Diary, 1914-15

Archibald Barwick’s moving account of war

Bullets Hurt When They Hit You

I never felt the slightest fear the first day or two, it was when we began to realize that bullets hurt when they hit you, that we knew what fear was. The first time that fear came to me was on the 3rd day, when we were in a perfect hell of bullets, men were being killed all round me that I felt frightened, I am not ashamed to say that, I had a terrible fight with myself that day, one part of me wanted to run away; leave the rest of my mates to face it, the other part said no, we would stop see it out at any cost rather than show the white feather, this sort of thing went on for about an hour a bayonet charge settled the argument for me, I was fairly right after that.

Tasmanian-born Archibald Albert Barwick was a corporal, later sergeant, in C Company, 1st Battalion, A.I.F. The twenty-four-year-old farmer left Sydney on 18 October 1914 and disembarked in Egypt for training on 9 December. He embarked for the Dardenelles on 4 April 1915 and fought in the Gallipoli campaign. From 1916 to 1918 he served in France and Belgium and was wounded on 15 April 1918. After convalescence, he left England for Australia in December 1918.

The Library ran a public campaign immediately following the war to acquire papers of returned servicemen and women. This collection includes 223 diaries and is the most significant collection of personal and private material in Australia relating to the war.
Display item Diary, 1914-15

 

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