• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Thrilling story of pluck: Australasian soldiers’ heroism: Held position against overwhelming odds [8 June 1915]

26 April 2019 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This article about an action in the Dardanelles campaign, during the First World War, was published in the Port Pirie Recorder, 8 June 1915.]

Thrilling story of pluck.

Australasian soldiers’ heroism.

Held position against overwhelming odds.

Cairo, Sunday.

The wounded include Major Dawson, of New Zealand, who is now recovering.

Major Dawson, with 150 Australians and New Zealanders, held a corner of a second ridge at Sari Bahr for two days against tremendous odds. The general situation was critical and there was every prospect of the British being driven back to the beach, where nothing could save them, but Major Dawson’s party clung to their position with the utmost tenacity.

During the night Lieut. Conway, with a machine gun section arrived, but the Turks were so close that the machine gun was useless, so Lieut. Conway retired.

Major Dawson then crept up nearer the enemy, his men at the same time, shouting orders, and thus bluffing the Turks into the belief that they were being confronted with a considerable force.

Lieut. Conway’s machine gun was then heard at dawn sweeping across the Turkish trenches. Lieut. Conway had spent the night seeking a spot from whence he could enfilade the Turks.

Major Dawson thus held out until reinforcements came to his aid.



Source:
Port Pirie Recorder (Port Pirie, SA), 8 June 1915, p. 3

Also published (with some differences) in:
The Bendigo Independent (Bendigo, Vic.), 8 June 1915, p. 5
The Brisbane Courier (Brisbane, Qld.), 8 June 1915, p. 7
Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Vic.), 8 June 1915, p. 3
The Leader (Orange, NSW), 8 June 1915, p. 2
The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), 8 June 1915, p. 5
The Mildura Telegraph and Darling and Lower Murray Advocate (Mildura, Vic.), 8 June 1915, p. 2
The West Australian (Perth, WA), 8 June 1915, p. 7

Editor’s notes:
enfilade = sweeping gunfire directed along the length of a target (may also refer to a position subject to such gunfire)

Sari Bahr = the Sari Bahr ridge, or Sari Bahr range, the high ground that dominated the middle of the Gallipoli peninsula, where a major battle was fought in 1915 (also spelt “Sari Bair”)

[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: Anzacs, Gallipoli campaign, SourceTrove, World War One (1914-1918), year1915

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Writers, workers, and wages. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
Significant events and commemorative dates
A list of significant Australiana
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian explorers
Australian literature
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

Barcroft Boake
E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Died on Active Service / Heroes of the Empire [Australian military personnel (WW1, WW2), 24 April 1943]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Fossicker’s claim, Daylesford [postcard, circa 1905-1912]
  • The Bathing Beach Flinders [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • The Lass of Yackandandah [poem, 11 June 1857]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang, words, and phrases
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Drop Bears

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • Keith Street on Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • IAC on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Paul on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Floyd Black on Eurunderee [poem by Henry Lawson]
  • Warren fahey on The Institute of Australian Culture: An introduction

For Australia

Copyright © 2025 · Log in