Henry Dalziel VC (1893 - 1965)

war

Harry volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), enlisting on 16th January 1915, and was posted to the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion^[3] as a reinforcement.^[4] He served throughout the Gallipoli Campaign until the unit was evacuated to Egypt in December 1915. From July 1916, he served on the Western Front in France and fought in the Battles of the Somme, Pozières and Mouquet Farm.

His service continued into 1917, including the Battle of Messines but he was wounded during the Battle of Passchendaele at Polygon Wood. He returned to the front in June 1918.

Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

On 4th July 1918 at Hamel Wood, when determined resistance was coming from an enemy strong-point which was also protected by strong wire entanglements, Harry, armed only with two revolvers, attacked an enemy machine-gun. He killed or captured the entire crew and, although severely wounded in the hand, carried on until the final objective was captured. He twice went over open ground under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire to obtain ammunition and, although suffering from loss of blood, continued to fill magazines and serve his gun until seriously wounded in the head by a German sniper. For his bravery and commitment to his fellow soldiers, Henry was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), invested at Buckingham Palace by King George V. ^[5] Harry Dalziel's VC was the 1,000th such medal to be awarded.

Harry's wounds were so severe that his skull was shattered and brain was exposed and he was evacuated to England for medical treatment. It was not until 5th January 1919 that he was up to returning to Australia. He received a hero's welcome at every railway station from Townsville to Atherton as he got ever closer to his family. His mother is said to have told reporters: “Of course I’m wonderfully proud of my ‘soldier boy’ as he always described himself in his letters, but never mind the VC as long as I get my boy home safe and well.”

adjusting to life after war

Harry and Ida Dalziel

On 8th April 1920 in the Wharf Street Congregational Church, Brisbane, Queensland Harry married Ida Ramsay, who had served as a nurse with the 17th Australian General Hospital. ^[6]

The couple took up a soldier-settlement block of land near Tolga, on the Atherton Tableland, for farming but Ida was primarily responsible for its running. After a few years, troubled by the injuries he sustained during the war, Harry moved to Sydney where he took up factory work. Ida remained on the farm. He then tried his hand at gold mining in the Bathurst region before later returning to the farm when his wife became ill. By 1933, he was living in Brisbane but out of work. Harry and Ida's separation once more became permanent, this time ending in divorce. They had no children.

Having maintained an interest in song writing since his initial time in hospital recuperating from his war wounds, Harry began writing once more during further extended hospital stays. Some of his work was published in England and the United States: A Song of the Tableland and Love Time, Merry Love Time. ^[7]

In the mid-1930s the Army found a way to look after this Aussie hero: mobilising him in a part-time capacity with the 9th/15th Battalion (Militia). Harry was promoted to Sergeant. During the Second World War he was mobilised by the Army to support recruitment and funding drives and conducted talks for troops at training camps in Australia with the 11th Training Battalion. The primary invasion danger to Australia quelled, Harry was demobilised due to ill-health on 24th December 1943. ^[8]

Harry and Elsie Dalziel with baby, David

Harry married again, to nurse Elsie Kanowski. They had three children: David, Ann and Frank.

A story that sums up Harry's caring heart is one from 1949. He parceled up his VC medal and mailed it to Buckingham Palace to (then) Princess Elizabeth as a birth gift for her son, Prince Charles. He recieved a beautiful, hand-written, two-page reply from the Princess thanking him profusely for the thought but that she could not possibly deprive him of the medal. The family, rightfully, treasure the royal letter. In 1956 Harry went to London for the Victoria Cross centenary celebrations, meeting the (now) Queen Elizabeth. In 1958, he met the Queen Mother during her Australian tour. She is said to have wished Harry a happy birthday on the occasion.

Harry marched each year in Brisbane with the 15th Battalion veterans in the ANZAC Day march. He did so until his very last year.

In 1937, Harry was awarded the King George VI Coronation Medal and also received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal in 1953.

Following a major stroke at his home at Oxley in Brisbane's south, Harry Dalziel VC passed away on 24th July 1965 in Greenslopes Private Hospital, Greenslopes, Queensland. He was given a funeral with full military honours in St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane before his remains were cremated and his ashes interred in nearby Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens, Holland Park. ^[9]

legacy

Harry Dalziel has been granted admirable and appropriate tributes with many places being named in his honour, including:

• Dalziel Street, Nundah, an inner northern suburb of Brisbane.
• Henry Dalziel Oval at Irvinebank, North Queensland.
• Loudon House Museum at Irvinebank includes a memorial.
• The Harry Dalziel VC Memorial Bar, Atherton, Queensland, Returned Servicemen's Club.
• A mounted WWI artillery piece stands as a memorial to Private Harry Dalziel VC in a park at Atherton.
• The Army barracks at Enoggera (Queensland) and Singleton (New South Wales) both have roads named in his honour.
• The officers' club at the Army's Enoggera Barracks is named The Henry Dalziel VC Club.
• The Henry Dalziel VC Dialysis Centre, Greenslopes Private Hospital, Greenslopes, Queensland.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Irvinebank, Queensland; accessed 18 Apr 2019
2. ↑ Queensland Birth Index #C5223/1893
3. ↑ Australian War Memorial unit record: 15th Australian Infantry Battalion; accessed 18 Apr 2019
4. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: 1936 Private Henry Dalziel; accessed 18 Apr 2019
5. ↑ London Gazette 16 Aug 1918 Supplement: 30849 Page: 9660: Victoria Cross; accessed 18 Apr 2019
6. ↑ Queensland Marriage Index #B24930/1920
7. ↑ Wigmore, Lionel, ed. They Dared Mightily. Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1963.
8. ↑ Australia War Memorial nominal roll: Q302305 Sergeant Henry Dalziel; accessed 18 Apr 2019
9. ↑ Queensland Death Index #B74628/1965

• Mays, Helen. 'Dalziel, Henry (1893–1965)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1981; accessed online 18 Apr 2019.
• Australian War Memorial; Harry Dalziel: 'An inspiring example to all' by Claire Hunter; accessed 18 Apr 2019.
• Harry Dalziel VC website; accessed 7 Feb 2020.
• Wikipedia profile: Henry Dalziel.