Walter McNicoll
Administrator of the Territory of New Guinea | |
|---|---|
| In office 12 September 1934 – December 1942 | |
| Monarchs | George V (1934–36) Edward VIII (1936) George VI (1936–42) |
| Prime Minister | Joseph Lyons (1934–39) Sir Earle Page (1939) Robert Menzies (1939–41) Arthur Fadden (1941) John Curtin (1941–42) |
| Preceded by | Thomas Griffiths |
| Succeeded by | Japanese occupation |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Werriwa | |
| In office 19 December 1931 – 14 September 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Bert Lazzarini |
| Succeeded by | Bert Lazzarini |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 May 1877 Emerald Hill, Victoria |
| Died | 24 December 1947 (aged 70) Sydney, New South Wales |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Country Party |
| Spouse |
Hildur Wedel Jarlsberg
(m. 1905) |
| Children | First World War
|
| Military awards | Mentioned in Despatches (5) (Belgium)Croix de guerre |
DSO, VD
(27 May 1877 – 24 December 1947) was an Australian teacher, soldier, and colonial administrator.
Early life
McNicoll was born in the
First World War became part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).[1]
First World War
As a lieutenant colonel, McNicoll commanded the
Gallipoli and was seriously wounded during an infantry charge in the Second Battle of Krithia on 8 May 1915. The brigade suffered 36 percent casualties in the course of two hours of action. He was found on the battlefield that evening by Charles Bean, then a war correspondent—later, Australia's official war historian. Bean piled discarded packs around McNicoll as protection against the still-continuing small arms fire and returned in the night with a stretcher party. McNicoll was invalided to Alexandria and then to London, where a second operation finally located and removed the bullet from his abdomen.[1] Earlier at Gallipoli, McNicoll had played an unwitting role in the tragic accidental death of British Army Lieutenant Colonel Richard Nelson Bendyshe on 29 April; the two men were going through the trenches making an inspection, the sunburned, unshaven McNicoll in his tattered uniform a strong contrast to the English officer, when a Royal Marine stopped them, suspecting McNicoll of being "a disguised Turk" spy; firing at McNicoll, he instead hit Bendyshe in the stomach, killing him. This caused "pandemonium", with men charging to the scene and "firing wildly", three other men being shot; McNicoll was attacked with bayonets ("suffering only mild wounds") and taken down, his documents searched, before he was blindfolded and marched under armed escort down a communication trench. The first person the party encountered was the 6/AIF adjutant, "whose language on recognising his commanding officer was reported to be 'in the finest tradition of the AIF'". McNicoll returned to duty two days later after medical treatment.[2][3]
Following a year's recuperation in Melbourne, McNicoll was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the 10th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Division—under the command of Major General John Monash and, later, John Gellibrand. From December 1916 to the armistice nearly two years later, the brigade was part of numerous actions on the Western Front, including Messines, Ypres, the Somme, and Amiens.[1]
Later life
After the war McNicoll returned to teaching as founding principal of what is now the Argyl School in
Mandated Territory of New Guinea
.
He served in that position from 1934 up to the time of the Japanese invasion in 1942. (During that period, the northern part of what is now
Sepik in 1935 (the party included the young J.K. McCarthy) and subsequently sponsored the Hagen-Sepik Patrol (1938–39) which explored the last great unknown tract of the Territory. McNicoll was knighted for his work organising relief efforts after the 1937 volcanic eruption that nearly destroyed the Territory capital, Rabaul.[1]
He married Hildur Marschalk Wedel Jarlsberg, from a distinguished
Norwegian family, on 10 June 1905. Their marriage produced five children, all sons: Ronald Ramsay McNicoll (1906–1996); Sir Alan Wedel Ramsay McNicoll (1908–1987); Colin Wedel Ramsay McNicoll (1909–1921); Frederick Oscar Ramsay McNicoll (1910–1989); and David Ramsay (aka Jack Meander) McNicoll (1914–2000). Ronald and Alan both attained senior positions in the Australian military—becoming a major general and vice admiral respectively—while David was a well-known Sydney-based journalist.[4]
McNicoll died in Sydney on 24 December 1947, aged 70 years.[1]
Notes
- ^ ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
- ^ Walking Gallipoli, Stephen Chambers, Pen & Sword Military, 2019, Tour 3- The Ridge Trail, p. 4
- ^ https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C108076
- ^ Farquharson, John. "McNicoll, David Ramsay (1914–2000)". Obituaries Australia. Australian National University. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
References
- Les Carlyon, Gallipoli. Melbourne: Pan Macmillan, 2001.
- J. K. McCarthy, Patrol Into Yesterday. Melbourne, 1963.
- Ronald McNicoll, Walter Ramsay McNicoll 1877–1947. Melbourne, privately printed, 1973. (Copy in the National Library of Australia, Canberra.)
- R. R. McNicoll, "Sir Walter McNicoll as Administrator of the Mandated Territory," Journal of the Papua & New Guinea Society, vol. 2, no. 2 (1969), pp. 5–16.
- Sir John Monash, The Australian Victories in France in 1918. Sydney, 1936.
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