J00186 Accession Number: J00186

Description

The graves of Able Seaman (AB) W G V Williams and Captain (Capt) Brian Colden Antill Pockley, Australian Army Medical Corps. Both died on the ship HMAT Berrima during the afternoon of 11 September 1914, after being wounded during the landing of the Australian Navy and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) at German New Guinea. Williams became the first Australian casualty of the war, Pockley became the first medical officer to be killed in the war. In the back row, right, is the grave of AB Henry William Street, killed in action on 11 September 1914 (buried on the road where he was killed). At left is the grave of AB H C Willans who died on active service 24 December 1914. Note the iron railing fence around the grave of Capt Pockley provided by an uncle, also a medical doctor and named Pockley. The original burial place of Pockley, Williams and Street was at Herbertshohe, reinterred in another cemetery at Herberthohe around c 1915-1916 and in 1919 they were reinterred in the Rabaul military cemetery. Note: Postwar c 1950 these three graves were transferred to Bitapaka War Cemetery.

Details

People

• Captain Brian Colden Antill Pockley MID

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918

Places

• New Guinea

Units

• Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force

Tags

• War graves