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9th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force
The 9th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. It was the first battalion recruited in Queensland, and with the 10th, 11th and 12th Battalions it formed the 3rd Brigade. The 9th battalion was raised within weeks of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later. After preliminary training, the battalion sailed to Egypt, arriving in early December. The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915, and so was the first ashore at around 4.30 am. The battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the Anzac beachhead. It served at Anzac until the evacuation in December 1915.
After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the battalion returned to Egypt. It was split to help form the 49th Battalion and bought up to strength with reinforcements. In March 1916 the battalion sailed for France and the Western Front. From then until 1918 the battalion took part in operations against the German Army. The battalion’s first major action in France was at Pozières in the Somme valley. The 9th Battalion attacked on the extreme right of the line and it was during this action that Private John Leak won, with the bayonet, the battalion’s only Victoria Cross. Later the battalion fought at Ypres, in Flanders, before returning to the Somme for winter. In 1917 the battalion moved back to Belgium for the advance to the Hindenburg Line, and in March and April1918 helped stop the German spring offensive. The battalion participated in the great allied offensive of 1918 and fought near Amiens on 8 August. The advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as "the black day of the German Army in this war".
The battalion continued operations until late September 1918. At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent. The November armistice was followed by the peace treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919.
In November 1918 members of the AIF began to return to Australia for demobilisation and discharge. On 5 February 1919, the 9th and 10th Battalions were amalgamated.
25th Apr 1915 Landings
Aug 1915 Risk
12th September 1916 Reliefs 
19th September 1916 Reliefs
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Pte. John Edward McIlroy 9th Btn. John McIlroy served with the 9th Battalion and 3rd Machine Gun Company, AIF
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Pte. John Sharp McKean 9th Battalion John McKean was my great-uncle. He enlisted on 22nd of July 1915 and was wounded in action.
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Lt. George Hilfers Koch 9th Battalion My grandfather, George Koch served with his 3 brothers at Gallipoli, Ypres, and the Somme. He was admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth in 1915, 1917, and 1918. He had also served in the Boer War.
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Lt Cedric Tyson Brown 3 Squadron Cedric Brown was born in Charters Towers, Queensland. He worked as a fitter, was single and lived with his mother, Mrs L Brown, at Ecxland Street, West End Townsville, Queensland, when he enlisted 6th of September 1915. He was aged 19 years.
On enlistment he was with the 9th Battalion, 12th Reinforcement which embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A50 Itonus on 30th of December 1915.
Cedric was also a pilot with 3 Squadron Australian Flying Corps and was wounded in France and recovered at 3rd London Hospital in March 1918. He returned to Australia 3 May 1919
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Lt. Frederick Trouton Small 9th Infantry Battalion Frederick Trouton Small was born on 20 May 1888 in Brisbane, Queensland. An engineer before the war, Small enlisted on 4 September 1914 and was assigned to the 9th Battalion. He embarked with the 3rd Field Company Engineers on 22 September 1914 from Melbourne aboard HMAT Geelong.
He served on the Gallipoli peninsula transferring to the 5 Field Company Engineers and won a recommendation for a French Croix De Gurre. His part in the evacuation of Gallipoli can be read in Volume II of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, The Story of ANZAC from 4 May, 1915, to the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula By Charles Bean. He was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force in 1916 due to illness and returned to Australia on board the HT Nestor.
Frederick Small married Mary Call after the war and they moved to the United States in 1924. They first lived in Maryland where he worked as an Engineer before retiring to Florida. An avid stamp collector, Small was the owner of the world's most expensive stamp which he sold in 1970 for US$280,000. He died on 6 August 1971 in Broward, Florida.
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Pte. Edward Michael McNamee 9th Infantry Battalion Edward Michael McNamee was born at Orange, New South Wales, in 1888. The 26-year-old labourer enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 18th December 1914 and left Brisbane with reinforcements for the 9th Infantry Battalion aboard HMAT Seang Choon on 13th February 1915.
In May 1915 McNamee joined the battalion on Gallipoli. After serving on the peninsula he was sent to the Western Front in March 1916. In his diary McNamee recorded short daily entries describing his experiences of trench fighting on the front in 1916 and 1917. One such entry concerned the opening stages of Pozières on 22n July 1916, which he called "the great Australian attack in France", and commented on the Australian advance against heavy machine-gun fire.
McNamee continued to serve on the Western Front for the remainder of the war and on two occasions in 1918 was admitted to hospital due to the effects of gas attacks. He returned to Australia in early 1919 and was discharged in March that year.
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Brig.Gen. Arthur Henry Goddard DSO MID. 25th Battalion  Henry Arthur Goddard was born in England in 1869 and, immigrated to Brisbane, Australia in 1890. He married Elizabeth Maud Morrow in 1897. Goddard was placed in command of Brisbane defences at the outbreak of war in 1914. He joined Australian Imperial Force as Lieutenant Colonel in 1915 and appointed to command 25 Battalion. He was transferred to 17th Battalion and left Sydney on 12 May 1915 for Egypt. Goddard didn't get to Gallipoli until 2 September due to illness. He served at Quinn's Post and remained there until evacuation on 20 December 1915.
Suffering further sickness he was invalided to Australian in 1916. In July 1916 he embarked again, being appointed commander of 35 Battalion. He arrived in France in November and took part in the battle of Messines and was awarded the DSO. Goddard also served at Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele; and repealed an attack at Amiens in April 1918; and Morlancourt. Appointed to command 9th Brigade in May 1918, Goddard, led the Somme offensive until the end of the war, including the battle of Bray-sur-Somme and the attack on the Hindenburg line. Goddard was mentioned in dispatches three times, and after the Armistice the awards of the CMG and the Belgian Croix de Guerre were announced. He returned to Australia in 1920.
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Lt. John Joseph Chapman 9th Infantry Battalion John Joseph Chapman was born at Ballarat, Victoria, in 1889 and was a clerk by trade before joining the Australian Imperial Force. He signed up at Brisbane on 15 September 1914 and was assigned to the 9th Infantry Battalion with the rank of private. Chapman departed Brisbane aboard HMAT Omrah on 24 September 1914.
Whilst serving at Gallipoli in 1915 he was wounded and evacuated to Malta. Chapman later re-joined the 9th Battalion on the Western Front where he was wounded again during 1916. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 18 June 1918.
Chapman remained in England at the end of the First World War and married Emily Alice Myatt, a furrier, on 6 September 1919. John Chapman was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force on 23 May 1920.
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Lt. John Powe Roberts 9th Btn. (d.28th Apr 1918) John Powe Roberts, Lieutenant, served in the 9th Battalion Australian Infantry, Australian Imperial Force and died age 33, between the 25th and 28th April 1918. He is remembered at Jarrow Library and Walkers Ridge Cemetery ANZAC. Sp. Mem.19.
John's application for a Commission CM.Form A.22 dated 14th August 1914, lists earlier service as 12 years in the Durham Light Infantry with the rank of Sergeant and promotion to 2nd Lieutenant on the 1st October 1912 in 11th Infantry OC C Company. His civilian employment is recorded as Sanitary Engineer. He was born on the 18th October 1882 and was 32 at the time of enlistment. His application was approved on the 10th september 1914 and he was posted to D Company 9th AIF. His address is given as Flint Street, North Ipswich with his wife as next of kin at that address.
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