10/09/1914- Completed Application for Enlistment & Medical Examination Blackboy Hill Camp, WA
06/10/1914- Joined ” H ” Company 12th Battalion at Blackboy Hill & Appointed Corporal
02/11/1914- Embarked Fremantle aboard ” Medic ” bound for Egypt & Appointed Sergeant
26/11/1914- Disembarked Alexandria, Egypt to Overseas Training Base
03/03/1915- Embarked Alexandria with Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces Bound for Gallipoli Peninsula
16/03/1915- Admitted Hospital Mudros then transferred to 1st Stationary Hospital Heliopolis Egypt
17/04/1915- Transferred to 15th General Hospital Alexandria ( Measles/Erysipilas Face )
09/06/1915- Admitted to Mena Convalescent Hospital Mustapha Egypt
16/10/1915- Discharged from Hospital to Machine Gun Instruction School Mustapha Base Cairo Egypt
05/12/1915- To Overseas Training Base Depot Ghezireh Egypt
07/01/1916- Rejoined Unit in the field Tel-el-Kebir Egypt
01/03/1916- Transferred to 52nd Battalion ex 12th Battalion Tel-el-Kebir
16/03/1916- Qualified as First Class Machine Gun Instructor
05/06/1916- Embarked Alexandria Egypt with British Expeditionary Forces bound for Marseilles France
12/06/1916- Disembarked Marseilles France
03-4/09/1916 – Wounded in Action France ( Gunshot Wound Neck )
11/09/1916- Evacuated/Admitted Keightey War Hospital England aboard ” Dieppe ” ex Calais France
25/10/1916-14/11/1916- Awarded DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL
07/10/1916- Admitted 2nd North General Hospital Leeds England
13/08/1917- Discharged to Administration Headquarters London ex Hospital
10/11/1917- Proceeded Overseas 4th Australian Division Base Depot Havre FRance ex Southampton ex Longbridge Deverill
25/11/1917- Rejoined 52nd Battalion in the field France
28/11/1917= Promoted Warrant Officer Class 2/Company Sergeant Major
12/01/1918- Detached to Australian Corps School France
23/02/1918- Rejoined Unit in the field France ex Corps School
23/02/1918 – Wounded in Action France – Remained at Duty as CSM
23/03/1918- Detached to Officer Training Corps England
05/04/1918- Detached On Command No. 6 Officers Cadet Battalion Course England
04/11/1918- Posted to General Infantry Reinforcements as Second Lieutenant
23/11/1918- Granted Leave until 07/02/1919 then to report to Overseas Training Brigade
07/02/1919- Granted Leave until 07/08/1919 with Pay & Subs to attend Leeds University for an Agricultural Chemistry Course
01/03/1919- Appointed to Rank of Lieutenant
07/08/1919- University Course completed very satisfactorily
24/08/1919- Granted Leave until 23/10/1919 without Pay for Business Purposes at 41 Park Street Leeds England
25/10/1919- To Command Depot Sutton Veny England for Return to Australia
15/11/1919- Embarked England aboard ” Ypiringa ” bound for Australia
26/12/1919- Disembarked Fremantle, WA ex England
01/11/1920 – Appointment Terminated.

DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL

Refer London Gazette Second Supplement No. 29824 of 14/11/1916 & Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No. 62 Dated 19/04/1917-

” For conspicuous Gallantry in Action. He re-organized the left of the line and led them into the enemy’s trench. He showed marked skill with his Machine Guns, and later repaired and brought into action an enemy gun.
He set a splendid example of courage and determination throughout “

SERVICE MEDALS AWARDED

1914/15 Star – No. 1287

British War Medal – No. 259

Victory Medal – No. 258

Distinguished Conduct Medal.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:-

Soldier Allan Bennison BLACK had an older sister, Emily Conyngham BLACK, who enlisted for service in the First World War with the Australian Army Nursing Service.

She completed her Nurse Training at the Homeopathic Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania, prior to enlisting on 13 July, 1917.  Allan had been seriously wounded in France in September, 1916, and Emily became one of a number of Nurses who enlisted following the wounding or death of a close family member at the front.

Emily initially served at Alexandria, Egypt until April 1918, then posted to Salonika, where the conditions were appalling. Her Matron at the time, Jessie McHardie WHITE, wrote a biography  in which she stated ” Staff contended with poor living conditions, extremes of temperature, threats to their safety from marauders, and with flies, lice, malaria, dysentery and typhus “.

Emily BLACK spent many weeks at a time in Hospital, during her War Service, firstly with Dysentery in Alexandria, then with Malaria in Salonika.  A British Medical Board in Salonika found that her Malaria rendered her unfit for Service. She was subsequently invalided back to Australia, arriving in February 1919, before being discharged on 6 March, 1919.

After the War, Emily resumed Nursing, however her health was permanently impaired by her War Service. She re-united with an older sister, Ellen, and they jointly served  in running the boarding house at St Anne’s Church of England Girls Grammar School in Sale, Victoria until both women retired in 1950.

Following Ellen’s death in 1956, Emily returned to Western Australia to live with her other sister, Mary. Emily died in 1976 and is buried in the Anglican Section of the Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth, with her Father William and sister Mary.

REFERENCE :-Author Janet SCARFE, East Melbourne Historical Society.