World War 1 Remembered

World War 1 Remembered is dedicated to our local champions who volunteered to serve in a war far from home and to those who remained offering their support from the home front.


  1. Ethel Lavery, of Double Bay, in fancy dress costume, early 1920s.
    Ethel Lavery wore a fancy dress costume made of Turf cigarette boxes to a costume party held to raise money for returned soldiers from World War I. In acknowledgement of the costume worn by Ethel, the cigarette manufacturers made a donation towards the fund raising effort. Ethel lived with her sisters at Govan Dore, 16 Court Road, Double Bay, and her eldest sister, Sarah, ran a dressmaking and costumiere establishment in Moore Street (which later became part of Martin Place).
  2. Leo Whitby Robinson, Mayor of Woollahra 1914-1916 and 1926-1929.
    On 29 May 1916, Leo Whitby Robinson's wife of less than 8 months, Minnie, died suddenly. Leo Whitby, a solicitor, resigned his mayoral position to enlist for active service in September 1916. He served as a gunner with the 10 Field Artillery Brigade and was severely wounded in France in October 1917, with multiple injuries forcing the amputation of his right arm. Leo Whitby returned to his home at 72 Cross Street, Double Bay, in April 1919 and was immediately re-elected an alderman of Woollahra Council
  3. Returned soldiers at the Royal Motor Yacht Club of NSW, Point Piper, ca. 1918.
    This photo montage, originally published in The Ladies Sphere magazine on 15 April 1918, shows returned and wounded soldiers from Randwick Military Hospital on one of the fortnightly outings organised by the Club. Volunteers offered their cars to ferry the soldiers to the Club House at Point Piper and later back to the hospital.
  4. Rose Bay Patriotic Association Certificate of Honour presented to Charles Lambourne Dewley, 1916.
    The certificate was presented to Charles Dewley on behalf of the citizens of Rose Bay to acknowledge his application to volunteer for active service. Dewley, an insurance agent who lived with his wife Elizabeth at Fairview, Carlisle Street, Rose Bay, enlisted in the A.I.F., aged 44, on 8 February 1916. Private Dewley was initially assigned to the 30 Battalion but, in 1917, was attached for duty in France with the 14 Australian Field Ambulance. Dewley returned to Australia on 19 July 1919. The certificate presented to him was designed by the cartoonist and commercial artist, Harry Weston, who produced some of Australia's earliest posters.
  5. Members of the Vaucluse Voluntary Workers Association with Sergeant Buckley in front of his new house at Frenchs Forest, ca. 1916-17.
    Founded in Sydney by Dr Richard Arthur, the Voluntary Workers Association built homes on farm land provided for returned soldiers who needed convalescence. Harold Maurice Buckley, a motor mechanic, enlisted in the A.I.F. on 17 August 1914 aged 27. Buckley, who served with the 4 Battalion, was discharged medically unfit with tuberculosis and returned to Australia in March 1915. Dr Arthur sent Harold to the soldier's settlement at Frenchs Forest where a house built by volunteers from Vaucluse, along with farming land, was allocated to him. The Weekly Times in March 1917 reported that Harold had made a 'wonderful recovery' at the settlement to become 'a fine, lithe, active, sunburnt Australian'.
  6. 'The Toilers', volunteers from the Vaucluse Progress Association erecting the Vaucluse War Memorial flagpole, 1918.
    The memorial was an initiative of the Vaucluse Progress Association and was built by them in 1918 at the corner of Fitzwilliam and Wentworth Roads. The memorial served as 'A grateful tribute to the gallant men who fought for us in the Great War'. Sir Walter Davidson, Governor of New South Wales, unfurled the flag and dedicated the Memory Drive on 26 October 1918. The ceremony was attended by several hundred people with a band of school children 'singing patriotic songs', while 'flags and other bunting flew from all the surrounding homes in honour of the occasion' (Sydney Morning Herald, 28 October 1918, p.6).
  7. German gun in front of the Woollahra Council Chambers, corner of Ocean Street and Jersey Road, Woollahra, ca. 1926.
    The 6-inch naval gun, captured by the 45 Battalion of the A.I.F. at Caroline Wood, France in August 1918, was presented as a so-called 'war trophy' to the Woollahra Municipality in 1921 and placed in the front garden of the council chambers. The gun was one of hundreds of captured guns that were distributed to municipalities and shires around the country following the close of the war, with 70 of these relics allocated to Sydney suburbs. Ald. L.W. Robinson at the dedication of the gun in May 1921 expressed his belief that 'the emblem would not encourage a military spirit so much as it would create a horror of war'. The gun was moved to Lyne Park in 1930 and later transferred to the National Artillery Museum at North Head
  8. Members of the Vaucluse Progress Association erecting the Vaucluse War Memorial flagpole, 1918.
    The Vaucluse Progress Association was formed on 4 May 1915 and over the course of the next few years was almost wholly concerned with the war effort. The flagpole, at the corner of Fitzwilliam and Wentworth Roads, marked the entrance to 'Memory Drive', a planned avenue of trees which the Association anticipated would become 'a thing of beauty in our District, and an eternal reminder of our debt to our gallant men, keeping their memory green and their sacrifices in honoured remembrance' (The Vauclusian, 1919).
  9. Bugler Harry Russell, 1915.
    Harry (Phillip Henry) Russell had his photograph taken at the Tesler Studios in George Street as a keepsake for 'Minnie' before his embarkation on 25 June 1915. A newspaper cutting which was attached to back of the photograph recorded Harry's death: 'Mrs M.M. Russell, of Barcom-avenue Darlinghurst received official advice yesterday that her son, Bugler P.H. Russell, of the 20th Battalion, had died of cerebral haemorrhage, supervening a bomb wound in the head'. Harry Russell was a watchmaker who lived with his mother, Mary at 193 Barcom Avenue, Darlinghurst. He enlisted in the A.I.F. on 17 March 1915 aged 27. Harry died on board the hospital ship Galeka from wounds he had received in action at Gallipoli. He was buried at sea on 6 November 1915.
  10. Returned and wounded soldiers at Point Piper ready to embark on a harbour cruise, ca. 1918.
    Throughout the war years the Royal Motor Yacht Club of NSW organised regular entertainment for returned and wounded soldiers at their premises in Point Piper. Harbour cruises were held during the summer months and afternoon smoke concerts were enjoyed during the winter. Launches embarked from the Club's jetty and the cruise was accompanied 'with music to brighten the occasion'. Afterwards at the Club House an 'excellent afternoon tea was provided by the wives and lady friends of the Club members' (The Ladies Sphere, 15 April 1918, p.18). (State Library of NSW)
  11. Cecil Moulder, ca. 1917.
    During the war years the Moulder family, parents William and Jessie and children Cecil, Frank and Ruth, lived at St Brigid's, at 548 New South Head Road, Double Bay. Cecil Joseph Moulder, a manager with Moulder Brothers Motors, enlisted in the A.I.F. on 1 December 1917 aged 37. He embarked on 28 February 1918 serving with the 57 Battalion. After receiving a gun shot wound to his right shoulder during fighting in France in August 1918, Cecil was detached for duty with the Records section in London. The family sold their home in 1919 and from 1957 the house served as the Woollahra Library.
  12. The Moulder family and friends at St Brigid's, 1915-1916.
    This image was one of a series taken of an idyllic afternoon spent a world away from the horrors of the battlefields in France. The Moulder family held regular tennis parties at their home, St Brigid's in Double Bay, and frequently entertained officers from visiting ships of the Royal Navy. Ruth Moulder met her future husband, Albert Marden R.N., at one of these gatherings. Cecil Moulder, in the hat in the centre of the photograph, served in the A.I.F., while his brother Frank served in the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot and observer.
  13. Captain Charles Leer, 1915.
    Charles Edward Leer was a school teacher at Watsons Bay Public School, living with his wife Rosabella, and daughter Zillah, at 49 The Grove, Paddington, when war broke out. Leer, who had fought in the Boer War, enlisted with the A.I.F. on 3 September 1914. Rosabella fell ill soon after and died on 2 October, 2 weeks before Charles embarked for Egypt. Charles was killed in action at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, aged 43. He was mentioned in despatches for acts of 'conspicuous gallantry or valuable services' and according to Leer's commanding officer he 'fought with determination in an isolated position andwas killed whilst rallying his company'. The giving of a yearly prize at his old school was established in his memory.
  14. The Prince of Wales inspecting the guard of honour on board the HMAS Tingira, Rose Bay, 1920.
    The boys from the HMAS Tingira formed part of the welcoming party for the Prince of Wales on his arrival in Sydney in 1920. The Prince's visit was part of a Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand, the purpose of which was to thank Australians for their participation in the First World War. The Prince of Wales arrived in Melbourne on 26 May on board the battle cruiser HMS Reknown and spent 3 months travelling the country. The HMAS Tingira was a training ship for boys planning on entering the navy and was moored in Rose Bay from 1912 to 1927.