyn it's 13:04 winter time. This isn't Aussie winter. This is a European 13:10 winter. Frequently below zero. Very wet. Long darkness hours 13:16 In fact, there's very little daylight. And the trenches fill 13:19 up with water; they're constantly soaked. They can't have fires 13:23 here so their cold, wet, and miserable. Just awful. 13:29 So there's no chance of drying out. When you're in the trench 13:31 you're wet. You're wet. Your feet are continually basically 13:35 in water. 13:36 Not just your feet but your whole body. It's wet and misting 13:42 rain on all the time. Freezes at night 13:46 So even when they are sleeping they are still damp and... 13:50 Frequently they couldn't sleep because it was just too cold to 13:53 sleep. 13:55 Winter in the trenches was a trying situation. By this stage 14:00 the great battle of the Somme was in its final stages and the 14:05 grinding mount of attacks through deep mud and heavy shell 14:08 fire were dying away. Ollie's third Battalion was not called 14:13 on to participate in any attacks But it was still an unhealthy 14:18 place to be. Apart from German shelling, the trenches were wet, 14:23 cold and muddy. After four months of trench duty in early 14:28 February 1917 Ollie was evacuated with trench foot, a 14:33 condition caused by continuous wet feet making them swell up 14:38 and lose all sense of feeling. But the agony would hit in the 14:42 ankles. Untreated they would turn gangrenous and require 14:47 amputation. He was sent to Brighton in England for extended 14:51 treatment. It took seven months before he was fit for active 14:56 service again. He returned to his unit in France in September 15:01 1917 spending a couple more weeks in hospital there with a 15:05 sprained ankle. In October 1917 the battalion moved back to 15:15 Belgium Flanders to participate in the last stages of the battle 15:21 of third Ypres. Australian troops had taken part in several 15:26 successful attacks associated with the Battle of Messines. 15:30 And it was here that Ollie met his brother Robert one day by 15:35 chance as their two units passed each other in the trenches. 15:43 Well now Gary, my father once told me that my grandfather met 15:47 his brother unexpectedly in one of the trenches here. Don't 15:49 you think that's just amazing? 15:51 Well it is amazing. You've got 100,000 Australians here and 15:56 these two in different units and they passed? 15:59 Yes they passed. One unit was leaving and one unit was coming. 16:03 When would they have last seen each other? 16:07 Well it would have been probably just before Ollie left Australia 16:11 in late 1914. 16:13 There would have been two years since they'd last seen... 16:18 It would have been more than two years. 16:19 Imagine a chance meeting out here in these trenches. I wonder 16:24 how they would have felt? 16:26 I would have grabbed him in a big hug but... 16:30 But I'm sure they would have been just overjoyed at seeing 16:33 each other and the relief knowing that they were still 16:36 both alive. 16:37 Yeah well I remember reading the diary of a soldier who had his 16:41 brother in his own unit and he was saying it was always a worry 16:44 because they were in the same battles together and he was 16:47 always worried about his brother So separate units helped to 16:50 solve focus a little better. 16:53 Oh what a wonderful occasion this chance meeting here and 16:56 what joy it must have brought them. 16:58 Now Robyn there is one more thing about this place that 17:01 might be significant. Tell me. Well your grandfather's a 17:04 Pioneer and this here was originally a German bunker with 17:10 the guns facing that way towards the Allies. But when it's been 17:14 captured the Australian Pioneers are asked to turn it around 17:19 and face the other way. So you can see these corrugations from 17:23 the corrugated iron where they poured the concrete so that it 17:26 was now facing in a new direction. You've got the 17:30 machine gun apertures on either side so this was the work of 17:34 Australian Pioneers and perhaps who knows... 17:37 Could have been my grandfather. 17:39 It could have been your grandfather. 17:40 Isn't that amazing, to think we are right here where he may have 17:44 been involved in constructing something like this. 17:47 It's just amazing to be here. 17:56 Soon after at the Battle of ? here Ollie was gravely 18:00 wounded in the head and back by a shell and evacuated to 18:04 Brighton again for extended treatment. It was effectively 18:08 the end of Ollie's war. Meanwhile Ollie's brother Robert 18:15 was still in Belgium as part of the Third Pioneer Battalion. 18:19 So then what's the difference between a Pioneer soldier and a 18:23 normal one? 18:25 Well a normal soldier is an infantryman. It's their job to 18:27 attack, capture and hold. But they're not specialists in 18:33 building things. When they capture a trench they'll dig it 18:37 out but the Pioneers will come along and they'll put in the 18:40 corrugated iron, the A frame, the buck boards so that it's a 18:43 proper trench. 18:45 Which we would call a board walk 18:46 You would but it's a buck board to keep their feet up out of the 18:50 water... 18:51 So they didn't get trench foot. 18:53 Ah Ha. And of course they would build things like this. This is 18:56 an elephant shelter and it's designed to keep soldiers safe 19:00 in a bombardment. So basically a Pioneer has got woodworking 19:05 skills, metal working skills, or engineering skills. Does that 19:09 sort of fit with your grandfather. 19:12 I think he was good at choosing the correct wood for 19:15 So he's a specialist in woodwork? 19:17 In woodwork. 19:18 Now I wonder if he actually helped build the underground 19:23 bunkers at Zonnebeke. Because we know the Australians built 19:28 these wooden underground bunkers and they were recently 19:31 rediscovered. And he very well might have been one of those 19:37 woodworkers. 19:38 He might have been if he was good with the wood. 19:40 He was in this area. 19:42 Then it sounded like hard work that he would have been involved 19:45 with but not necessarily dangerous. 19:47 Well not necessarily but Pioneers were consolidating 19:53 immediately after an attack. They're building new concrete 19:57 bunkers. They're very exposed very often. So there's nothing 20:01 necessarily safe about being a Pioneer here. It's a job where 20:05 many men could be killed. 20:06 So my grandfather was willing to die for his country but 20:10 not to kill. 20:12 That's a really interesting point that you make because 20:14 speaking historically there were a lot of soldiers of conviction 20:19 usually religious conviction who felt that the gospel meant that 20:27 they were not to kill other people as the gospel of peace. 20:30 Jesus was prepared to die to save people but he wasn't 20:34 prepared to kill. And there were many Christians who are in the army 20:40 choose either medical corps or the Pioneers precisely for that 20:45 reason... 20:46 Maybe that's why he chose the Pioneers. 20:49 Yes, given the back story that he found God just as he joined 20:56 up. The Pioneers is a place where he can contribute, he can 21:02 help his fellowmen but he's not in a position where he needs to 21:07 take life. 21:10 Then in August 1918 the First Pioneer Battalion was sent south 21:16 to the Somme's to join in the great offensive that pushed the 21:20 Germans back to the point where they sued for peace. Robert was 21:25 involved in preparations for the string of successful battles 21:28 that General John Warnasch and the Australian Corp achieved 21:33 during this time. Robert was here in Hamel at Warnasch' s 21:38 model battle. Here he helped prepare the position for the 21:41 attack and then built new defenses after its successful 21:45 conclusion. Here's the situation Gary. On that ridge over there 21:51 just over the horizon is villas Brittoneer which the Australians 21:54 have re-captured. And now Warnasch plans a battle with the 21:58 Australian Corp to recapture this whole valley, village of 22:01 Hamel 22:02 right through the ridge over there. Now what he does is he 22:06 has a battle of all arms. He integrates, incorporates the 22:10 infantry, Pioneers, machine guns artillery, tanks, aircraft all 22:16 working in cooperation. And he breaks through the German 22:20 defenses. Some stubborn resistance in the center of the 22:23 ridge But on either side they're able to break through and then 22:26 consolidate on that ridge. 22:28 A perfect battle. 22:30 Perfect battle. He planned it to be 90 minutes long, hour and a 22:33 half and it took 93. It was such a successful battle that they 22:38 printed the plans for the battle and distributed it to other 22:43 generals as a template on which to operate. 22:46 And so Robert although he didn't carry a rifle still played an 22:50 important role in this battle. 22:52 He would have helped prepare the jump-off positions and then at 22:55 the end he would have been there improving the hasty trenches 22:58 that the soldiers had dug and making sure they were in ship 23:01 shape. So from beginning to end he would have been under 23:05 artillery fire from the Germans, machine-gun fire as he helped 23:08 get this vital work done. 23:13 Then from here, it was following the trail of the Victoria's 23:17 Australian troops through to Saint Quentin. His work involved 23:21 building new roads, maintenance and burying the dead, both 23:26 German and Australian as well as constructing dummy tanks from 23:31 wood and canvas to deceive the German troops. But the 23:34 Australians were pulled out of the line in early October and 23:38 Robert's war was over. Daniel was that the end of the war for 23:43 all the Australians? 23:44 Pretty much yes. In October the Australians were pulled out of 23:48 the line and by the 11th of November the war is over. 23:52 And in general what's the Australians contribution to the 23:56 war? What did they achieve by being here? 23:59 It was increasingly significant. By 1918 the Australians are 24:03 among the elite troops on the western front alongside the 24:06 Canadians and certain British divisions. They used to crack 24:09 the line repeatedly throughout the second half of 1918 so it is 24:14 an important contribution. 24:16 Now more specifically, what about Robert and Ollie? What 24:19 did they achieve? 24:20 Well they were present for some of those key battles throughout 24:24 the war. Ollie's at Gallipoli. He's a third keeper. And Robert 24:29 is present during the 100 days, the final destruction of the 24:34 German on the western front. So yes they were there at key 24:38 points in the story. Now Ollie of course, is frequently sick 24:42 and away from the line. In fact he probably spends more time 24:45 away than he does at the front but that is typical of the 24:49 experience of many Australian soldiers. 24:52 ♪ ♪ 24:58 Well we're back here at Hyde Park Barracks where we started. 25:01 This is where our journey began. In 1839 Joseph Pengelly arrived 25:08 here as a convict. But he resolved to make a new life for 25:12 himself in Australia. Ironically instead of stealing sheep he 25:17 established a sheep farm of his own in central New South Wales 25:21 and became a well respected citizen of the community. His 25:26 great granddaughter married Robyn's grandfather Conrad 25:30 Robert King, the Anzac whose footsteps we've been following. 25:36 Conrad died many years before I was born and certainly he was 25:42 justified in the old grand family album. But now we've 25:46 uncovered the mysteries behind the old photos. We have traveled 25:51 far to unravel their story. 25:55 If you would like to find out more about the Anzacs and their 25:59 experiences with God then I'd like to recommend our free 26:03 booklet for you today. It contains inspirational stories 26:07 about fighting men, officers, soldiers, chaplains as they 26:12 fought, worshipped, prayed, sang and trusted God in the hell of 26:17 Gallipoli. Our free gift is a booklet The Faith of the Anzacs. 26:22 I guarantee these stories will lift your spirits and lead your 26:27 thoughts to a place that works in the trials and tests of life. 26:32 This booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free. There 26:36 are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So make the most of 26:41 this wonderful opportunity to share in the testimonies of the 26:46 Anzacs. 26:47 Phone or text us at 0436-333-555 in Australia or 020-422-2042 in 26:58 New Zealand or visit our website TiJ.tv to request today's free 27:04 offer and we'll send it to you totally free of charge and with 27:08 no obligation. Write to us at: 27:23 Don't delay. Call or text us now 27:26 If you've enjoyed our journey to Gallipoli in the footsteps of 27:32 the Anzacs and our reflections on their courage, loyalty and 27:36 commitment then be sure to join us again next week when we will 27:41 share another of life's journeys together. Until then let's pray 27:46 to the same God that the Anzacs did. 27:49 Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for our families and for our 27:55 family history and heritage. Many of us have family members 27:59 who have fought in some of the great battles for Australia. 28:03 We are in awe of the commitment they showed to their country and 28:07 to their beliefs. We want to honor their memory and remember 28:11 their courage during times of hardship. We ask you to bless us 28:16 and our families today. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. 28:21 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2021-07-20