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Further Research
Explain what a referendum is and how it is conducted.
It is important to remember that women served overseas as nurses in
World War 1. However, due to male casualties on the battlefields, many
women had to adopt many roles on the Home Front only previously
undertaken by men. Obviously, their abilities in all types of roles on the
homefront lead later in the Second World War to “Total War”, where all
members of the population worked for a war purpose and were often
attacked by the enemy’s forces. Women’s abilities and competence and
this attitude to war also gave stimulus to the suffragette movement.
35
th
BATTALION or “Newcastle’s Own”
The 35
th
Battalion was formed in Newcastle in December 1915 and
emulated the success of the call for volunteers that resulted in the
formation of the 34
th
Battalion or “Maitland’s Own”.
The Battalion left Sydney for the war on 1st May, 1916 with 28 officers
and 991 other ranks.
Many people would assume that most of our local Redhead troops would
have joined the 35
th
Battalion but as they enlisted slightly later than the
men in the Battalion, many were allocated as “Reinforcements” in other
Battalions.
The 35
th
arrived in England in early July 1916 and commenced four
months of training.
On 26th November, 1916 , the battalion moved into the front line trenches
for the first time; just in time for very bad winter weather conditions. The
poor weather caused serious medical conditions that hampered the
formation of fit battalions.
It took the battalion a long period of time to be involved in its first major
battle, the Battle of Messines that commenced on 7th June, 1917. It was
deemed a success but it was a costly battle in the respect of casualties.
Their next major battle in 1917 was around Passchendaele commencing
on the 12th October. Heavy rain and poor surface conditions made
forward progress very difficult and it turned out to be a disaster. Of the
508 men who “crossed the start line” only 90 men remained fit for duty at
the end. Despite the heavy German losses in the early stages of the battle,
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