Heroes Before Gallipoli: Bita Paka and That One Day in September

Seven months before the troops landed at Gallipoli, a sailor from Melbourne became the nation?s ?rst casualty of World War 1. Able seaman William ?Billy? Williams was shot in the stomach on a narrow dirt road in the dense jungles of east New Britain in what was then known as German New Guinea. Mortally wounded, he died a few hours later. Billy Williams was a member of a small force that captured a radio station at Bita Paka near Rabaul, the capital of the German colony. This was an important military victory, for it led to the surrender of Rabaul six days later and the eventual capture by Australia of German New Guinea. The captured territory was held and administered by Australia until PNG became an independent nation from Australia in 1975. But the event was forgotten, overshadowed by Gallipoli and the role it played in forging the nation?s mythology. A book has never before been written on this signi?cant event and it will certainly leave its mark as a major event in military history publishing.