Eastern Adelaide Teacher resource.pdf - Army Museum of South ...

Classroom
(8) As a tribute to those ten servicemen from Tea Tree Gully, who lost their
lives in the two World Wars, the local community planted the ‘Avenue of
Trees’. These trees originally had plaques bearing the names of the fallen.
They have now all disappeared. Write a letter of 50 –100 words to the
editor of the local paper arguing for these plaques to be replaced.
Student answers should reflect the contribution and sacrifice made by these ten
servicemen during the two World Wars.
Teachers note: Students may also be encouraged to write to their local member of
Parliament or local RSL branch requesting that they argue for the replacement of
these plaques.
(9) The very last name on the Tea Tree Gully World War I plaque, which you
recorded in Question (7), is that of a famous World War I veteran who died
on July 26 2002 aged 102. His first name was Albert. However he was
better known as Bert. Use the internet to find out why he was so important.
Albert (Bert) Whitmore will be remembered because he was the last of the World
War I Australian Light Horsemen and the last South Australian World War I veteran.
He was honoured by a State Funeral when he passed away. The Australian Light
Horse were mounted infantry. Light Horsemen served at Gallipoli with distinction and
some also served on the Western front. However they are best known for their
campaigns in Egypt and the Middle East from 1916-1918.
Teachers note: By birth, upbringing and training, Whitmore fitted
into the mould of a Light Horseman perfectly. Born, as he said, "way
out in the bush" in the then hamlet of Tea Tree Gully, 20km north
east of Adelaide, he was put in the saddle before he could walk. His
first job on leaving primary school was mustering sheep on
horseback. The 17-year-old was still riding to and from his Adelaide
Hills job as an apprentice baker when he enlisted on March 5, 1917,
putting his age up and passing the riding test at first go. Trained in
Mitcham in South Australia and in Seymour, Victoria, he joined the
9 th Light Horse Regiment and sailed for Port Suez. He was taught
desert warfare before joining the campaign at Gaza, just west of
Beersheba, which his countrymen had just captured. The 9 th Light
Horse then liberated Gaza from Turkish and German occupation to
open the way to Jerusalem. Whitmore rode into the fray in the
successful third battle for Gaza.
Riding north along the Mediterranean coast, they occupied Jaffa, Bethlehem and
finally Jerusalem. "It was like riding through the Bible," Whitmore said. He then
served in the Jordan Valley with the 9 th , and "rode off at a gallop" on the famous Es
Salt Raid in April 1918 to help the Allied Light Horse advance from the east towards
enemy positions still held by enemy forces in Palestine. In this operation, they rode
over the high plateau at Moab to the River Jordan, helping to gain and then guard an
Allied crossing despite enemy fire at Es Salt. When enemy forces counterattacked
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