Diary of Oberlin Herbert Gray, August 1915 to March 1916

Places	Africa: Egypt Asia: Sri Lanka, Colombo Europe: Greece, Aegean Islands, Lemnos Mediterranean: Malta Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Anzac Area (Gallipoli), Lone Pine Area, Lone Pine Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Anzac Area (Gallipoli), Olive Grove Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Anzac Area (Gallipoli), Shrapnel Gully Area, Shrapnel Gully Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Anzac Area (Gallipoli), Shrapnel Gully Area, White's Valley Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Cape Helles Area, Cape Helles
Accession Number	AWM2018.785.52
Collection number	AWM2018.666.1
Collection type	Digitised Collection
Record type	File
Item count	1
Object type	Diary
Physical description	40 Image/s captured
Maker	Gray, Oberlin Herbert
Place made	Egypt
Date made	1915-1916
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Copying Provisions	Digital format and content protected by copyright.
Source credit to	This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government.

Places

Accession Number

AWM2018.785.52

Collection number

AWM2018.666.1

Collection type

Digitised Collection

Record type

File

Item count

Object type

Diary

Physical description

40 Image/s captured

Maker

Gray, Oberlin Herbert

Place made

Egypt

Date made

1915-1916

Conflict

First World War, 1914-1918

Copying Provisions

Digital format and content protected by copyright.

Source credit to

This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government.

Diary relating to the First World War service of 2552 Private Oberlin Herbert Gray, 3rd Australian Field Ambulance. Herbert Oberlin Gray and his brother Frederic chose to join the medical corps, as the family were Quakers, and conscientiously weren’t able to ‘take up arms’, however, they still wanted to serve. This diary has entries written by Oberlin Gray, dated between 7 August 1915 and 13 March 1916. In it, Oberlin Gray records his experiences in the trenches at Gallipoli, including the movements of various ships and aircraft, collecting wounded men for days at a time with only a few hours of sleep, the smell of the dead, hearing of the fighting at ‘Lonesome’ Pine, several narrow escapes from death, and an incident with a runaway sheep. In November 1915, Gray became sick, and in his diary records his time on a hospital ship and in hospital on Malta where he spent several months recovering. There, he heard of the evacuation of Gallipoli, and wrote down his thoughts about it. From Malta, Gray went to Egypt, and from there was sent home to Australia. He describes his journey home via Colombo, and concludes his diary with his arrival in Australia on 13 March 1916.