It is sobering to know that just eight months later, the war was over for many of the Waratah recruits who were cut down in the battlefields of France. 

This month, France and Australia are pausing to reflect on the centenary of the 1916 battles of the Somme, in which Australian troops were so instrumental.

From July 20-24 1916, a vicious battle took place in the small village of Pozieres, a fight that would prove devastating to Australian forces, including the young members of the Waratahs.

It has been said of Pozieres, that “no place on earth was more drenched with Australian blood”.

After the battle, 12 Waratahs lay dead, another 16 were injured and two more died from wounds sustained there before the end of the month.

Shoalhaven historian  Alan Clark, who has re-released his research into the march, said the Waratahs numbered 50 when they stepped off the Nowra Bridge, but this number had swelled to 120 by the time they reached Sydney. 

This number included several men from the Far South Coast.

Most of the Waratahs travelled together on the troop ship Makarini on April 1, and first set foot on French soil in mid May.

At this stage, the journey must still have seemed like a great adventure for these boys, many of them labourers from South Coast dairy farms.

A few short weeks later they were in action on the Western Front.

One of the first casualties from the Waratah ranks at Pozieres was Freddie Toms, a 26-year-old farmer from Jervis Bay who had been one of the first to enlist. 

Many of his friends would meet the same fate, like 19-year-old labourer Henry Warren who enlisted at Kiama, and 22-year-old Percival Piper, a farm labourer from Numbaa.

Also killed at Pozieres was single quarry worker Richard McDonald. Private McDonald was an Indigenous soldier who joined the Waratahs at Kiama, and who is listed as being “absolutely without a living relative”.

Another local connection beween Nowra and Pozieres can be found at  the Nowra RSL Sub-Branch rooms.

A photograph hanging there captures the moment when Australian troops made their way out of Casualty Corner, Pozières.

The father of RSL member Bob Brown, Sergeant HR (Horace) Brown, is clearly visible carrying a machine gun.

“My dad was lucky, he went from Gallipoli to the Western Front and made it home,” Mr Brown said.

“His brother Gus wasn’t so lucky. He was killed in the same operation. Dad was wounded twice in battle but went back.”

Aside from the Waratahs, there will be many more lost lives to remember from the battle of Pozieres.

Also killed was Thomas Brooks, one of a group of young men who enlisted together from Kangaroo Valley.

In a tragic footnote to this story, Tom’s brother Bill was killed in an accident while riding his horse to collect Tom’s belongings that had been sent home from the front.

His nephew Ron Brooks said, “He thought his dad would want them pretty quickly, so he got on his horse and rode home like mad and fell and was killed.”

Alan Clark’s South Coast Waratahs Recruiting March 1915 Centenary Edition is available from the Shoalhaven Historical Society.