Military

       Home       NEW Updates      About Us       Feedback      Historic Sites       Consultants          Contact Us       Terms/Conditions

 

V.D.C.ACTIVITIES

The uniform consisted of khaki shirt and trousers, boots, and slouch hats. The VDC badge was the initials VDC red embroidered on a khaki coloured patch.
Uniforms and equipment was very hard to acquire. When the uniforms finally arrived, it was found that the trousers were way too long...so many families were able to make clothing for their young children with the cut off scraps!
Several members were involved in the Gnowangerup Brass Band and musical instruments were played during marching practise.
Training was undertaken in the use of weapons, bayonet drill, unarmed combat, map reading and signalling.
(Other courses which were undertaken throughout Australia and Britain were: Tank hunting and destruction, Field Works, Application of Fire, Light Machine Gun Training, Anti-tank Rifle Training, and Protection against Gas).
Tales are told of an aeroplane flying over Gnowangerup in a simulated ‘attack’, with gelignite placed under a pile of rocks and was then exploded to give the effect of a bomb being dropped!
Bomb throwing and lessons in the ‘Mills bomb’ were undertaken.
Tommy Stewart held Morse Code classes at Pallinup State School rooms in the evenings and weekends. These were attended mostly by the youth of the area.

Jean and Russell Denny later went on to enlist having completed these Morse Code lessons.
Setting up radio and tele radio communication and the laying of lines was instigated. Again, Tommy Stewart was a signaler in WW1 and assisted with this training.

SAM STEWART IN THE V.D.C.                #1
 

Weekend training sessions out in the bush were arranged as often as possible, and the majority of the 40 men attended. Some had to drive or ride long distances. This was appreciated because petrol rationing was instituted.
Supplies were gathered up and transported, tent camps set up complete with camp fires, cooking areas, a ‘Mess’, bush showers and latrines.
Water was once again boiled on an open fire in kerosene tin or a 44 gallon drum.
Several ‘Bases’ also would have been established around the District.
Cooking was completed in camp ovens, much of the equipment for this retrieved from sheds where it had lain since the first settlers arrived.
In April 1941 Colin Heppell returned on leave and gave lessons in the use of gas masks. Colin later perished in Burma after capture by the Japanese Army.
In 1941 William ‘Bill’ Adshead, local police officer and Colonel in the local VDC, wrote a letter to the Gnowangerup Star insisting that the focus on bayonet drill be dropped for more modern methods of warfare, noting that only 1.7% of soldiers in WWI died of bayonet wounds, and in ‘modern warfare’ soldiers usually did not get close enough for bayonets to be used.

 

 

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

 

References:                 Article:      Research by Merilyn Stewart

                                  Image:     

 


Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2023