Departure of first Victorians for WWI

This Sunday, a special commemorative event is being held at Flinders Street Station honouring the departure of the first Victorians to serve in World War One. The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer force of almost 2,000 men, raised in Australia shortly after the outbreak of the First World War to seize and destroy German wireless stations in German New Guinea in the south-west Pacific.

Around 100 of these men came from Victoria and departed by rail from Flinders Street Station with the South Australian Contingent for Sydney. Among the Victorian contingent was Able Seaman Billy Williams, who was the first casualty of the Australian forces in World War One.

For more information about the commemorative event at Flinders Street Station on 17 August, please go to: http://goo.gl/wr22rG.