World War I Service
Universal Military Training
A letter on apprentice John McCULLOCH's immigration department file confirms that he and George McPHAIL were members of South Australia's 74th Battalion in early 1915. They helped guard the Torrens Island Internship Camp and while McPhail later proceeded overseas with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), it appears that McCulloch continued to serve on the home front during the war.
It is likely that other farm apprentices were also members of the Australian Military Force prior to, and possibly during, the war, under the universal training scheme enacted by the Commonwealth Government. On the other hand, it is also probable that most apprentices were exempt because their host farms were not located near a training centre. Unfortunately almost no records exist to confirm one way or the other (with the exception of an entry in the 'AMF Unit' column of the AIF embarkation rolls, as is the case with McPhail).
Further information about the Universal Training Scheme is available from:
- the Australian War Memorial's Forging the Nation online exhibition;
- the National Archives of Australia's fact sheet 160;
- Joffe, Mark (dir.), Boy Soldiers, Australian Children's Television Foundation, 1990; and
- page 7 of the 'South Australia's Infantry: A Short History of the Origins of the Royal South Australia Regiment' brochure, available from the Army Museum of South Australia.