Can you help us identify Jim?:

With thanks to Jim’s Great Niece Jacqueline McFarland for providing her comprehensive family history and personal insights for this story.

James (Jim) Morison Rhind, was born on 19 April, 1887 at Geelong, Victoria, the fourth of David and Anna (nee Spence)’s ten children, seven daughters and three sons:

Jim’s family had a history of strong personal and community commitments which inculcated Jim with a strong moral compass. Jim’s father’s family emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand in 1863 when he was young and many of the Rhinds remain there. The family left Scotland because of their faith and religion.  The Church of Scotland had broken up and when the New Church of Scotland was formed in 1843 the Rhinds went with this group because the Church of Scotland was determining who would Minister the congregations and the Rhind family were having none of it.

Their Grandson Jim remained an active practitioner of his faith throughout his life. David became a farmer who was regarded as very capable and quite ingenious and he was managing a farm independently at the age of seventeen in New Zealand. In the 1870s, David and his brother George became early settlers in northern Victoria, Australia. Jim’s mother, Anna Millar Rhind (nee Spence) also came from Scottish immigrant parents, David Spence and Margaret Leslie Morison.

They had emigrated in 1852 from Burntisland, Scotland to the Bendigo goldfields, where they ran a General Store. The Spence family later moved to Avenel, Victoria, following Anna’s father David Spence’s death in 1879. Anna’s mother and sisters had land at Strathmerton near David Rhind’s selection at Yarroweyah. David and Anna married in 1881 and lived in the Yarroweyah area.

In 1886, as a young family with three children seeking better education opportunities and cooler weather, David and Anna purchased the farm 'Chevy' at Wallington, nine miles from Geelong, an established 3000 acre property which they developed into an exceptionally large and varied farm. It was described by the Geelong Advertiser in 1906 as ‘one of the best-known properties around Geelong’ with its location ‘on the hills overlooking the lakes’.  David had expanded the farm into dairy, growing all grains, horses, sheep and even importing the first Hong Kong geese into Australia. Jim was born here.

David was interested in all community affairs - a member of the Agricultural Society, the Scottish Society Comunn na Feinne, a Justice of the Peace and he was a Moolap Shire Councillor.  Anna was also an active participant. In 1900 she won the prize for the greatest number of exhibits made from farm produce at the Geelong Agricultural Show. All the Rhind children attended school in Geelong and stayed with their maternal maiden aunts at 60 Garden Street, but the aunts were very strict.

While the Rhind household was a very strict one, Scottish Presbyterian to the core, Jim shared many talents and traits of his father David and he also had a softer side that reached out and nurtured others.  Jim attended the Swanston Street State School in Geelong. He then completed a course in Bookkeeping and another course as a Second-Class Engine Driver at Gordon Technical College. During his studies, he spent two years in the Army Cadets.

After this, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a farmer. Jim and his elder brother Frank shared a property called ‘Craigmillar’, near Miles, 300 km west of Brisbane, from about 1910 to 1915. Their eldest sister Margaret was a housekeeper there.

Jim enlisted in the AIF on 14 April 1915 at Melbourne, Victoria and was assigned to the 7th Reinforcements, 22nd Battalion as a 2nd Lieutenant. His Grand Niece Jacqueline writes of Jim’s strong enthusiasm to enlist, as was typical of many young Australians:

In a letter to his sister Mabel from musketry camp in Williamstown, Jim showed that he was a capable leader of men and a good teacher:

Jim had a deep faith, but a very personal one (he didn’t rub it in everyone's face).  He attended Church on Sundays all his life.  His faith in God carried him, but he also took joy from the cameraderie that being a soldier afforded him, as was brought out in a letter from Egypt when Jim states he `“got talking with his mates and forgot to go to bed`”.

While Camp life seemed to suit him, he was keen to get to the Front. Not long after he had written to his sister he was headed to Egypt, leaving on 26 November on board HMAT A73 Commonwealth.

His friend Lt Harry Wanliss was in the 29th battalion. He was killed on 26 September 1917.

In mid-March they were inspected by H.R.H the Prince of Wales. After a month of training at the large camp at Tel-el-Kebir, they had a three-day, 50 km march in thermometer-bursting heat across the Egyptian sands from Tel-el-Kebir to Ferry Post, near the Suez Canal. Prior to marching, only ½ pint of water per bottle was available.

Source AWM4 23/15/1 15th Brigade War Diaries Feb-Mar 1916 p 6

In a letter dated 2 March 1916, Jim wrote:

Jim was very proud of the Australian soldiers. They remained at Ferry Post until 1 June, but their time in Egypt was not all work. A 5th Division Sports Championship was held on 14 June, which was won the by the 60th’s 15th Brigade. On 17 June they received orders to begin the move to the Western Front and were soon on trains to Alexandria.

The 60th departed on the troopship Kinfauns Castle from Alexandria on 18 June 1916. After a brief stop in Malta, they disembarked at 7.00 AM in Marseilles on 29 June were immediately entrained, headed for Steenbeque, 35 km from Fromelles, arriving on 2 July. They were headed to the area of Fleurbaix which was known as the ‘Nursery Sector’ – a supposedly relatively quiet area where inexperienced Allied troops could learn the harsh realities of Western Front trench warfare against the Germans.

But the quiet times did not last long. On the 7th they began their move to the Front, arriving in Sailly on the 9th. Now just a few kilometres from the Front, their training continued, although with a higher intensity, I’m sure. The move to Fleurbaix continued and 60th were into the trenches for the first time on 14 July. Now fully immersed in the war, Jim was realistic, but optimistic for what he is about to go through, as writes home for the last time on 16 July 1916.

The overall plan for the battle was to use brigades from the Australian Fifth Division to conduct a diversionary assault on the German trenches at Fromelles, but the 60th were given a very difficult position for the battle, with the ‘Sugar Loaf’ salient, a heavily manned position with many machine guns, directly across from them. Fire from here could enfilade any troops advancing towards the front lines, giving the Germans a significant advantage. If the Sugar Loaf could not be taken, the Australian advances would also be subjected to counterattacks from that direction.

On 17 July, they were in position for an attack, but it was postponed due to unfavourable weather. There was a gas alarm, but luckily it was just that. By 4.20 PM on 19 July, they were once again in position in the trenches, readying for their attack. Artillery shelling from both sides was constant. The Zero Hour for advancing from their front-line trenches was to be 5.45 PM, but the Germans knew this attack was coming and were well-prepared. They opened a massive artillery bombardment on the Australians at 5.15 PM, causing chaos and many casualties.

The first of four waves of Australians went over the parapet at 5:45 PM, with the last wave going over at 6.00 PM. Casualties were immediate and heavy. The 15th Brigade War Diaries captures the intensity of the early part of the attack – ‘they were enfiladed by machine guns in the Sugar Loaf and melted away.’

Source AWM4 23/15/5, 15th Brigade War Diaries July 1916 page 56

It was reported that some got to within 90 yards of the enemy trenches. One soldier said he:

Fighting continued through the night. With known high casualties in the 60th, they were relieved by the 57th Battalion at 7.00 AM. Roll call was held at 9.30 AM. In the ‘Official History of the War’, Bean said ‘of the 60th Battalion, which had gone into the fight with 887 men, only one officer and 106 answered the call’.

Source C.E.W. Bean Chapter XIII page 442

Jim was Missing in Action.

To get some perspective of the battle, when Charles Bean 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 of the battle on the 60th was that 397 soldiers were killed or died of wounds, of which 317 were not able to be identified.

Jim’s Fate and His Family’s Anguish

Given the 60th’s position in front of the Sugar Loaf machine gun emplacement and from all the post battle reports, Jim was likely killed not far from the Australian lines. Corporal G.F. Stanford (3489) reports:

Corporal R.E. Poulter (2878) supports this with his report below.

The Victoria Barracks in Melbourne telegraphed Jim’s father on 31 July to tell him Jim was missing. David was very proud of Jim, a son in a father's image, hence the pain when Jim was missing, especially so, as David didn’t even know that Jim was in France. The last letter received by the Rhind family had come from Egypt dated March 2nd. David wrote back to confirm Jim’s location. Letters from Jim continued to arrive for months, creating an illusion that he was still alive, but the nightmare was only just beginning.

David had to wait ‘patiently and anxiously’ for further news. In September 1916, he heard a rumour that Jim was wounded and in England. David wrote to the Army to ask them to follow it up, but soon after that, he realised that Jim would have made contact, if indeed he was in England, and David wrote to apologise for troubling them. Clearly David Rhind was doing all he could to confirm his son’s whereabouts.

Jim’s brother Hector (483) was in Essex at the time and he supported the family search for Jim by inquiring through the Red Cross in England. In September 1916, Jim’s personal effects - a Bible, a small leather handbag, a valise and a brown leather trunk were sent from London. As the Army was thorough in checking hospitals, POW camps, etc, it took until 4 August 1917 that a Court of Enquiry held in the field formally pronounced Jim’s fate as 'Killed in Action, 19 July 1916'. Jim was clearly missed by his entire family, as in the tribute placed by his Aunt.

Jim’s younger brother Hector idolised his older brother and described him as a ‘lovely person, one of those people who was liked by everyone’. The grief and sadness surrounding the loss of their cherished son and the years of not knowing whether he was alive or dead took its toll on both of Jim’s parents. David, in particular, had lost a favourite son. His hair and beard whitened rapidly, likely as a result of the stress and the anxiety he experienced and with the final realisation that Jim was not coming home.

David later sold his land for soldier settlement to assist those who did return. Perhaps the finest tribute is from one a soldier under Jim’s command, L/Cpl J.L. Thomas (2191), who wrote to the Red Cross:

Jim received the Victory Medal, the British War Medal, a Memorial Plaque and a Memorial Scroll.

He is commemorated at:

The Germans recovered 250 Australian soldiers from the battlefield and placed them in a burial pit at Pheasant Wood. This was discovered only in 2008. Efforts to identify the soldiers have been underway since, and as of 2024 180 of the soldiers have been able to be identified via DNA matching.As the fighting was so severe for the 60th and the burial site is not close to this area, only two soldiers from the 60th have been identified to be at Pheasant Wood.