1914 was the beginning of the end of innocence for Australia
There were rumblings of war from the other side of the world. The German Empire's aggressive expansionism was directly threatening the interests and the security of Great Britain
and when Mum was under threat, her young child, Australia, was ready to run to her side
Australia had already offered up its youth for wars in the Sudan
South Africa, even the Boxer Rebellion in China. But this was the big one
Being a valued part of the Commonwealth gave the new nation security
and a sense of place in the world. When war was declared on August 4th, 1914
even while Britain's forces were starting to mobilise, Australia was battle-ready. In fact, the first battleground of World War I
wasn't mainland Europe, but thousands of miles away, here at Point Nepean in Victoria
and Major Bernie Gaynor is going to show me what happened. So who was the first shot fired at
First shot was fired at a German freighter, the SS Fells. Where was it
The Fells was docked in Melbourne, about 80km over there. It had departed at dawn. It was coming up the South Channel
Had war been declared? War had been declared but news that war had been declared had not reached here
War had been declared about two hours previously. Just as it was coming past here, the word came from the headquarters over at Queenscliff
that war had been declared. A young officer, whose name was Veal, directed the guns to fire a warning shot across the
bowels of the fells. And that's what happened. And the guns were up here
This gun fired at around about two and a half hours after war was declared in London and
that is why this gun was the first gun among any of the Allied nations to fire a shot in
World War One. So did the ship stop when the gun was fired
Well not immediately because the Australian pilot on the bridge Captain Robinson Yes immediately telegraphed to the engine full of stern Yeah The German realising with horror what was happening
immediately counter-marted and telegraphed full ahead. And so for a brief period there was a physical tussle
They're wrestling on the bridge. Wrestling on the bridge. Robinson and the Germans. Robinson and the Germans
They were physically fighting. Go forward, go back. Yeah. Stop, surrender. No, I'm not
Until finally, Captain Robinson said, if you don't stop, the next shot will be into the ship
No, that's me. If you don't stop, the next shot will be into the ship. Yeah, well, I'm on here. Yeah
And that's what happened. At that point, the German realised that he could do nothing
He stopped and he surrendered. Sometimes, just sometimes, I can wear my name with pride
the firing of the point nepean gun would mark the start of a worldwide conflict
that would spill blood like no other Between 1914 and 1918, 10 million soldiers would lose their lives
including 60,000 Australians. But sadly, despite all the carnage, the world's superpowers weren't finished with war yet
Two decades later, they were at it again, with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939
And so, too, was the gun emplacement at Point Nepean. I've got an eerie sense of déjà vu
Not only was the first shot of World War I fired from here, but the first Australian shot of World War II was fired from where
The same gun, the same position. How come? That is so eerie
Indeed it was. A very strange turn of events. What happened in World War II was that war had been declared
a whole new series of regulations required of merchant vessels entering Port Phillip
and an Australian coastal vessel was trying to pass through the heads to enter into Port Phillip Bay
Signals were made, it didn't answer them. Boom! A shot was fired
Who by? By this gun, under the direction of Commander Veal. Commander Veal, the same bloke who'd given the order
all those years previously when the shot was fired in the First World War Indeed The vessel didn answer the signals that were made to it So he was just having a pop at some lazy Australian sailors basically He was very very cheesed off with the way the maritime fellows
were not adhering to the new requirements of signalling and answering because of the declaration of war
And he said they need to learn a lesson. And for the next two and a half years
it was the only shot fired in anger on Australian soil. This is Brisbane City Hall, but what I wanted to show you was this
You always want to keep an eye out for one of these when you're on a walk. and down here is the basement of the city hall
and the whole thing is undergoing a mammoth refurb at the moment so these guys in the red day-glo jackets, engineers, architects, that sort of thing
Sorry to burst in on you unannounced, thanks. What intrigues me about this place is that it used to be in the Second World War
the Red Cross Tea Room where young soldiers from out of town
used to come for a bit of cheer and a cup of tea. In the early 1940s, Brisbane, on Queensland's east coast
was just a big country town. But it exploded into life as thousands of Australian and American servicemen
suddenly poured into the area. The troops needed rest and relaxation, and that was where the Red Cross stepped in
Enlisted men at the City Hall tea rooms would be given a welcome pack
And among all the other goodies, there would be a pencil, and I'm going to show you what they used to do with that pencil
Lyriss, would you come with me to the gentleman's toilet? Certainly. Thank you very much
Well, I haven't asked a young lady to do that ever. Well, certainly not since the 1960s, anyway
During the refurb, one of the first things that they had to do was hack all the plaster off the walls
And in this corridor they were doing just that. And this was revealed
A whole wall full of Second World War soldiers autographs So the urinal or the stalls were actually here weren they That right After the men did what they had to do they then took out their pencils and signed their names as young men do all around the world
It must have been the done thing to add your name to the loo wall, but was it just an act
of bravado? Or did leaving something as personal and tangible as a signature actually help the
boys face an uncertain future. Something really rather sweet and tragic about that, isn't there
Oh, there's a lieutenant there. I can't read his name. We think it's Gallon
We've never been able to identify him, which means the highest ranking person on the wall
that we have been able to identify is here, and it's Warrant Officer First Class Cross
What's your favourite? It has to be Mr Scott. Mr Scott is an original rat of Tobruk
Oh, like the desert rats, the guys who fought in the North African desert? In 1941, Australian troops held the strategic port of Tobruk
against a combined German-Italian onslaught that lasted for eight months. The Nazis nicknamed the tenacious defenders as rats
an insult the Aussies ironically embraced. Of the 14,000 Australians who served there, 800 lost their lives for the cause
A lot of these guys must have died during the war, mustn't they
No, they all came back alive. How did you do that? 153 have been identified so far and every single one of them has come back alive
That's really mystic, isn't it? It's wonderful. This is a great piece of history, just a snapshot in time
all these guys going off to war. I really like that. Well, thank you very much for showing me
You're welcome. And also thank you for coming to the lab with me. Thank you
Bye. Bye-bye. It's a beautiful twist of fate that those soldiers' fragile scribblings on the wall
list those who returned from war rather than commemorating the fallen. But then war is full of strange twists and turns