BRAVERY UNDER FIRE
Reg Brownett was a brave, capable man who volunteered for duty during WW1 when he knew that many Australians had already died in Gallipoli. He signed up to fight for God, King and Country. He endured significant hardships in battle and experienced some of the most gruesome trench warfare suffered by Australian soldiers. He saw the worst of war. He suffered from seeing his mates killed in the most gruesome manner and from facing his own fears and demons. He paid the ultimate price. Reg was killed in action at Fler on the Western Front on 19th December 1916.
This post is written so that his distant nieces and nephews can know of his bravery and stand on his broad shoulders.
Lest we forget
A Broken Hill Lad
Some boys were lucky to be born in Broken Hill in the late 1800’s. They were the sons of the miners who struck it rich, mining seams of silver, lead and zinc around Broken Hill and Silverton. Reg was not that fortunate. He was the son of a drover and life was always hard for the drover and his family.
Reginald Brownett was born in this town in 1897 and spent his early years, prior to enlisting in the AIF in Broken Hill.
The Brownett and Nixon Families
Reg Brownett’s parents were Richard Francis Brownett (1863-1951) and Alice Ada Nixon (1863-1923). Alice was originally called Adelaide Alice Nixon.
Reg’s grandparents migrate to Adelaide in 1875
The Brownett family migrated to Australia from Bedford in Sussex, arriving in Adelaide on the 16 October 1875 aboard the ship, South Australian. On board were Reg’s grandparents, Richard Brownett (1833-1888) and his wife Catherine (nee Bray) (1840-1900) and their children Catherine, Richard (Reg’s father aged 12 years), Herbert, Minnie (originally named Ada), Jessie and Charles. They had two more children after their arrival in Adelaide, Ernest and Arthur. Their eldest son William Henry Brownett also migrated to South Australia, at a different time.
Prior to emigrating to Australia Richard senior was a county court officer. Upon arriving in Adelaide he became a Land and Commission Agent with offices in the Waterhouse Chambers in Rundle Mall. The family lived in Bridge Street Kensington. At this time Richard Brownett often used the name Jesse. While the family appeared to be doing well and had significant assets, like many other Australians around that time they hit financial troubles. On 12 May 1886, Richard Brownett senior was declared bankrupt and his home and other assets were sold to pay the family debts.
So Reg’s father, Richard, grew up in Adelaide and eventually started working as a drover.
Alice Ada Nixon, Reg’s mother, was born in Adelaide in 1863 to George Thomas Nixon and Julienne Nixon (nee Dormer). George migrated from Sussex England to Adelaide South Australia on 12 September 1849. He was a butcher and a colonist for 34 years before his death. Julienne Dormer was born in Calais, Dordogne in France, although she was of English heritage, not French heritage as has been often speculated by family members.
Richard Brownett and Alice Nixon married at St Paul’s Adelaide on 16 February 1888. They had their first child in Adelaide and moved to Broken Hill around 1890 where the Brownett clan were born and raised. Richard was probably seeking work, as Broken Hill was an important town along the stock route between the cattle stations in Queensland and Adelaide.
Two of Richard’s brothers, Charles and Edgar also moved to Broken Hill. Reg lived in Broken Hill until around 1914 – 15 when his father became a station manager and his mother moved to Adelaide temporarily.
He had 6 siblings:
- Lance born in Adelaide prior to 1890 – 1934
- George Steven – 1890 – 1966
- Arthur Errol – 1892 – 1969
- Marjorie A – 1894 –
- Richard Francis – my grandfather – 1901 – 1955
- Diana Jesse (called Nina) 1905 –
Life would have been hard. His father was a drover and this involved spending many months away from the family.
Growing up in Broken Hill
Times would have been difficult for the Brownett family in Broken Hill. Richard (Reg’s father) would have spent many months away from the family moving cattle and sheep for landowners (including Sidney Kidman) from Queensland to Adelaide along the stock routes. Newspaper articles from the early 1900s show Richard Brownett as the Drover Manager, with the responsibility for a team of men and horses and the herds they were moving.
Reg would have had limited time with his father and been brought up by his mother, Alice and his older siblings. We can assume, that like his younger brother Richard, Reg attended school at Broken Hill Central school and / or Broken Hill North Public School. They probably attended the Church of England, although I have been unable to locate their baptismal records.
My research has not revealed where the Brownett family lived in Broken Hill between 1890 to 1913. We do know that Catherine Brownett (nee Bray – ie Reg’s paternal grandmother) moved to Broken Hill in 1889 and lived in Garnet Street, North Broken Hill in 1900. Richard and Ada and their family do not appear on any of the census records for this period. The 1913 electoral roll shows the family living in William Street Broken Hill.
During a conversation with a Broken Hill local whose father was a drover I learned that many drovers and their families lived in a humpy town outside of Broken Hill (in an area now on the outskirts of Broken Hill along the main road to Sydney.) They settled here because they could keep their dogs and horses close by. A drover needed his own horses and many drovers owned 4 or 5 horses and some dogs, which all went droving with them. I am not sure that Alice lived in this settlement with the children.
The family struggled also financially. During the 1890’s Richard faced financial ruin and bankruptcy, a common occurrence at that time. So life would have been tough for Reg and his siblings.
On the other hand, Broken Hill was an exciting place to live, especially for an adventurous lad. To the traveller in the early 1900’s, Broken Hill was a magnificent oasis from the surrounding marginal grazing lands. Between 1885 and 1901 it grew from a few hundred people to a population of 27,300. The streetscapes exuded wealth with fine sandstone monument buildings.
Wealthy mine owners and pastoralists rubbed shoulders with the ordinary, struggling working man – the mine workers and drovers. It was here that trade union demonstrated its power by standing up for the rights of miners during the bitter clashes in 1892 and 1909. The Trades Hall in Broken Hill, a sandstone and marble edifice was completed in 1905.
On 2 January 1889, the railway came to Broken Hill. In 1905 the original railway station, called the Sulphide Street Station was replaced by a magnificent railway building, although rail travel would have been somewhat uncomfortable in the wooden carriages pulled by steam locomotives.
In 1902 a steam tram began carrying passengers between Argent Street and Patton Street. More than 6000 passengers climbed aboard on its first day. I can imagine Reg watching the first steam tram ride the rails. He would have been around five years old and I am sure he would have managed a ride on the day the tram commenced operation.
He would have also participated in the Empire Day ceremonies which were celebrated in opulence during the early 1900s with his school friends.
He would have met his grandmother Catherine Brownett, when she arrived by steam train in an uncomfortable wooden carriage at the Sulphide Street Station when she moved from Adelaide to Broken Hill to be close to her family. ( Catherine died on 7 February 1900 in West Broken Hill.)
It was also a dusty place to live. Several droughts and overstocking led to the erosion of the landscapes outside of town and often the streets of Broken Hill were covered in red bull dust.
Upon leaving school, Reg followed in his father’s footsteps and started droving. On his attestation papers her states that he worked as a drover. Drovers were excellent horsemen and tough characters who could endure hardship and difficulties with many months in the saddle and sleeping in a tent or swag. Maybe he was like his father who had a reputation for having a “good seat in the saddle”.
Getting ready to fight
Reginald Brownett completed his attestation papers and medical examination in Adelaide on 27 July 1915. His mother was living at The Esplanade Henley Beach Adelaide at the time and he gave that as his address. His father was the manager of Murra Guldrie Station near Tarcutta NSW. He was declared fit for active service. However, before being accepted, his mother wrote a letter dated 13 August 1915 stating that Reginald had her permission to join the Expeditionary forces. On 16th August 1915 he signed his allegiance to Enlistment Oath. His service number was 3700.
He was a short man, but obviously had the strength required to be a drover. According to his attestation papers, he was 5ft 7 I tall with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair.
Reg was not naïve when he enlisted. His uncle Sergeant Herbert Brownett had enlisted earlier and was located at the Keswick Barracks in Adelaide. Perhaps Herbert encouraged him to join. Maybe he was seeking adventure, or perhaps like his uncle he wanted to serve. Herbert was in his early 40s when he enlisted and while he was concerned that he would not be able to serve overseas he persisted in seeking enlistment.
Reginald Brownett was a member of the 12th reinforcements 10th Battalion AIF, which was recruited in South Australia. This group departed Adelaide on the RMS Malwa on 2nd December 1915 following training in Adelaide and arrived in Egypt on 11 January 1916. However, they would not join their battalion until they reached the Western Front in France.
The 10th Battalion, together with the 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions, formed part of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division. The 10th Battalion had participated in the landing on Anzac Cove in 1915 and fought hard with honour throughout the Gallipoli campaign. Surviving members were withdrawn from the Gallipoli Peninsula and in early 1916 the battalion was re-formed in Egypt.
The 12/10th AIF were transported to Abrassia in Egypt, near Alexandria, where the Adelaide boys underwent additional training. In late March 1916 the 1 Anzac Corps, was farewelled in Alexandria bound for Marseilles in France and eventually to join the fighting on the Western Front. Reg sailed on the SS Transylvania on 29 March 1916, arriving in Marseilles on 4 April 1916.
This passenger ship from the Cunard Line was converted to a troop carrier and put into military service in May 1916. She carried 200 officers and 2,860 men, besides crew.
His group travelled by train the length of France from Marseilles to Etaples near the Belgium border. France was a refreshing change for the troops who travelled through green productive farmlands which had not been touched by war. Behind the front lines the accommodation and training areas were more agreeable than those in Egypt. They could visit the local cafes and buy eggs, chips, beer and wine. However, comforts were basic and the men were usually billeted in barns, lofts or stables.
Etaples was a small fishing village in the Pas-de-Calais which became an important point for the allied armies during WW1 for transporting troops. Later in the year Reg would be hospitalised in Etaples. He left Etaples on 24 May 1916 and was transported to join his unit, 10th Battalion AIF.
Front Line Fighting – Petillion, Fleurbaix 6 – 29 June 1916
The 12th reinforcements joined their battalion on 2 June 1916 under the command of Lt Col S Price Weir. He was billeted at Rouge de Bout. His first experience of trench warfare occurred at Petillion sector of the front line around 4 days later, near Fleurbaix south of Armentieres between the 6th and 29th June. Fighting was difficult as trenches came under heavy enemy fire regularly during the period and there were several causalities. There were also periods of heavy rain.
Between 1st and 22nd July the 10th Battalion travelled to Pozieres. This involved a series of marches and a train journey between Godewaersveld Railway Station and Doullens. At times the men were billeted, but also slept in tents or makeshift shelters and in disused trenches.
The 10th Battalion was in a rotation schedule that was practised by the AIF. Each battalion operated as part of a Brigade. The brigade usually moved together. Brigades took turns in moving into Reserve positions (ie close to but not on the front line). From the Reserve position, they were moved into front line duty in the trenches. Finally they returned behind the lines for some well earned rest. Each battalion had four companies – A, B, C and D. Each company was rotated through the trenches and allocated to do front line work. We do not know which company Reg belonged to.
In the Line of Fire at Pozieres 22 – 25 July 1916
The battalion’s first significant action on the Western Front came in July 1916 when it was involved in the Battle of Pozières, an effort to secure the village of Pozières and the high ground beyond it as part of the wider Battle of the Somme
At 22.00 hours on 22 July the 10th Battalion left Sausage Valley to proceed via Black Watch Alley to trenches running NW in the Pozieres sector. While the men were moving into position they were subject to heavy MIG fire and poison gas, requiring them to wear a gas mask.
Following is a description of the entry into battle taken from “Australians on the Western Front – Fromelles and the Somme” page 6.
“The men approached the battlefield with anticipation and dread. Closer to the battlefield, moving up from the shell-battered town of Albert and through Sausage Valley, the scene changed. War debris and unburied dead lay around everywhere and the smell of gas hung in the air. At intervals the ground would erupt with the burst of enemy shell.
On the jumping off tape, each man had readied himself. Rifles were gripped firmly, new steel helmets pulled on tight, while hanging over each man’s shoulder was a cotton satchel holding a cloth anti-gas helmet. These early gas masks were simply a chemically impregnated hood. A cloth patch had been sewn on each man’s back to assist identification in the dark.”
“The massive concentration of supporting firepower experienced for the first time, would be a long held memory for many of the troops. As it grew in noise and intensity the Germans signalled their alarm by shooting coloured signal flares into the black sky, creating a fireworks display.”
Sergeant Ben Champion recorded:
“It seemed as if the earth opened up with a crash. The ground shook and trembled, and the concussion made our ears ring. It is strange how men creep together for protection.”
Lance Corporal Morgan wrote:
“The scene is terrible. Dead and dying men lay on top of the other. Many of them were blown to pieces where they lay on the ground, while others lying in trenches were buried alive.”
Fighting was tough and gruesome. What a dreadful initiation into battle. The 10th Battalion diary reports:
“Mr Shaw experienced the greatest difficulty in getting up the trench on account of the number of dead and wounded men who were lying about them”.
During this engagement 58 men were killed, 246 wounded and 46 were missing. The commander spoke highly of the industry and commitment of the all his men throughout this battle. A number were recommended for awards.
Finally the 10th battalion as relieved from front line duty. It had been three arduous days in the trenches. The men marched into safety. Lt Ted Rule described the remnants of the 1st Division when they had reached the valley of Warlow:
“We had our eyes opened when we saw these men march by. Those who watched them will never forget it as long as they live. They looked like men who had been in hell. Almost without exception each man looked down and haggard, and so dazed that they seemed to be walking in a dream, and their eyes looked glassy and starey.”
During this period the 1st Division, of which the 10th was a member, captured Pozieres.
From 1st to 19th August the 10th battalion was reorganised and the men engaged in training. Between 1 and 9 August they were located in Berteaucourt where the battalion was involved in reorganisation, training and route marching. On August 9 they marched to Bonneville where they were billeted until August 14. They then marched to Sausage Valley via Toutencourt, Vaidencourt Wood and Bridgefields. On 18 August they slept in trenches in Sausage Valley.
It is difficult to imagine the feelings of the men of the 10th Battalion on 19 August when they found themselves once again on the bloodied battlefields of Pozieres. The 1st Division had been built up to 2/3rds its original strength. Once again the men of the 10th Battalion were engaged in heavy fighting, under attack from German MIGs and gas. Each company in the 10th Battalion took their turn manning the trenches on the front line and building new lines of battle. The 10th was relieved on 21 August.
Between 21 and 23 August Reg found himself at the ANZAC Rest Station suffering, like many of his fellow Australians, from Shell Shock. This was a nervous condition brought on from the men living under constant stress waiting for the billet or grenade which had their name on it. Waiting for the long whistle as the grenade moved above them was torture – each man waiting to hear it land. If it was not their turn, then it could be one of their mates. Being on the front line was a lottery. And all around them was the evidence of the unlucky ones – unburied body parts and men being stretchered to hospital. Men’s nerves became shattered by the constant pounding and stress. Reg was discharged from hospital two days later and returned to duty on 23 August.
Ypres and Hill 60
Between 1 and 12 September the 10th Battalion spent in training and rest at Kenora Camp near Poperinghe. The battalion came under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Ernest Redburg. On 13 September the battalion moved to reserve position near the Hill 60 section of the line. They were located at Chateau Belge between 14 and 18 September where they were engaged in lectures. On 19 September they moved closer to the front line to Railway Dugout, Ypres, Belgium.
On 24 September the men of the 10th were once again on the front lines at Hill 60 for 7 days. Close to midnight on the evening of 1 September the men were once again relieved of their front line duties. They travelled by train from Ypres to Brandhoeck where they were in training until 10 September when they were moved into reserve position, closer to the lines.
Over the next few days from (2 – 15 October) the men marched staying overnight in Steenvoorde, Oost Houck, Houlle, and Tournehem.
During this time Reg was transferred to hospital in Etaples suffering from an ulcer on the knee. It must have been serious as he was not discharged from hospital until 20th October and travelled to join his battalion on 24 October. On 24th they marched to Fricourt where they trained for several days. On 30 October they camped north of Bernafay Wood under heavy rains. The ground was very slushy.
The warm dusty days of summer on the Somme had given way to autumn rains that turned the battlefield into a quagmire. Lieutenant Allan Leane wrote to his mother:
“I am……..thoroughly sick of the mud, slush, blood etc and sincerely hope that it comes to an end shortly. I am so heartily sick of killing and lust for blood, it is degrading and demoralising”
The battalion trained at Bernafay Wood until 12th November. They them moved through Fricourt (13th), Dernacourt (14-16th), Buire (17-18th) and Cardonette.
On 18 November the main Somme offensive ended on a day marked by the first fall of snow.
From then on the rain, mud and cold of one of the worst winters in living memory meant that no more big battles were possible until the following spring. Conditions became appalling as trenches filled with water and thick slimy mud; the spirits of the men declined. It was impossible to keep warm and dry, and water froze in water-bottles. Private David Roberts recalled:
“We are over our knees in mud and water and our feet are all swollen and without feeling. Trench-foot and frost bite became widespread.”
Still shelling and raiding continued. However, the weather became the enemy for both sides, especially for the allies.”
On 1 December the battalion was located in Franvillers and moved on the 2nd to Dernacourt where the men were engaged in extended training. The battalion diary reports that:
“the cold was so intense that sheep skin jackets had to be worn”.
On 5 December the battalion moved to Fler, close to the front line. Around the 7th December the men received parcels from the Australian Comforts Fund and YMCA, which were greatly appreciated by the men.
Even during this bitterly cold winter the men were moved onto the front line to do their duty. While this was not a period of intense fighting men still went out on patrol and fire was exchanged between the allies and Germans. The 10th battalion were once again on the front line near Fler between the 13th and 22nd December. During this period the men suffered significant hardship. The ground was frozen and they were camped in the trenches in the bitter cold. Many men suffered from frost bite. On the 16th, 16 men were evacuated from the trenches suffering from exposure. Using primus stoves the men were given one hot meal and three hot drinks in each 24-hour period in the trenches.
On 19 December Reg Brownett died. According to the Battalion diary he and another soldier were walking near Fler HQ during the day. The enemy were shelling as usual when one of the shells hit the men killing them outright.
Reg Brownett does not have a known grave. His details are recorded on the wall at Villiers Bretonneau. His death was recorded as “Killed in action”.
Researched and written by Reg’s great niece, Julia Williams. December 2016
References
AIF Personnel record – National Archives of Australia
10th Battalion Diaries – Australian War Memorial
Burness, Peter. Australians on the Western Front. Fromelles and the Somme 1916. 2006