The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Phillip Frederick Edward “Peter” Schuler, 3rd Australian Divisional Train, Australian Army Service Corps, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Phillip Frederick Edward “Peter” Schuler, 3rd Australian Divisional Train, Australian Army Service Corps, AIF, First World War.

Lieutenant Phillip Frederick Edward “Peter” Schuler, 3rd Australian Divisional Train, Australian Army Service Corps, AIF
DOW 23 June 1917

Story delivered 23 June 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Phillip Schuler.

Phillip Frederick Edward Schuler was born in 1889 to Sarah Schuler and Gottlieb Frederick Schuler, who would later become the editor of The Age newspaper.
Phillip Schuler grew up in Hawthorn and attended Melbourne Grammar, after which he became a junior reporter for The Age. He served in the militia, initially with the 5th Battalion, before transferring to the Australian Intelligence Corps in 1911. In 1912, he was assigned to the Australian Service Corps.

He was also a member of the Melbourne Savage Club, a gentleman’s club dedicated to the arts, literature, and science. Schuler enjoyed the arts, particularly music, and he was often a part of plays staged at the club. It was here he acquired the nickname “Peter” for his similarity in nature to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Though meant as a compliment, it was a name he did not much care for.

When the First World War began, Schuler volunteered to be The Age’s correspondent to the AIF, in which capacity he would photograph, document, and report on the campaigns in which Australian troops were involved.

Schuler embarked from Melbourne aboard the transport Orvieto, the flagship of the AIF’s first convoy, on 21 October. The ship carried General William Bridges and the 1st Division Headquarters amongst other troops. It was on board that he met and befriended Charles Bean, Australia’s official war correspondent.

After a brief stop in Albany, the first convoy made for Colombo. En route, HMAS Sydney destroyed the German raiding ship Emden and Phillip was the first journalist to interview Emden’s Captain Karl von Muller.

Following several months in Egypt, the majority of the AIF moved to Lemnos in preparation for the Gallipoli campaign. Schuler went too, but was arrested as a spy by the British authorities. He was quickly released. After returning to Egypt and following the commencement of the Gallipoli campaign, Schuler wrote damning criticisms of the medical conditions the Australian wounded were being subjected to during the opening stages of the campaign. His reporting caused a furore in Australia.

After petitioning Sir Ian Hamilton, Schuler was allowed to travel to Gallipoli. He arrived on 20 July and was soon in the thick of the action. He reported on the August Offensive by closely following attacking Australian troops at Lone Pine, seeing for himself their efforts to break the stalemate. Schuler also cared for Bean, following the latter’s wounding on 7 August. Bean admired his colleague’s courage and energy, and Bean’s description of Lone Pine in his official history drew on Schuler’s account.

Schuler’s sensitive and insightful reporting brought wide condemnation of the British handling of the Gallipoli campaign. He not only reported on the war at Gallipoli, but took hundreds of images which are held here at the Memorial. These images provide a unique view of the Gallipoli campaign.

Schuler returned to Australia in early 1916, and produced his book Australia in Arms, and his photo essay “The Battlefields of Anzac”. Both were published that same year to critical acclaim, but he wanted to do more.

On 7 April Schuler joined the Australian Army Service Corps as a driver. He embarked from Melbourne aboard the transport Persic on 3 June, by which time he had been appointed lance corporal. After training in England, he sailed to France, arriving on the Western Front during one of the worst European winters on record.

Schuler was commissioned as a second lieutenant in February 1917 and on 5 June was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the 868th Company, 3rd Divisional Train as supply officer. Two days later, the battle of Messines began with the detonation of 19 mines under the German front line. Over the next week, Schuler was praised for his courage in keeping the men of the 3rd Division supplied, often under fire from German artillery.

On 23 June, Schuler was severely wounded by what Bean called a “chance salvo”. Suffering shrapnel wounds to his face, throat, left arm, and right leg, he was taken to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station.

He was visited by his commanding officer shortly afterwards, and knew he was dying. He passed on several messages and instructions, and died from his wounds about an hour later. Lieutenant Phillip Schuler was laid to rest in the Trois Arbres Cemetery at Steenwerck, Belgium.

Gottlieb Schuler never got over the death of his only son. He remained as editor of The Age until his death in 1926.

Phillip Schuler’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lieutenant Phillip Frederick Edward Schuler, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly Historian, Military History Section