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‘Coo-ee!’ … recruitment strategies in World War I

At the outbreak of World War I (WWI) in early August 1914, many Australians rejoiced at what would, ultimately, be Australia’s ‘baptism of fire’ – a chance for a new nation to prove itself in a modern, industrialised world. The news of war was reacted to more realistically in Europe than in Australia, “The lamps are going out all over Europe…we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”, said English Foreign Secretary Edward Grey. Yet, Australia’s Governor-General, Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson, viewed the new Federation’s fervor as, “…indescribable enthusiasm and entire unanimity throughout Australia.” Is it any wonder that by 20 August 1914 more than 10,000 men had been recruited to the Armed Forces in Sydney alone? Alisha Welch investigates.

The Waratahs recruiting march, leaving Kiama, led by Army personnel, on the way to Jamberoo, just south of Wollongong in New South Wales. AWM P00707.026.
Photo courtesy of the Australian War Memorial

The current recruitment issues facing the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and wider Defence organisation in 2007 can, of course, not be compared in any valid way to the recruitment context at the beginning of WWI. While the ADF’s operational tempo has increased dramatically over recent years, there really is no comparison to the death, brutality and destruction the Great War of 1914-18 inflicted on militaries and civilians across the globe. Ironically, then, the question must be asked – why were young Australians so keen to enlist to fight in a war being battled so far away from home, and, what recruitment strategies existed to enable such a massive influx of troops?

On 3 August 1914, war was declared and, as part of the British Commonwealth, Australia was drawn into a conflict being fought on the other side of the world. At the time, the Australian Government offered Britain a force of 20,000 men for service anywhere, and advised that this force would be ready to sail within four to six weeks. Clearly, a mass recruitment drive was required and, as a result of the widespread enthusiasm, recruiting standards were, initially, extremely high. The plan was for half of the contingent to consist of experienced men, either serving in the Army already, trained militiamen or those with prior military service. The other half were to be physically fit volunteers, aged between 19 and 38, though men aged between 13 and 71 offered their services in the early months of the war and were turned away by recruiters. One man wrote:

“Left home early in the morning and went to Victoria barracks…had to wait outside the gates with about 1000 or more other recruits for about an hour. When the gates opened there was a big rush of men to get in. We were then drafted into two batches – one body composed of those who had done soldiering before and those that had not.”

By the end of 1914, 52,561 men had joined. So, why the enthusiasm? Some historians argue it was due to the notion of empire, race and nation. Others believe it was the promise of adventure or a sense of duty and obligation. Of course there were many reasons: loneliness, family trouble, notions of heroism, public opinion and unemployment were all valid reasons driving enlistment. Soldiers were also very well paid, as a young Englishman expressed to his parents:

“…I have joined the Australian Army…it’s not bad money here, 5/- a day and clothes and food… nearly as good as cabinet making and not half as hard. You may [think] it funny [me] turning up such a good job, but…this [employer] had only about three days work left for us…things are so bad out here for there is a drought on [and] we haven’t had any rain for months, so I [thought] I would join the army.”

The catalyst sparking the beginning of changes in attitude towards recruiting and the war occurred on 25 April 1915, the day Australian troops stormed the rocky beachhead at Gallipoli – Anzac Day. In the initial stages of the campaign there was widespread pride, as articulated by a Ballarat-based school teacher, “Thank God I am Australian…boys, you have honoured our land”. However, as time went on attitudes began to waiver from the romantic visions of heroism in battle and the confronting reality of war set in. The consequence? Recruiting suffered.

In late 1915 New South Wales patriots began to organise recruiting marches. In late October, 30 men left Gilgandra and walked 320 miles to Sydney, attracting 233 recruits along the way – they were called the ‘Coo-ees’. Initially a noble recruitment method, at least 12 similar marches were organised, with limited success. The nine most famous marches covered 2140 miles and attracted only 1115 recruits.

The table below, sourced from Earnest Scott’s Official History of the First World War, Volume XI’, offers an idea of the success of the recruitment marches.

Richard Wright, in his study on recruitment in WWI, Motives for joining up: Self-sacrifice, self-interest and social class, 1914-18, interestingly makes the point that in discussing why men enlisted, it is easy to ignore the fact that many men were making the critical decision why not to enlist, “The men who went only had to decide to go once; those who stayed had to make that decision every day the war lasted.” Reasons for not enlisting were vast and covered many elements such as family responsibility and contentious objection. What cannot be argued, however, is that the reasons for both enlisting and choosing not to enlist were infinite and cannot be condensed into such a small article. For more information on recruitment in WWI visit the Australian War Memorial website at www.awm.gov.au.

Table: Official History of the First World War, Volume XI, by Earnest Scott.

Sources: B. Gammage, The Broken Years: Australian Soldiers in the Great War, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria. 1975 (1974); R. White, Motives for joining up: Self-sacrifice, self-interest and social class, 1914-18 , Journal of the Australian War Memorial, no. 9, October 1986; P. Cochrane, Australians at War, ABC Books, Sydney, 2001; P. Pederson, The Anzacs, Gallipoli to the Western Front, Penguin, 2007; http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww1/homefront/homefront.html; http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/recruiting_march/statistices.htm.

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