Dennis Burns Profile picture
Apr 25, 2021 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Thread
The tragic story of the Mullarkey family from Sydney. Frederick and Elizabeth Mullarkey were immigrants from Galway and Tipperary respectively.
They had nine children.
One son died in infancy.
Six sons grew into adulthood.
All were outstanding students and sportsmen.
1/13
2/13
Most outstanding of the sons was Niall, born 1895.
On the death of his father he was awarded a scholarship to St Joseph’s College where he excelled. Aug 1914: He left university to be a private in the 1st Battalion AIF to go to Gallipoli.
Selected for officer school in Egypt
Now a new 2nd Lieut, Niall was assigned to the 7 Bn, Munster Fusiliers, formed in Aug 1915.
He moved with the 10th (Irish) Division to Salonika in October 1915 for the failed invasion of Bulgaria.
Niall was appointed OC of the Machine Gun Coy and was Mentioned in Despatches.
3/13
Oct 1916: Niall, aged 21, left the 10th (Irish) Div., keen to re-join his old 1st AIF Battalion in Belgium.
Nov 5, 1916: He was leading a confused night attack through appalling conditions when he disappeared amongst heavy enemy artillery fire.
His body was never recovered.
4/13
Clarence, 5 years older than Niall, enlisted in Aug 1914. A 2nd Battalion private, he landed at Gallipoli on April 25th, fought hard for 3 months. He came down w/severe typhoid in July. Evacuated very sick to UK for 6 months. Permanently unfit, Clarrie went home in March 1916.
Clarrie Mullarkey.
If anyone could identify the badges on his right breast, it would be appreciated.
Herbert, the oldest brother, joined the 4th Bn at Gallipoli in May 1915.
He was a 27 y.o. renowned sportsman. He rose to be Company Sgt Major, moving to the Somme in April 1916. Four months later he was KIA at the fierce Battle of Pozieres in August 1916.
His grave was lost.
6/
Kevin, aged just 18, fought with the 20th Bn at Gallipoli from Aug–Dec 1915.
His unit moved to the Somme in April 1916 and then in July despite his youth he was promoted to Lance Corporal.
At the Battle of Pozieres Kevin was seriously wounded by shrapnel in the back and thigh.
7/
Kevin lay in agony for 12 hours before a stretcher party reached him. He was then blown off his stretcher by shellfire.
He was in great pain, permanently paralysed.
He eventually returned to a Military Hospital in Sydney in April 1917 as an invalid.
Kevin died 11 months later.
8/
James was the second of 6 sons.
Like the others, he was a superior student and sportsman.
By 1914 he was a 26 y.o. chemist married to Kathleen. He served with Kevin in the 20th Bn in combat at Gallipoli.
Weeks later, he was evacuated to Malta for 4 months, suffering from PTSD.
9/
March 1916: Jim was promoted to Sgt and transferred to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion.
Days later he learnt his Kathleen had died of TB.
Like Niall, he was selected for officer training and became a lieutenant.
In Nov he was recommended for a MC for his work leading the Pioneers.
10/
Dec 1916: Jim, now a widower, learnt of the death of 2 brothers and permanent disability of the other 2.
He asked for special leave to return home.
He was granted 6 months leave on half-pay and discharged June 1917.
Jim remarried, and died in the same year as Clarrie; 1964.
11/
Des, the youngest brother, saw 5 brothers leave for the war.
In 1916, after the deaths of Niall & Herbert, he tried to enlist aged only 16.
His mother sent his uncle to bring him home.
Post-war, he played many sports at top level.
He named his daughter Nialla, and lived to be 75.
The Mullarkey family plot at Woronora Cemetery, Sutherland, in southern Sydney.
The matriarch, Elizabeth, from County Tipperary, died in 1935.
She had lost three of her six sons in the war, plus another disabled.
Despite this, she was always renowned for her cheerful nature.

END
A typical scene of the area of the Battle of Flers, where Niall Mullarkey died in the early hours of November 5th, 1916.
The atrocious conditions and brutal weather contributed to hundreds of Australian deaths in the failed attack that night.
This pic accompanies post 4/13 above.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Dennis Burns

Dennis Burns Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DWB55

Jul 18
New Guinea is a huge island, second only to Greenland in the world.
From 1942 to 1945, war raged over most of the northern part of the island.
Due to the island’s incredibly rugged terrain and almost complete lack of any infrastructure, military logistics was a nightmare.
🧵 Image
During the SWW in New Guinea, an obscure Australian infantry officer, Captain Ronald Isherwood of the 24th Battalion (at left), in 1944, received one of the highest awards possible at that time for Australians – the MBE.
How did this unusual feat come about?
⤵️ Image
The MBE, “Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire”, is the third highest ranking level of the Order of the British Empire.
It is awarded to an individual for an outstanding achievement, or service to the community that has had a long-term, significant impact.
⤵️ Image
Read 26 tweets
May 9
Muschu Island is an idyllic Pacific setting; 16km long, 13km wide.
It is located 13km off the northern coast of PNG near Wewak.
In 1945 it was occupied by the 27thJapanese Naval Base Force, commanded by Rear-Admiral S. Sato.
The Australian forces were advancing, 40km away.
🧵 Image
April 11 1945:
Eight commandos of Z Special Unit landed on Muschu Island.
Unexpected tidal movements on the moonless night & strong currents carried their collapsible kayaks off course.
Surf on the encircling reef capsized them.
Most signal equipment and weapons were drenched.
⤵️ Image
In total darkness, the motor launch remained offshore for over three hours in case the team made a sudden return.
But all of the torches and radios were now saturated and useless.
Operation Copper’s leader was Lieutenant Thomas J. Barnes, 26, now into his sixth year of the war.⤵️
Image
Image
Read 24 tweets
Apr 26
Radios of the 1940s did not work very well in the remote terrain of Papua and New Guinea.
The thickly vegetated, rugged trackless mountains and the high tropical humidity of the lowlands created havoc with wireless systems.
Radios were so bulky that their use was problematical.🧵 Image
In the Papua New Guinea campaigns of 1942-45 military communications by wireless were seriously hampered by the extremely rugged terrain, the humid climate and the dense jungle foliage.
As a result, whenever possible, landline communications via copper cables were relied upon.
⤵️ Image
Allied units in New Guinea were widely dispersed.
It is incredibly rough country, with steep mountains, dense jungle, and seemingly incessant rain.
In 1943 a permanent telegraph “jungle carrier line” began to be established between Port Moresby and the forward base at Lae.
⤵️ Image
Read 19 tweets
Aug 2, 2023
From 1942 to 1945 the war in New Guinea consisted mostly of small actions in almost inaccessible locations.
One such action occurred in July 1943.
Lt. Usui of the Japanese II/66th Regt had withdrawn remnants of his company (3 officers, 46 men) from Mubo to ‘Timbered Knoll’.
🧵
⤵️ Image
Timbered Knoll was a Japanese stronghold on the slopes of Bobdubi Ridge near Salamaua on New Guinea’s coast.
Major George Warfe's 50-man Independent Company attacked at 4pm on 29 July 1943.
Unusually, this attack was well documented by cameraman D. Parer and artist Ivor Hele.
⤵️
Image
Image
Two parties assaulted the knoll from north to south but were pinned down by machine-guns.
They began taking casualties.
The third unit moved silently downhill and along the east side of Timbered Knoll, assembled, and then attacked, yelling and screaming, from south to north.
⤵️
Image
Image
Read 13 tweets
May 26, 2023
25 May 1944.
Sturdy recruits of the Papuan Infantry Battalion listen attentively to instruction on the safe handling and use of the Mills grenade.
Corporal Dangoro instructs (LtoR) Privates Omar, Tabunguna (centre), ToPuipui (kneeling), Kai-io, Kabuna & Chikikama (squatting).
⤵️ Image
After an ambush at Gona, the PIB recovered a dead Japanese officer's diary.
He described the PIB: "Moving silently in the jungle, inflicting casualties on us - and then gone, like green shadows..."
The PIB proudly adopted that nickname.
Emblem of the Papuan Infantry Battalion:
⤵️ ImageImage
Papuan Infantry Battalion recruits drill:
LtoR: L/Cpls Gamari, Kiko & Gido; Privates Tapae, Koina, Wagigal.
The PIB fought in most Papua New Guinea campaigns; were feared by the Japanese and named "Ryokuin" (Green Shadows) due to their ability to conceal, & emerge from jungle.
⤵️ Image
Read 4 tweets
May 25, 2023
Cape Wom Tragedy:
On 7th May 1945 nine American P-38s set off from Nadzab to strafe Wewak Point.
On nearby Cape Wom, to the west, 44 25-pdr guns of 6th Australian Division were emplaced —plus tanks of 2/4 Australian Armoured Regt and the 19th Australian Infantry Brigade HQ.
⤵️🧵 ImageImage
By May 1945 the Japanese 41st Div. base area of Wewak was isolated.
Australians had captured Madang to the east and the Americans had captured Aitape to the west.
Enemy strength at Wewak was reduced to approx 1000 men concentrated in the town & caves situated on a small point.
⤵️ Image
The familiar drone of the Lockheed P-38 Lightnings grew louder as the squadron approached from the south.
2,000 Australians relaxed as familiar American aircraft circled.
They stood to watch the attack on the headland 4km away.
Here, Australian gunners clean their 25-pounders.
⤵️ Image
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(