Australian Army War Diaries

The Australian War Memorial (www.awm.gov.au) has digitised war diaries from the First War. They are the diaries of the Unit's administration, operations and activities and rarely contain information about individuals. However, they can give you a real feel for what was happening on a day-to-day basis and will be of immense interest if you had relatives serving in a particular unit. The soldier is my great uncle Alf Weatherhead , who was in the 23rd Battalion.  Alfred Herbert Weatherhead (September 20, 1895 - May 3, 1976)  was the son of Horatio and Eleanor (nee Hunt) Weatherhead and he enlisted on February 13, 1915; served mainly in France and was discharged June 29, 1919. Alf suffered from shell shock after the war, operated a saw mill at North Tynong and lived for  a time at Morwell.

Left: Alf Weatherhead in 1915

The map, below,  is from the diary of the 23rd Battalion and it formed part of Battle Order 20 from July 20, 1916. The diaries are on the Australian War Memorial web site - follow this link. http://www.awm.gov.au/diaries/index.asp. These are an amazing resource and well worth exploring.