The Immigrants
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“John Charles Speck left from Outer Harbour, South Australia on 20 April 1915 aboard the transport ship ‘HMAT Hororata’, with the 16th Infantry Battalion—5th Reinforcement and arrived at Alexandria, Egypt on 1 June. It was here that they learnt of what had transpired, on 25 April and the days afterwards, on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The main attack at the base of the Gallipoli Peninsula, involved landing the bulk of the British troops on five beaches around Cape Helles, with a secondary landing by Australian and New Zealand troops, with the objective to seize the Sari Bair Ridge. The main attack that was originally planned for Friday 23 April was postponed due to bad weather until Sunday 25 April 1915. As the row boats, containing the Australian and New Zealand troops, were cast off from the British steamers, that had towed them closer to the shore, it became obvious that they had been towed in the wrong direction and would make their landing about a mile to the north of the planned landing site, an area marked by rugged cliffs, quite different to the more open country of the intended landings. The landing became chaotic, with the men caught on a crowded beach, with little cover other than the ravines just above the beach. For the Australians and New Zealanders, assisted by Indian Army troops and the British Royal Naval Division, the fighting during the landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula lasted from 25 April to 3 May. A defensible line had been established inland from the landing beaches along what was known as ‘Second Ridge’ by 3 May, and this small area of Gallipoli was soon known as ‘Anzac Cove’. During the landing “at Gallipoli there were 8,000 Australian and New Zealand casualties, 2,300 of whom were killed. After one month’s training in June 1915, at the Mena Camp, John Charles Speck and the other reinforcements, were despatched to Gallipoli. Prior to their departure they had been told to stop shining their badges, buttons and any other shiny surfaces on their uniforms were to be dulled. There were many snipers in the Turkish held higher ground who would pick out their targets by the glint of the sun. All officers were told to wear regular belts and bandoleers and to dress similar to the lower ranks, so as to not attract attention from the snipers. The reinforcements arrived at Anzac Cove on 13 July and joined the 16th Battalion who were heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line at the Anzac Cove beach-head. The narrow, shingle beach had a high—bank and was six hundred yards long and only twenty yards wide. On the night of 6 August the 4th Infantry Brigade, including the 16th Battalion, advanced in an attack on the enemy positions on Koja Chemen Tepe (Hill 971), the highest point of the Sari Bair Ridge. Excerpt From: Paul M. Hoskins. “The Immigrants.” Xlibris, 2013-10-15T04:00:00+00:00. iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.
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About the Book
From the mid 1700’s to the early 1900’s there was a mass exodus of people from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. During the reign of Queen Victoria, from 1837 to 1901, around fifteen million people emigrated to America, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. The reasons they left the country of their birth were many and varied. There was high unemployment in the working classes due to the Industrial Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, the Enclosure Movement and the Land Clearances. The potato famines in Ireland and Scotland caused starvation and death, prompting a mass exodus from those areas. This story follows the lives of three families who immigrated to South Australia in the 1850’s. Each family originated in different parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and travelled separately to South Australia, spanning a four-year period, unaware that their future lives would be forever joined. The Speck families, brick-makers from Cambridgeshire, sailed from Liverpool in October 1852, the Stacey family, willow-workers from Wiltshire, sailed from Southampton in January 1854 and the Murphy family, farmers from Kilkenny, sailed from Plymouth in November 1855. The journey, over the seas, was hazardous and life in the early years of South Australia took its toll on people as they tried to create better lives for themselves and their families in the new colony. By the end of 1888 the three families were joined into one extended family living in the mid-north of South Australia. More births, deaths and marriages followed as the families grew and were subjected to droughts, floods, a world war and an economic depression. All of these people left a memory legacy that should not be forgotten.
About the Author
Paul Hoskins was born in Walkerville, South Australia in 1947 and after completing an Engineering Trade in 1968, Paul travelled around Australia in a VW Kombi, working in Western Australia and Queensland. In 1979 he travelled abroad working in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. His work then took him to Denver, Colorado in 1977 before returning to Indonesia in 1998. From 2001 his work for the next four years, with Rio Tinto, saw him travelling to and living in the USA & Canada. Paul retired from work in November 2005 due to health issues and lives on Kawana Island, Queensland with his wife Sharyn and their two German Shepherd Dogs.