Image courtesy Australian War Memorial. Image
number P07586.003.
The following
information comes from Sydney Rauert’s dossier, available online at the
National Archives of Australia.
Twenty-two year
old Private Rauert enlisted on 7 April 1915 at Nhill in Victoria’s Wimmera, but
soon after arriving at the Broadmeadows Camp contracted measles, which in those
days was a serious, often fatal, illness. Admitted to the Melbourne Hospital on
7 May, he was soon returned to Broadmeadows by horse ambulance.
I can imagine the
shock his parents must have suffered, having travelled the 360 kilometres from
Kiata East (near Nhill) thinking that they were going to say goodbye to their
son as he sailed off to war – he was due to sail out with the 6th
Brigade on 9 May. Instead, they learned of his illness and despite his worsening
condition, were unable to visit him because he was infectious and in quarantine.
In the end, they had to make the long journey home without seeing him.
Sydney developed
bronchial-pneumonia and died of heart failure on 15 May 1915, four days after
his parents returned home. Thankfully, his brother Percy, then in camp, was by
his side until his death. Percy went on to serve on the Western Front with
distinction, attained the rank of Lieutenant and was awarded the Military
Cross.
To add to his
parents’ distress, the details of Sydney’s dying days became the subject of an
official inquiry in November 1915. It’s likely that his brother instigated the
complaint, given that he had visited Sydney every day. Firstly, it was
claimed that the Department had not supplied Sydney with a change of clothing
and Percy had to give his brother his own clothes and find new ones for himself.
However, that was not the worst of it:
He was in an iron room with about 15 others and attended by camp orderlies with no technical knowledge. There were no comforts and no clean towels. The lad complained of the medical attention, his dying words being “they are absolutely doing nothing for me, they are letting me die like a dog.”
Percy must have
been outraged in late August 1915 when a member of the Military Police at
Seymour was sent to arrest him for supposed desertion. It transpired that it
was actually Sydney they were there to arrest, for desertion from Broadmeadows
on 8 May, at a time when he was lying in his iron room at Broadmeadows, dying.
When the Nhill Free Press published Sydney’s death notice on 18 May 1915, it made reference to him dying at the Broadmeadows ‘concentration camp’. Although this term has a very different meaning for us now, it was used then to mean a camp where many men were concentrated. Given the terrible conditions under which Sydney Rauert died, it could be claimed that his treatment at the Broadmeadows Camp was closer to our modern understanding of the term.
Rauert brothers just before Sydney's enlistment in April 1915. Back row: all unidentified. Front row,
left to right: Sydney Charles Rauert; unidentified; Norman Alfred Rauert (served in WW2); and
Percival Louis (Percy) Rauert.
Image courtesy Australian
War Memorial, image number P07586.002
If you are able to identify the three men in the back row or the man in the middle of the front row, please let me know.
These deaths that occurred before the volunteers even left the country are very sad. Andrew Lemon has a very interesting chapter on the Broadmeadows Camp in his book "Broadmeadows: a forgotten history". It is probably this case that he mentions in reference to the early conditions in the camp. I was particularly interested in the story of the Camp of Evil Women!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation, Lenore. I'll borrow Andrew Lemon's book and read more. Have you (or anyone else) heard much about the Glenroy Military Hospital? I've come across references to it a few times but don't know very much at all.
ReplyDelete