The Anzacs' Drum Major--Will Darwin.

I `met' William Darwin initially on the pages of the Everylady's Journal of 6 February 1918. It was the story he told of the little black cat he had rescued and cared for in the trenches in France and managed to bring back to Melbourne when he was hospitalized home at the end of 1916. I next came across a William Darwin some months later when I found him organizing a tour of Canada for the Footscray Yarraville City Band in 1978. The band came second in the World Band Championships in Toronto. Then I found a William Darwin pushing a fellow bandsman to Sydney in a common wheelbarrow -- one without rubber tires -- taking only 7 weeks to do the 640 miles up the Hume Highway in 1935. It was the same William Darwin who had been injured at Gallipoli and who took the band to Canada.

William Darwin was born in Bendigo in 1895 where he developed his life long passion for bands. He became the Drum Major of both the Hopetoun and the Bendigo Highland Pipe Bands at an early age and never having had any specific lessons on twirling the heavy batten, Darwin gradually perfected his skills to the degree where he became world famous. Dressed in his kilt Darwin became part of the act, twirling and tossing the baton high in the air at 1000s of public performances during his long lifetime.

When war was declared in 1914, Darwin was a member of the Bendigo Highland Pipe Band, the Kangaroo Flat Fire Brigade and the local Bendigo militia while working at the Bendigo Hospital. Darwin rushed to enlist immediately, claiming to be the very first to enlist in Bendigo -- and he may well have been. The band certainly gave him a rousing farewell. They paraded to the Bendigo Hospital where he was employed, piped Darwin to the Rifle Brigade Hotel where a toast was proposed and a presentation made. Will Darwin never smoked nor drank throughout his long life.

As a member of the Bendigo Volunteers, under Captain Hunter and Lt De Ravin, Private William Darwin, No 780, left by train for the Broadmeadows Camp and joined the 7th Battalion. Darwin and like-minded musical men soon formed a band which was to become the `Band of the 7th Battalion'. He sailed for Egypt in HMAT Hororata on 19 October 1914. By the time the 7th Battalion arrived in Egypt Darwin was the Drum Major of the band and was nominated as a stretcher-bearer -- traditionally the role of bandsmen.

In February, according to Darwin, he and his unit had their first taste of battle with a skirmish along the Suez Canal with the Turks at Ishmalia. It was here that Darwin began his collection of war souvenirs: a Turkish bandoleer and a piece of shell. Back in camp, band rehearsals took up all his spare time. A receipt dated 12 March 1915 on a Melbourne YMCA letterhead was made out to Darwin for the sum of 120 piastres for two brass drumheads -- signed both in Egyptian and English. He bought them out of his own pocket.

Due to the climate and conditions in Egypt many men suffered greatly through exhaustion, Darwin included. He developed influenza which put him in the No 2 Australian General Hospital in Mena House in Cairo for a couple of weeks just before embarking on the troopship Galeka from Alexandria on the 5 April. They sailed for Lemnos in preparation for landing at Gallipoli on the 25 April. Darwin really was an `Original Anzac'.

The horrific experience of seeing some of his friends die, caught up in the barbed wire entanglements under the water even before they got to the shore was to haunt him forever. He was one of the lucky ones and made it to shore safely. Darwin served at Achi Baba, Cape Hellas, where Captain Hunter of Bendigo was killed in action, (1) Lone Pine and Quin's Post. All the while Darwin continued to add to his collection of mementoes. A pine cone from Lone Pine and a cap of a Turkish 18lb shell and a silver watchcase. According to Darwin, the watchcase had belonged to a NSW recruit of the 1st Battalion and had saved the Australian's life -- but only for a moment. The Turk plunged again and the bayonet went into the Australian's neck and this time there was nothing to save him.

Darwin survived physically unscathed almost until the end of the Dardenelles Campaign. He was promoted to Acting Sergeant on 28 August 1915, less than one month before he too was seriously wounded. On 18 September 1915 in the course of his duty as a stretcher-bearer, Darwin was buried by a shell explosion for more than four hours. When he was finally dug out he was unconscious and was admitted to the No 3 Australian General Hospital at Mudros where he regained consciousness after three days. His medical report says he was operated on and bones were removed from his nose.

When he recovered consciousness Darwin could not use his left arm or leg, he vomited frequently, slept badly and had some difficulty in hearing. Fortunately there was nothing wrong with his speech nor his vision but the doctors suspecting he may also have typhoid or enteric fever, transferred him to England in the Aquitainia. He was sent at first to the Australian Hospital at Weymouth and then to the Edinburgh War Hospital at Bangor on the 28 October to recuperate.

His jovial personality made him a popular patient and gained him many friends including a couple who, after he was discharged mid March 1916, took him into their home to convalesce. When his health improved his new friends took him on motor tours around the country. Darwin continued to add to his war collectibles -- a large silver shoulder broach supposedly worn by a piper at the battle of Bannockburn, a pen handle fashioned from oak from the Brig o'Ayr in 1252 and an old brass model of Robert Burns at the plough. Like most Australians on leave in Britain, Darwin made the most of his time to visit as much of the `old country' as possible.

On 2 May 1916, back in England, he was sent from Abbey Wood to rejoin the AIF at Monte Video Camp, 2 1/2 miles outside Weymouth where he was attached to the No 1 Company depot. On 3 June Darwin was again admitted to hospital, this time the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital Extension where he spent twenty days until 17 June when he returned to Monte Video. On 28 June he was transferred to No 3 Camp Pelham Downes, Salisbury.

This is where Darwin's account differs greatly from his official war record. According to Darwin he was seen fit enough to rejoin his unit back in the trenches -- this time in France -- while his medical report notes he never rejoined his unit and never left England until he was returned to Australia. Army records of this era are notorious for their inaccuracies and Darwin claimed that from July 1 1916 he found himself in the forward trenches at Fleurbaix near Armentieres with the 5th Division.

According to Darwin, his Australian mates there had adopted a little black cat which gave birth to a litter of kittens -- the last being a little black tomcat which Darwin adopted. Darwin named the kitten `Henry the Eighth' -- being the eighth kitten to be born of the litter. Darwin cared for the little orphan in the trenches feeding it the juice from cans of tinned fish and watered down condensed milk from his own rations. Darwin began to suffer again from the effects of the German guns which he claimed were far worse than the Turkish guns at the Dardenelles. On 7 July during the battle of Albert on the Somme, Darwin was finally evacuated from the trench unconscious. The little cat went too -- along with a bomb nose cap dropped from a British plane and a finger ring fashioned by a Frenchman from fragments of a German shell from the fields of Verdun. Darwin and the cat both ended up in Millbank Hospital in London where the nurses cared for the cat until Darwin's health had improved.

Darwin was diagnosed as suffering from Neurasthenia [Shell Shock] on the 14 September 1916 by the Australian Medical Board. He was found to be permanently unfit for general service and temporarily unfit for home service so permission for his repatriation to Melbourne was granted on the 2 October. When Darwin was invalided home, `Henry the Eighth' accompanied his master on board the hospital ship, the Ajana, which sailed from Portland on the 17 October 1916. Everything went well until they reached Fremantle. The Customs Officials didn't quite know what to do with `Henry the Eighth', but as Darwin wasn't going ashore there they felt the problem could be best dealt with at the next port of call. At Adelaide the officials there thought the Melbourne authorities could deal with it and warned Darwin he `wouldn't get away with it there!'

When they reached Melbourne on 8 December `Henry the Eighth' really did cause an upset. The Customs Officials insisted the cat must stay aboard until the ship's Captain and the Colonel signed papers verifying the cats' antecedents. (2) While Darwin was taken ashore and admitted to No 11 Australian General Hospital that day, the cat was detained on board for two days while Customs, the Navy and the Army completed all relevant paper work. Darwin took leave from the hospital and went straight to the Ajana and `Henry the Eighth' was allowed to come ashore on his master's shoulder -- and was added to his master's impressive collection of war mementoes. For his service to his country Darwin was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal, and the Returned from Active Service Badge. It was some 58 years later that he received a French Medal as a memento for his part in the war in France.

Despite official records now seeming to contradict the events as related by Darwin at the time, Sergeant Darwin on Friday 15 December 1916, returned to his old school in Bendigo to address the students about his war experiences. The `old boy' had with him a fine collection of curios including a little black cat born in the trenches of France to show the students.

Darwin was discharged from the Australian Army on 31 January 1917 on a pension of 3 [pounds sterling] per fortnight. He and `Henry the Eighth' went to live in Carlton where Darwin had a little store opposite the Prince's Hill State School. Here Darwin divided what free time he had between the three loves of his life -- `Henry the Eighth', his music and his re-established involvement with pipe bands as role as the Chief of the Carlton Caledonian Society.

It was in Carlton that Darwin, forever the patriotic Australian, wrote the words to a rather stirring march composed by Ambrose Gregory in 1917. Sgt William Darwin No 780, dressed in his army uniform, was featured in a photograph on the front cover of the sheet music of Anzacs, Well Done! This song became very popular at the time -- the chorus which went

   We were fighting for our freedom
   To uphold a nation's right
   To crush that ruthless tyrant
   Who would question Britain's might.
   And when the war is over
   And Victory is won
   We'll then return to Australia
   And hear `Anzacs, Well done!'

Darwin, never one to miss an opportunity, sent a copy of his song to General Birdwood and to Sir Harry Lauder both of whom replied with thanks in personal letters. The story of Darwin's `Henry the Eighth' appeared in the Everylady's Journal of February 1918. While the story of the kitten may well have been a means to an end to supplement his meagre pension, story telling and song writing were only two of William Darwin's extraordinary talents. While `Henry the Eighth' and Darwin's song Anzacs, Well Done! both soon faded into obscurity -- William Darwin did not.

Less than 12 months after the Armistice, Darwin with his friend Private F J Williams from Burnie, Tasmania, made plans to travel to England via America with the money made from the sale of his song. The Carlton Caledonian Society gave their Chief, Sergeant Darwin, a rousing farewell at the North Melbourne Town Hall. The evening's printed programme included a photograph of Darwin in his Chieftains kilt and a poem written in his honour. Darwin certainly inspired great trust and friendship wherever he went.

Having travelled by boat from Australia via New Zealand, Hawaii and San Francisco, the night of 21 June 1920 found Darwin in Vancouver. Tragically, the Balmoral Hotel, over the road from where Darwin was staying, burned down at 7.30 p.m. It was a huge fire and seven lost their lives. Because of his previous fire training with the volunteer fire brigade in Bendigo, Darwin ran over and managed to climb hand over hand up the fire escape to the top floor as others scrambled down. He carried four people down before the police forbade him to make a fifth attempt. However, Darwin had promised a woman still up there he would be back for her and he felt he had to keep his promise -- and he did and got to her just as the wall collapsed. He was the hero of the moment when he appeared carrying her out and got her safely down the fire escape. He was not only awarded a medal for bravery, but also given $500 cash and the freedom of the city. The medal was inscribed `For Bravery 20.6.20. Saved three woman and a boy.' And on the reverse side `Presented by the people of Canada to William Darwin Australia for saving lives at Balmoral fire Vancouver B.C.' Thus another medal was added to Darwin's collection.

Once in the UK Darwin and Williams went straight to Scotland and stayed with his friends from the war days just outside Edinburgh. It was at this time -- just after the Treaty of Versailles -- that the French attempted to claim the Ruhr Valley by military force as compensation for the lack of remuneration owed them by Germany. France was subsequently compelled by the British and Americans to withdraw -- but not before Darwin had written to the French Minister of Defence on 8 March 1921 offering his services as an `Australian soldier to fight side by side with your gallant French troops.' His offer was not taken up.

In March 1922 Darwin and his friend Williams were still in Scotland where Darwin began composing more songs. Darwin was gaining quite a reputation as an orator and he was invited to speak on various subjects ranging from his travels to Fiji and Hawaii to the exploits of Ned Kelly and his gang. He had such an engaging and entertaining manner he became known in the British press either as `The Napoleon from Down Under' or `The Australian Orator'. He also charmed his audiences with renditions of several songs he had composed himself, thus promoting sales of his songs which were available for sale. Darwin sent copies of Our Glorious Dead with music by Guy Mitchell, to the King, Princess Mary and the Duke of Windsor, all of whom acknowledged the gift with thanks. Darwin wrote other songs; Dawn of the Glad Tomorrow, Just a Sprig o' Golden Wattle and Australia: Our Native Land but it seems these never won the public recognition nor the success of his first composition, Anzacs Well Done.

In between lectures Williams and Darwin were seeing as much of the country as possible. They even took a plane flight over Elgin in North Scotland -- Darwin was seeing the world from the air, land and sea. Notes of his travel experiences were to form the basis of a book to be called The World at a Glance, by Air, Land and Sea. He did write the manuscript but it was never published. However the manuscript was the inspiration for him to not only gain admittance to Marshall's College in Aberdeen but also to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society on 12th June 1922.

On his return to Australia Darwin spent a short time in New Zealand. His friends at a local fire brigade there decided to honour him with a picnic at the beach at Raglan, near Hamilton, where a group of swimmers got into difficulties. Darwin, a non-swimmer, raced into the water and saved two young sisters but their three companions were never found. Darwin thus earned himself yet another medal.

Back in Melbourne by February 1924 William Darwin FRGS, went on become totally involved with Australian Pipe Bands, arranging performances for them both at home and abroad. The Newcastle Steelworks Band which was the first band to leave Australia for an engagement in England where they won a gold trophy at Manchester and came 3rd at the Empire Championships held at the Crystal Palace in September 1924. This inspired Darwin set about to organise a tour to Britain of the Australian Scottish Ladies Pipe Band. It took Darwin year to raise the funds and organise tour before they were ready to leave. At Cowal, Dunoon on 28 August 1926 the Australian Scottish Ladies Pipe Band won the Angus Murray Cup for Discipline, as well as many individual medals. Darwin was thrilled the band was enthusiastically received everywhere they went and they played before their majesties the King and Queen at Braemar. (On several occasions while on tour with Australian Pipe Bands in Scotland Darwin not only played before but also met members of the Royal Family.) The Australian Scottish Ladies Pipe Band finally arrived back in Melbourne 18th February 1927. Their first engagement back in Melbourne was playing on the ABC radio station 3LO for one week. Here Darwin again met up with Major Conder under whose command he had served with the 7th Battalion in Gallipoli and France.

Darwin was elected a Brighton (Melbourne) City Councillor in 1933. He still retained his great interest in the bands both as Drum Major of the Brighton City Band and as liaison officer with the council. It was during this time he undertook the challenge to wheel a fellow bandsman to Sydney in an ordinary wheelbarrow. It was an incredible achievement of physical endurance and determination on Darwin's part as he did the race in only seven weeks rather than the ten as challenged.

Too old to participate actively in World War 2, Darwin, then working at the Maribyrnong munitions factory where he was a Voluntary Defence Warden he helped form the Legion of Anzac's Band in Melbourne. Darwin had written to his old wartime commander, General Birdwood, asking him to be the band's Patron. The General responded to his `dear old comrade of the 7th Battalion' that he would be delighted to accept the honour.

During the war, Darwin turned his hand to organizing fund raising events which incorporated the Legion of Anzac's Band and many of the local pipe bands. One of the first of his organisational efforts was the Allied Thanksgiving Pageant on 14 November 1943 at Como Park in South Yarra. The following year the pageant came under the patronage of `Officials and Consuls of Allied Nations' -- India being represented by a `Herd of Stately Elephants' borrowed from Wirth's Circus. The 1945 Thanksgiving Festival and Armistice Day Celebrations was an even more multicultural event with the Young Chinese League and a Russian Dancing Group included in the program.

Having tried his hand at organising outdoor events Darwin also organised more sedate entertainment such as Empire Night Entertainment and the Grand Mannequin Parade to raise money for The Cottages By The Sea -- one of Darwin's favourite charities. Darwin, meanwhile, was still writing stirring marching songs. He presented copies of his latest march Welcome Tommy Atkins, with music by Vincent Laraia, to the captains of several Royal Naval vessels visiting Australian in 1947.

Darwin then had the idea to take the Australian Highland Pipe Band on a goodwill tour of New Zealand in 1948 but it required considerable funds. Never one to be stumped for an idea, this time Darwin excelled himself. He devised an idea to hold what he termed a `Mardi Gras Wedding' in several cities. Young couples could apply to be selected to be married in a public arena as the culmination of an evening spectacular -- which included bicycle riding and highland dancing. While Darwin claims to have had such a wedding in Melbourne no record of one could be found but such weddings certainly took place in Adelaide in January 1947 and Perth in November of the same year. The chosen couples received a free wedding breakfast for 60 guests and a free two-week honeymoon -- and the band did get to New Zealand.

With the introduction of the Miss Victoria Quests, Darwin was able to throw himself into efforts closer to home. He ran several fund raising productions for Miss Essendon 1949 and was the organiser for the Crowning Ceremony at the St Kilda Cricket Ground -- again for funds for the Cottages by The Sea. In 1949 Darwin also had a book published using an anagram of Darwin -- Niwrad. It was a book of children's stories, beautifully illustrated, called Major Bill's A Prince of Pups and eleven other stories and dedicated to his two daughters.

The following year Darwin organised his biggest event yet -- The 20th Century Mechanical Exhibition at Melbourne's Exhibition Building. As the only non-engineer on the organising committee it took Darwin 7 months of detailed planning. Field Marshal Lord Birdwood, still an old Anzac mate of Darwin's opened the exhibition. Via a technical innovation, speaking from the House of Lords by radio, Lord Birdwood pressed a button in London to officially open the exhibition in Melbourne on the 12 October 1950 -- along to the music of the Veterans' & Ex-servicemen's Band.

After another Australian Highland Pipe Band tour of England, Scotland, Europe, USA and Canada in 1951, and with a reputation as a successful fund raising organiser, Darwin was asked to co-ordinate the Back to Sale Celebrations to raise funds for the Gippsland Base Hospital. Then came the Australian and International Food, Floral, Industrial Exhibition and Fair at Wirth's Park and Skating Rink in 1955, followed by the 100 Years of Progress Exhibition again at Wirth's Olympia.

Throughout the years, Darwin remained in touch with his old Anzac friends. After writing to the Minister of Defence in 1966 several times on behalf of some eight old mates regarding the promised Anzac Medals, Darwin signed off in frustration `I hope this Medallion will be out before we all pass on. We are all on the old list now...'. He was still writing the following year `If this does not come soon you will have no need to get anything to give to the Anzacs as there will be none left ...' The medals were eventually issued.

By 1970, at the age of 75 Darwin had begun to slow down and he began to be involved in more sedentary pursuits. He renewed his interest in the Fire Authority in 1972 by donating a Fire Hydrant and gold watch for a fire hydrant race at the annual Fire Authority's sports day. He donated the first prize each year until his death (and this was carried on by his daughter until her death in 1997.) In the same year he joined the Society of St George and the Footscray Yarraville City Band of which he became patron.

Early in 1974, instinctively confident of his knowledge and appreciation of bands after a life time association, the old Anzac urged the Footscray and Yarraville Band -- the Australian Band champions for the past 3 years -- to go to Canada to compete in the World Band Competition in Toronto. He was certain that there were only a couple of other bands in the whole world which could perform as well as the Footscray and Yarraville Band. Initially, as in 1924, there had been a lot of ridicule that a band from Footscray and Yarraville could hold its own in a world competition. However, Darwin had such faith in the band's ability he and other members worked tirelessly to help raise funds for the trip -- even travelling to Canada himself to pre-travel the bands route, make contacts and help formulate the itinerary.

At a farewell concert at the Dallas Brookes Hall given by the band, William Darwin heard a march which was especially composed in his honour by Mr George Dobson and conducted by Merv Simpson -- The Drum Major Will Darwin. It was the second march written in his honour. Darwin was presented with a copy of a pipe march especially written for him -- Welcome to Drum Major William Darwin, a march written by J Scott Skinner during his 1925 tour of the UK with the Australian Scottish Ladies Pipe Band.

The band confirmed Darwin's faith in them. On 14 October 1974 the Footscray and Yarraville Band were announced the Winners of the Toronto International Band Championships 1975 -- they won all three competitions they had entered! Darwin was elated. In 1978 the Footscray and Yarraville City Band again went to Canada where this time they were Runners-up in the World Championships.

Darwin was almost naive in his unerring belief in himself and his abilities. He would innocently jump in where most angels feared to tread which resulted in him becoming a regular one-man band as far as time and effort were concerned. His organisational skills sometimes let him down but in the end he managed to overcome most problems.

Darwin never reneged on a challenge and it will never be known who all the beneficiaries of his generosity were. While a truly larger than life character -- sometimes over bearing -- his manner was motivated entirely by goodwill for his current undertaking. His efforts were never for personal gain for William Darwin was never a rich man in a financial sense. While a few folk accused him of boasting and exaggerating, others either openly, or surreptitiously, admired him for his talents, his thoughtfulness and his determination. His tenacity for a cause was heroic. Darwin was awarded the British Empire Medal on 28 February 1977 for Community Services after a lifetime devoted to the community at large.

Four years after his much beloved wife and tolerant partner of over 50 years, Dolly, had died, Darwin suffered a stroke. He died at his home in Melbourne on 1 December 1981. While few, apart from his family, now remember this amazing man, records of Darwin's deeds and exploits can still be found in the yellowing pages of newspapers and journals from Melbourne to Manchester. Letters he wrote are in various archives around the city while his legacy to the pipe bands, brass bands is immeasurable. William Darwin -- the Anzacs' Drum Major.

(1) At some later date Darwin wrote a poem in honour of the late Captain H H Hunter who was killed on 8 May 1915 aged 33 years. This was possibly Darwin's first attempt at writing in verse; certainly there is nothing previously recorded:

   In barracks or camp, in battle or trench,
   Half clothed, half starved or even half dead,
   In the thick of the fight or the minutes of rest
   There was one old Captain the boys loved best.
   Good Captain Hunter, a man with a will
   He'd loose all his money, or kit but still
   He'd hang like grim death to Australian boys
   He's met since he'd left his Bendigo joys.
   In the strife, day or night he would treat them all right
   When we were ... ours would be game fight
   Should one get knocked out when the bullets did rain
   He'd throw down his rifle and help us again.
   With us he would stay till assistance came
   His nerves they were steady his head he kept calm.
   So we must not forget his noble deeds
   Or the time he spent attending our needs
   He fought and fell. He'd played the game
   Leaving behind him a glorious fame.

(2) In February 1918 a cat named `Pansy' belonging to the children of the new Governor of NSW, Lord Davidson, was refused permission to land with the family because it had been born in Newfoundland. Had `Pansy' been born in the UK or NZ she would have been allowed to land.