Centenary of the Anzacs: Service and sacrifice of Tasmanians

ONE in 12 Tasmanians enlisted to fight in World War I, and the toll was enormous, writes ANNE MATHER. INCLUDES TASMANIAN ANZAC SERVICES GUIDE

Tasmanian soldiers in Egypt during World War I

TASMANIANS fought in every theatre of war during World War I, sacrificing a staggering number of the state’s strongest men for God and Empire.

At the outbreak of World War I, Tasmania had a population of only 190,000, But during the four years of war, more than 15,000 Tasmanians enlisted and nearly 3000 died.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST OF TASMANIAN ANZAC DAY EVENTS

Historian Reg Watson said Tasmanians fought at Gallipoli, the battlefields of France and Belgium, Egypt, Palestine, southern Africa and the Pacific.

“Where the war was raging, the Tasmanian Digger was there,” said Mr Watson.

Tasmanians brought home hundreds of medals and decorations from the Great War.

Mr Watson said there were 11 Tasmanians who won the Victoria Cross, which is Australia’s highest honour for acts of bravery in wartime.

A further 30 Tasmanians won the Distinguished Service Order, three won the French Legion of Honour and one the Order de Leopold from Belgium.

“Today war memorials dot the landscape and it would be hard to find a town in the state that does not have a monument to those who served and those who fell in World War I,” Mr Watson said.

Of those thousands of Tasmanians who died, many were among the 2000 Australians who were killed or wounded at the April 25 landing at Gallipoli 100 years ago.

Private Harry Hodgman, an ancestor of Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman, was one of those young Tasmanians whose lives were cut short as they rushed to the Turkish shore on that first day of the campaign.

Private Hodgman was born in Brighton and was the son of Tasmanian Member of Parliament Thomas Hodgman.

“Thomas was my father’s great uncle, and he was the first Hodgman to be elected to the Tasmanian parliament,” explained Will Hodgman.

Thomas Hodgman had seven sons and three of them — Harry, Douglas and Alan — went to war. Private Harry Hodgman, a salesman by trade, was only 23 years old when he landed at Gallipoli.

He was in one of the last landings at Anzac Cove on April 25, and was shot through the head by a sniper and was buried at Lone Pine Cemetery in Turkey.

His brother Alan was killed in action at Messines in Belgium in 1917. The third Hodgman soldier, Frank, returned to Australia wounded in 1917 and was lost at sea in 1920 aboard a transport ship.

Will Hodgman said his family always paid their respects on Anzac Day for all those who sacrificed their lives.

“These young men were like so many who left this state to serve our country,” he said.

“Anzac Day is special to all Australians and it’s always had a particularly personal meaning for my family,” he said.

“I’ve attended dawn services on Anzac Day from as young as I can remember.”

Originally published as Centenary of the Anzacs: Service and sacrifice of Tasmanians