OK short quiz.

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Originally Posted by 303gunner

I think it was instrumental in limiting the Jap advance as it was.


The story of the AEF is far more important to the development of Australia (and PNG) than Gallipoli could ever be. The AEF/Rabaul mission was conceived and approved by PM Joe Cook who was shortly beaten in a General Election by the more British Empire minded Andrew Fisher. As Fisher was keen to downplay the effectiveness of Cook, the AEF were never given the credit they deserved.


Fortunately, Sir Joe Cook was one of the two Australian delegates to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (to formulate the Treaty of Versailles) and ensured that Australia retained the Territory of New Guinea from Germany as reparations. We never asked, or got, anything from Turkey.

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Just FYI I am using a book Australia's real baptism of fire, G.Raffin as my reference. On 8th Aug, the British asked Australia to take PNG, etc. incidentally it was the British intent Britain would retain the islands, not Australia. NZ grabbed Samoa for them. It was the AN&MEF who did the job, a month later, so quick off the mark.

I just realized an Ancestor was Secretary for War or similar in Britain at the time, so I should research the link.

Billy Hughes was the other ?

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Originally Posted by AndyG

Just FYI I am using a book Australia's real baptism of fire, G.Raffin as my reference. On 8th Aug, the British asked Australia to take PNG, etc. incidentally it was the British intent Britain would retain the islands, not Australia. NZ grabbed Samoa for them. It was the AN&MEF who did the job, a month later, so quick off the mark.

I just realized an Ancestor was Secretary for War or similar in Britain at the time, so I should research the link.

Billy Hughes was the other ?

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In 1917 the Imperial War Cabinet was formed. Members were;


Lloyd George
Sir Robert Borden PM Canada
Louis Botha PM South Africa
Billy Hughes PM Australia
William Massey PM New Zealand
Jan Smuts
The British Secretary of State India, & senior Ministers from Britain, & the Dominions.

Re New Guinea and Australian Flags; An interesting little anecdote took place in 1883 when Qld Police Magistrate, Henry Chester was dispatched by Sir Thomas McIlwraith's Qld government to New Guinea from Thursday Island to raise the flag and take possession of all of New Guinea east of the Dutch border. He did so and raised the flag on 4 April 1883 at Port Moresby, and only a couple of days later a German Corvette "Carola" arrived with the aim of annexing New Guinea for the German Empire.
On arrival, the Germans saw the Union Jack already flying, and turned angrily away and sailed off empty handed.
Australia in general was very happy about the result of this action that the youngest of all its colonies, Queensland, had taken single handedly, but, as luck would have it, approximately two months or so after this victorious event, the powers to be back home in England repudiated the action, demanding the flag be taken down.
It wasn't until the following year that the British realised their mistake and replanted their flag on New Guinea soil but unfortunately, almost simultaneously the Germans did the same on the North coast of New Guinea.
The rest is history.
Quite a few interesting stories re the early days of our flag can be found in the book by Frank Cayley; Flag of Stars. (Rigby 65-19141)
Regards
Glen

Another question..
What is the story about this flag. When, where and why?
Possibly just as significant as the Eureka Stockade.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...14/06/1526.jpg

Am thinking Victoria was the first to complain at the time of the Ballarat goldfields, but a reoccurring theme. Look at Vietnam last week!:p

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Originally Posted by zulu Delta 534

Another question..
What is the story about this flag. When, where and why?
Possibly just as significant as the Eureka Stockade.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...14/06/1526.jpg

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Would it relate to the violence against the Chinese, in Victoria. Buckland River?. Funny thing is , a mate of mine, part Chinese, told me for every Chinaman digging for gold , at least 5 were growing market gardens, making a better profit feeding the miners, than most miners were making chasing gold. Bob

If I were to mention the riot act being read out, would that help?
Regards
Glen

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Originally Posted by zulu Delta 534

Another question..
What is the story about this flag. When, where and why?
Possibly just as significant as the Eureka Stockade.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...14/06/1526.jpg

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Does it relate to the Lambing Flat Riots near Young, NSW?

Tom.

As a next question
(cannot help with this one, sorry)

who was the famous poet who was a mounted policeman?

and where?

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Originally Posted by digger

As a next question
(cannot help with this one, sorry)

who was the famous poet who was a mounted policeman?

and where?

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A clue please Digger, did you ever work with horses?