The Western Front

On the second of August 1917, aged thirty, Norman enlisted in the armed forces. After his initial troop training in Brisbane, Norman sailed a two month journey from Sydney to England aboard the Euripides.

Norman was assigned to the 15th Battalion upon leaving Sutton Veny Training Battalion, and sent to Calais, France on 1st April 1918. The 15th Battalion participated in a major conflict, the battle of Hebuterne. They were involved in an attempt to recapture a place called Rossignol Wood. Their part of the operation was to move to the Poplars, a key location, but one of their platoons was stopped by a severe bombardment from German artillery and the Queenslanders of the 15th failed to reach the Poplars.

Norman was taken to hospital in Rouen, France, in August 1918 with a knee injury, which persisted throughout that year. He was admitted to the Australian Convalescent Depot again in October. By this time he had been transferred to the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) No 3 Squadron. Transfers to the AFC were favoured over the miserable conditions in the trenches.

Two days before the armistice, on 9th November 1918, Norman was transferred to Havre, Western France where he spent eight weeks at the Australian Veterinary Hospital.  A blacksmith by trade, it is possible Norman’s skills were used here to care for the hundreds of horses used in action.

With troops slowly being repatriated, Norman was moved to Calais to prepare for departure to England.  He sailed aboard the Weymouth arriving in England in February, 1919 where he spent two months. His journey home aboard the Sardinia was completed on the 11th June 1919 when he disembarked in Devonport, Tasmania.

Having survived the horrors of the Western Front and experiencing a world far removed from the rainforest of his childhood home, Norman came back to the Far North a different man. Although some members of his community noted he had a lot of the ‘European way about him’ it was the Bama in him that they classed him by. Although a welcome home dance was held for him, some community members voiced their opinion that a ‘half-caste’ was not deserving of such an event.