William John Black
| First name | William John |
|---|---|
| Last name | Black |
| Country of Origin | Ireland |
| Date of Birth | 1836 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1852 |
| Submitted by | Lillian Dillon |
Story
William John Black was born in 1836 in Bushmills, Co. Antrim Northern Ireland. After arriving in Australia on 2 July 1852 aboard the “London” in 1856 he married 17 year old Ann Longmore at Barabool Hills near Geelong. Ann was also born in Bushmills around 1838 and emigrated to Australia with her parents Robert Longmore and Elizabeth MacMichael and 9 of her brothers & sisters arriving in Pt. Jackson NSW aboard the “Herald” in 1844.
Wm. & Ann Black remained in the Ceres district until they took up land in the late 1860s at Beremboke south of Ballan Victoria. Of their 14 children 3 sons joined the Victoria Police Force & another brother, Percy Charles Herbert enlisted to serve in World War I from the Western Australian goldfields. He was wounded in Gallipoli landing April 24th 1915 was mentioned in dispatches twice for bravery at Pozieres where wounded; achieved the following decorations as he rose through the ranks from private 167th Batt. AIF to Major in 19 months from enlisting: DSO & Bar, DCM, Croix de Guerrre & Croix Militare before being killed at the Battle of Bullecourt on April 11th 1917.
Percy Black became known as the “greatest fighting soldier in the Australian Imperial Forces” according to historian C.E.W.Bean, and his deeds are documented in stories & paintings – one of which hung in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra “Death of Major Percy Black”. This painting was presented to the Bullecourt Museum in the 1990s as a reminder of the Battle. Percy, and his cousins Henry..and Herbert Longmore..were mates before WWI and were all in cadets while at school in Victoria. They worked together in the WA goldfields and were part time soldiers in the Goldfields Regiment which was the Old 16th. “The 16th Battalion Machine-gun Section on Blackboy Hill, Western Australia. The outstanding history of this Battalion begins in late 1914 when the Australian Government decided to raise another force to supplement the 1st Division already in training. The new unit was to be known as the 4th Brigade and commanded by Colonel John Monash. Western Australia was allotted the task of raising the new 16th Battalion, consisting of a headquarters, a machinegun section, signal section and five companies of infantry. The remaining three companies were to be filled by South Australians.
During the course of the war the 16th Battalion fought on Gallipoli and in France and Belgium along the Western Front. Its battle honours include the landing at Anzac Cove, Sari Bair Ridge, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Messines, Ypres and Polygon Wood, Hamel, Mont St Quentin on the Somme and Amiens and the Hindenburg Line. In its last engagement, which ended on 21/9/1918, it was led into battle by Major W Lynas DSO MC who had landed on Gallipoli as a private nearly three and a half years before. The 16th Battalion was one of the most highly decorated regiments in the armies of the Allied forces.’
‘Arguably the most remarkable pair of 16th Battalion men was Harry Murray and Percy Black. They joined together in 1914 as private soldiers from Manjimup in the south-west of Western Australia. Lt Col Harry Murray VC CMG DSO MC DCM Croix de Guerre, ended the war as the most highly decorated soldier after having risen from a machine gun private to command of a machine gun Battalion of 64 guns in 1918.
Major Percy Black DSO DCM Croix de Guerre was killed at Bullecourt on the 17th of April 1917 fighting with the 16th. It was Harry Murray who had the traumatic task of cutting his friend from the wire after an action which cost the Battalion 650 casualties of the 800 who went into action. Lt Arnold Potts (later Brigadier A.W. Potts DSO OBE MC of Kokoda Track fame) led his 45 men of the 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery in the action and lost 34 of them, some by ‘friendly’ fire from the new fangled British tanks. The 4th Brigade lost a total of 2450 men of the 3000 who fought on that fateful morning.’
William John Black died in 1910 at Clifton Hill aged 76 and was buried in grave No 25 in the Church of England section of Warringal Cemetery, Heidelberg, with no headstone. Ann Black died on 9th August 1917 aged 78 and is buried with her husband in the same grave. For full family history see http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/10421