Albany was the last Australian soil most of our troops saw, and the place where the Anzac story started

ALBANY, a whaling town of 6000 clinging to the shore of a desolate coastline, became the focus of a nation a century ago.

Anzac troops preparing to leave Albany in 1914. Picture: Albany Historical Society Inc

ALBANY was a whaling town clinging to the shore of a lonely, desolate coastline with a population of just 6000.

But the coastal town 420km south of Perth became the focus of the nation almost a century ago, cradling a country’s young men and their hopes and dreams in the safe protected waters of King George Sound before sending them off to blood and war.

But you’d never know from reading copies of the local newspaper that date back to November 1, 1914 — the day the first convoy of the Australian Imperial Force departed Albany’s harbours, packed with 30,000 young men and horses bound for a war most would not return from.

History now documents this day as the start of the Anzac story, and a date when a generation of young Australians would look upon their last glimpse of Australian soil.

While many WA troops departed from Fremantle, the vast majority of Australian soldiers left from Albany’s King George Sound, where ships packed with men and horses from the east coast cities restocked and refuelled.

But at the time, the departure of the first convoy was carried out under a hushed veil of secrecy.

There was no mention in the local, state or national newspapers of the departure until a full three weeks after the ships had left port bound for training camps in Egypt and the Middle East.

Albany mayor Dennis Wellington said the first convoy’s departure was a “big military secret”, with the timing and route a closely guarded secret.

It wasn’t until late in November 1914 that newspapers carried tales of the epic departure, declaring: “Such a sight has certainly never been seen before in Australasia, and no man or woman breathing today will probably live to witness another spectacle in any way approaching its magnificence.”

Among a historical collection at the town library, an original copy of a local newspaper from 1914 describes the first convoy. “In no other port of the Commonwealth were the ships seen together… in the full magnificence of their numerical strength,” it reads.

Lt Leslie Newton, of 12th Infantry Battalion, wrote a month before the ships set sail: “We envied those units whose troopships occupied positions near to the wharf and who were enabled to carry out short route marches on shore.”

And just days before the 1914 departure, New Zealand war historian Fred Waite, described the stirring sights and sounds by writing: “The cheering and counter-cheering, the Maori war cries and answering ‘cooees’ would have moved a stoic.”

Albany had never seen anything like it, nor has it since. But the eyes of the nation will again be on Albany come November, when it hosts the launch of the Anzac Centenary, commemorating 100 years since the first convoy sailed.

Someone who well knows Albany’s coastline — and exactly what the troops would have experienced when they left it bound for the battlefield — is geographer, conservationist, former school principal and respected Albany Whale Tours owner John Woodbury.

Almost every day for the six months of the year when whales are present, he’s behind the helm watching Albany dwindle into the distance as he navigates out of port.

It’s the exact same sight our troops would have seen as they departed Albany almost 100 years ago.

Although he sees the same thing, the skipper says he can scarcely imagine what they must have been feeling.

He said leaving the safe confines of one of WA’s safest harbours and anchorages for the wild seas of the Southern Ocean and an unknown future would have been incredibly daunting.

Like a womb, King George Sound offers protection from the pounding Southern Ocean swells, howling squalls and battering winds regularly sent from the South Pole to hammer the coastal town.

Nowhere else along the state’s expansive southern coastline is there a safer anchorage, tucked in behind almost-encircling arms of the mainland, deep and serene, carved from smooth red and grey granite, and etched in prehistoric scenery

“You only need to turn the corner and suddenly you move into untouched coastline and total wilderness. Our coastline is the most extraordinary amphitheatre of wild beauty carved out by the separation of Australia from Antarctic 140 million years ago, but once you leave King George Sound it becomes incredibly rugged,” he said.

“The town of Albany at the time was a very small development clinging to shore struggling to survive. The convoy of ships was an armada of considerable size and it would have been very impressive in the sheltered little mother’s womb of the harbour.

“But when they left that, they were going into one of the bloodiest experiences of human history. They were heading off into very troubling, probably very rough seas on ships packed with men and horses, suffering all the malaise of seasickness and not being masters of their own destiny.”

Mr Woodbury said being on the water and seeing where the Anzac legend started made April 25 a “very powerful and significant” day on the calendar.

Every Anzac Day he runs free boat tours, wreath laying and commemoration services in King George Sound for anyone who wants to come aboard his vessel.

“It is the only day out of 365 when we have an opportunity to really stop and recognise that a whole lot of people went through extraordinary hardship and gave their lives so we can be here now living the way we do as Australians,” he said.