Clifford “Cliff” Nicholls Oates was born in Clare, South Australia in 1893 to parents Philip and Mary Oates (nee Nicholls), the fifth of their six surviving children:

Philip and Mary had been married in Iron Side, South Australia, near Burra in July 1885. At some time after Gladys was born, the family moved to Western Australia and by 1899 were living in Victoria Park, Perth. Philip was working as a driver transporting goods. Later, the family moved to West Leederville, just north of Perth.

When Cliff was ten years old, his father died from fever. Cliff attended Perth Boys Central School and was then employed by Messrs Dalgety & Co in Fremantle as an auctioneer. He also served in the 11th Infantry, Citizen Military Forces for 12 months.

Cliff’s older brothers were in the car industry and had moved to South Africa to run businesses.

Cliff showed up for his Army medical in Perth in July 1915 and was declared fit for service. He was living at his mother’s house at Leonard Street in Victoria Park at the time. He was assigned to the newly formed 32nd Battalion, which was being made up of two companies from Western Australia and two from South Australia. Cliff was assigned to C Company. His initial training was at Blackboy Hill, Perth.

In September, the Western Australians sailed from Fremantle to Adelaide to form the full battalion and continue their training. The 32nd sailed from Adelaide on 18 November 1915 aboard HMAT Geelong A2, headed for Egypt.

As reported in The Adelaide Register:

They arrived in December 1915 and went to the large camp at Tel-el-Kebir. A month later they marched to Ismalia, then back to Tel-el- Kebir for February and most of March. The next stop was at Duntroon Plateau and Ferry Post until the end of May, training and guarding the Suez Canal. Their last posting in Egypt was a few weeks at Moascar.

During their time in Egypt the 32nd had the honour of being inspected by H.R.H. Prince of Wales. In May 1916 Cliff was promoted to Lance Corporal. The call to join the British Expeditionary Force at the Western Front came in June 1916 and they sailed from Alexandria for France on the Transylvania. After their arrival at Marseilles, they took a train to Morbecque, near Hazebrouck in northern France.

Theodor Pflaum (No. 327) wrote about the trip in his diary – ‘The people flocked out all along the line and cheered us as though we had the Kaiser as prisoner on board!!’

Source AWM C2081791 Diary of Theodor Milton PFLAUM, 1916, page 8

The Australian 8th Brigade, which 32nd Battalion was a part of, were to assault the German trenches on the left flank, crossing 100 metres of no man’s land to get the trenches. Being on the extreme left flank made their job much more difficult, as not only did they have to protect themselves as they advanced on the German lines, but they had to block off the Germans on their left to stop them from coming around behind them whilst advancing.

All were in position by 5.45 PM on the 19th. Cliff was in C Company and, along with A Company, formed the first and second waves of the attack. The charge over the parapet began at 5.53 PM. The 32nd and 31st Battalions suffered heavy casualties as they commenced their assault, but the men were able to capture the German frontline trenches opposite them.

By 6.30 PM they were in control of the German’s 1st line system (map Trench B), which was described as “practically a ditch with from 1 to 2 feet of mud and slush at the bottom”.

Source AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 11

Unfortunately, with the success of their attack, ‘friendly’ artillery fire caused a large number of casualties. They were able to take out a German machine gun in their early advances, but they were being ‘seriously enfiladed’ from their left flank. There were continued German counter attacks during the night and the Australians maintained their positions until about 3.45am before the Germans were able to penetrate gaps and get access behind the Australian lines.

It was at this time the Australians decided to withdraw from the trenches to have to fight their way back to their lines.

What was left of the 32nd had finally withdrawn by 7.30 AM on the 20th. The initial head count was devastating – 71 killed, 375 wounded and 219 missing. To get some perspective of the battle, when Charles Bean, Australia’s official war historian, attended the battlefield two and half years later, he observed a large amount of bones, torn uniforms and Australian kit still on the battlefield.

The final impact was that 227 soldiers of the 32nd Battalion were killed or died from wounds sustained at the battle and of this 176 were unidentified.

Cliff’s fate during the battle is unknown as there are no witness statements or reports on him available. Initially it was reported that he had been wounded and this information was passed to his mother in mid-August 1916. However, the telegram was not able to be delivered to her since she had moved.

He was not reported as a POW nor was he noted as being on a German ‘death list’ of soldiers recovered from the battlefield. A few weeks later his fate was revised to having been killed in action. His mother was contacted on 31 August. His body, however, remains undiscovered.

His family was clearly distraught. In August 1919 his mother dedicated a memorial plaque and planted a tree in his honour on May Drive, Kings Park Botanical Gardens, Perth.

Even as late as 1950, Ernie Maidstone (989), one of his mates in the 1915 photo of the lads from C Company, placed a memorial notice in the newspaper.

Cliff was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War and Victory Medals and a Memorial Plaque and Scroll.

He is commemorated at:

As of 2023, 41 of the 176 unidentified soldiers from the 32nd have been found to be in the German mass grave at Pheasant Wood that was discovered in 2008. Identification has been able to be done by DNA matching from family members.

Cliff may be one of the 77 remaining soldiers in the grave who are not yet identified. Family have kindly submitted DNA to help find Cliff.

Cliff’s brother Hedley (Bert) had moved to South Africa prior to the War. He was unable to return to Australia, but he enlisted in South Africa. In World War 2, Hedley’s son / Cliff’s nephew Leonard John Oates was a member of the South African Air Force. Leonard was killed in action on 28 November 1934 while in the Sangro area, east of Castel Frentano, Italy. He is buried in the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery in Italy. You can read more about his story here: “Eagles victorious: The operations of the South African forces over the Mediterranean and Europe, in Italy, the Balkans and the Aegean, and from Gibraltar and West Africa", by Henry James Martin and Neil D. Orpen. ISBN: 0868430080

Cliff’s sister Gladys married Percival John Rillstone in 1918, from Ballarat, Victoria. He had joined the AIF in 1915, was attached to 48th Battalion and rose to the rank of Captain. He was wounded at Pozieres, France and returned to England acting as a Brigade-Major at Headquarters London.