HUBERT George Dulhunty lived at “Boomerang” at Mount Rankin at Eglinton and is seen here in his Australian Light Horse uniform. He has a hat band made from wallaby fur, though that was usually worn by the 6th Light Horse Regiment from Tasmania.
Hubert’s photo will be among 300 on display on Remembrance Weekend on November 10-11. The Snapshots of World War One and Wall of Valour photographic exhibition will be in the Walshaw Hall, near All Saints’ Cathedral, along with around 500 Great War artefacts, trench art, memorabilia and militaria.
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Snapshots of World War One has images from around Bathurst and the battlefields overseas, many of which have not seen the light of day for more than 100 years. There will be no charge to see the exhibition, which will open each day at 9am.
There will be plenty to see and do over the weekend of events organised by the Bathurst RSL Sub Branch and the Bathurst District Historical Society to mark the centenary of World War One. The Services Band will play in Machattie Park on Saturday and don’t forget the Remembrance Service at 10.30am on Sunday.
The invasion of Belgium caused England to declare war on Germany on August 12, 1914, which led to the various Commonwealth countries, such as Australia, getting involved. Hubert George Dulhunty responded to the call, enlisting on October 6, 1915. About a month later, he was transferred to the 14th Reinforcements for the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. His father, Herbert Dulhunty of “Boomerang”, Mount Rankin, at Eglinton, was his next-of-kin.
Prior to enlisting, Hubert visited Bathurst to inform his father and get a preliminary medical examination on October 4, 1915 at Dr Thomas Machattie’s surgery. Hubert was found to be “FIT for Active Service”. On November 9, 1915, he was transferred to the Australian Light Horse at Liverpool. Then it was time to sail to the Middle East. He found the food was okay, but sleeping accommodation limited. These men were to be paid five shillings a day.
On his arrival in the Port of Suez in Egypt, Hubert entrained for Maadi, and the Light Horse training camp out of Cairo, alighting at Bab al-Louk Station. The troopers were greeted by piles of horse fodder, rows upon rows of field equipment, loads of baggage and masses of crates and bags of food. The horses required immediate attention after being crammed in the ships for seven or eight weeks. Many had stiffened legs and joints. Mild exercise began at once until they increased towards the 10-mile exercises.
On March 27, 1916, Hubert was transferred to the 25th Howitzer Brigade, 115th Battery at the Tel el Kebir tented AIF training camp and machine gun range on the southern side of the Sweet Suez Canal. At one stage, some 40,000 Australians were accommodated in this camp. In mid-June, Hubert heard he was to go to France where he was billeted in the St. Omer-Aire-Hazebrouck region of French Flanders. On July 7, 1916, he was transferred to the 114th Australian (Howitzer) Battery and within two days he was transferred again, this time to the 14th Field Artillery Brigade which supported the 5th Division. The 14th were equipped with sixteen 18-pounders.
Hubert was involved in the disastrous attack at Fromelles. In October, he joined the First, Second and Fourth Divisions on the Somme around Flers. There were times when the mighty guns became so bogged that the men could not move them. In March 1918, the German forces launched their final offensive of the Great War and Herbert was in the thick of it again.
Hubert’s 26-year-old brother, Company Sgt-Major Norman John Dulhunty, 17th Battalion, was killed in action with the AIF on the Somme on August 31, 1918. Gunner Hubert Dulhunty was discharged from the 2nd Military District on July 19, 1919 after returning to Sydney. He died in 1967 aged 77 and was buried at Bathurst.
