Albert (Bert) Jacka

In the boxing ring, as on the battlefield, he was not roused to anger quickly. But once his blood was up, he became a fierce and uncompromising fighter. He fitted perfectly into that unique brand of Australian soldiery: the volunteer for king and country, impatient with military formalism, contemptuous of slackers, loyal to his unit and proud of his mates; but most of all, eager to get the job done, the enemy defeated, the aggressor punished and the world put to rights.

[Robert Macklin, in Jacka VC: Australian hero, Allen & Unwin, 2006]

Albert 'Bert' Jacka VC was the first Australian to be awarded a Victoria Cross in World War I. He was recognised for single-handedly capturing a Turkish trench at Gallipoli during a Turkish counter-attack on the Allies' position at Courtney's Post.

Bert was a quiet, shy man with a reputation for standing up for his beliefs. He fought in some of the Western Front's fiercest battles and was awarded the Military Cross twice. Australia's official war correspondent and historian Charles Bean said Bert's actions deserved 3 Victoria crosses.

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Early life

Bert was the fourth of 7 children. He was born in 1893 near Winchelsea, west of Geelong, in southern Victoria. His parents, Nathanial and Elizabeth Jacka, were farmers. His father later became a policeman to supplement the family income. He stayed in the job for 4 years before moving the family to Wedderburn, a former gold-mining community north-west of Bendigo.

Bert did well at the local state school. As was the case for many children in rural communities at the time, there was no secondary school nearby. Going on to further education meant the cost of finding somewhere to stay in a bigger town, which wasn't an option for Bert. Instead, he finished school at 13 to help his father deliver goods to local farmers and did general rural jobs like fencing and repairs.

At 17, Bert joined Victoria's Department of State Forests. His job was to help replant trees stripped from the forest during the mid-1800s gold rush. In his time off, he was a keen cyclist, boxer and footballer.

Wartime service

Australia joined Britain at war with Germany on 4 August 1914. Still working in forestry, Bert enlisted with the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion[Australian War Memorial] on 18 September 1914.

At Broadmeadows Training Camp in Melbourne, Victoria, Bert was trained in using a rifle, bayonet, and army procedures. Day-to-day training activities at Broadmeadow are shown in this short film[Australian War Memorial].

Eager to be promoted, Bert attended officer training classes at night and was made an acting lance corporal.

Just days before Christmas, on 22 December 1914, Bert embarked with the 14th Battalion aboard HMAT Ulysses. He arrived in Egypt on 31 January 1915, where he remained in training until he was called up for the Gallipoli Campaign.

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Anzac Cove

On 26 April 1915, the 14th Battalion landed at Gallipoli. They set up at Courtney's Post, one of 3 Anzac posts on the cliff above Anzac Cove. It was named after the battalion's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Courtney. Their trenches were only metres away from the Turkish soldiers.

In early May, the Turkish commanders began planning to force the Anzacs off the Gallipoli peninsula.

Enemy soldiers attacked the Anzac line just before dawn on 19 May.

After fierce fighting and a terrible loss of life, the Australians pushed back the Turkish soldiers in all but one section of their line: Courtney's Post.

The Turkish attackers pushed back most of Bert's battalion to occupy a few metres of the trench. In position in a firing bay, Bert held off the Turkish soldiers from gaining more ground. The next morning, Bert was told he would be recommended for his bravery.

Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery on the night of the 19th–20th May, 1915 at "Courtney's Post", Gallipoli Peninsula. Lance-Corporal Jacka, while holding a portion of our trench with four other men, was heavily attacked. When all except himself were killed or wounded, the trench was rushed and occupied by seven Turks. Lance-Corporal Jacka at once most gallantly attacked them single-handed, and killed the whole party, five by rifle fire and two with the bayonet.

[Supplement to the London Gazette No. 29240, published 23 July 1915. p. 7279]

After receiving his Victoria Cross, Bert was promoted up the ranks rapidly, first to Corporal on 28 August 1915, then to Sergeant 2 weeks later and again to Company Sergeant Major on 14 November. He was later commissioned as a Lieutenant, and then Captain on 15 March 1917.

Western Front

In June 1916, the 14th Battalion was shipped from Egypt to France to fight on the Western Front.

On the night of 6 August, Bert's unit moved into the line at Pozières. As dawn broke, German troops overran part of that line. Bert rallied his men and charged at the enemy. He recaptured a section of trench, freed a group of recently captured Australians and forced the surrender of some fifty Germans. Bert was seriously wounded in the neck and shoulder and was taken to a London hospital for treatment.

Charles Bean described Bert's actions for which he was awarded the Military Cross as:

the most dramatic and effective act of individual audacity in the history of the AIF.

At the disastrous first battle of Bullecourt on 11 April 1917, Bert acted as an intelligence officer and earned a bar to his Military Cross. He undertook a daring nocturnal investigation of the enemy position in which he captured a German officer and his orderly. This saved the Anzac units from discovery and possible attack.

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In July 1917, during the battle at Polygon Wood, Bert was hit by a sniper bullet and wounded severely. Yet again, he returned to the front line, further cementing his reputation as one of the AIF's most respected warriors.

... Jacka, I can tell you is "some" soldier. In our last charge he led us so brilliantly that we all think he will get the D.S.O, out of it. -He has, as you know, the V.O. and the M.C. with a bar. If he had his rights, he would be a colonel, but they didn't give him his due. He never wants his men to go where he won't go himself and has shown this in everything he has tackled. He is the finest officer we know, and we know a few.

[Pte Gordon Byrne, Jacka's orderly, 'Orderly's eulogy of Captain Albert Jacka', The Violet Town Sentinel, 22 January 1918]

National hero

Bert's image as an idealised soldier and the 'spirit of the Anzac' grew immensely after he received the Victoria Cross.

He was the reluctant hero of an army recruitment campaign in 1917. The campaign was fuelled by a strong belief that sport developed specific skills and qualities that posed well on the battlefield. It was said that Bert's prowess as a boxer was one of the reasons he was such a good soldier with a fighting attitude.

While Bert's image was being used on posters, magazines and newspapers to enlist Army volunteers, other people tried to leverage his fame for conscription.

In 1916 and 1918, Bert resisted efforts from Prime Minister Billy Hughes to bring him home to promote Australia's war efforts. Journalist Keith Murdoch[Australian Dictionary of Biography] used Bert's name in the 1916 conscription referendum. Bert's father publicly denied that Bert favoured conscription, but Bert's views on this are unknown.

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Coming home

Bert's military combat career ended in May 1918 after he was poisoned by mustard gas during a German bombardment near Villers-Bretonneux.

Bert returned to Australia aboard the transport ship A.14 HMAT Euripides. A large crowd gave him a hero's welcome when the ship berthed at Port Melbourne on 20 October. In January 1920, he was demobilised from service.

After the war

Bert partnered with 2 former battalion members in 1920 to start an electrical goods import and export business. Impacted by the Great Depression, their business was forced into voluntary liquidation in 1930.

On 17 January 1921, he married Frances Veronica Carey, and they adopted a child Elizabeth Mary Jacka (formerly Smith).

Bert became increasingly interested in politics, specifically wanting to have an impact and help the unemployed. In 1929, he was elected to the St Kilda Council, becoming mayor the following year.

Unfortunately, Bert was in and out of hospital after the war with ongoing illness. In December 1931, he was admitted to Caulfield Military Hospital with chronic nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys). He passed away within weeks, on 17 January 1932.

Nearly 6,000 people filed past his coffin as he lay in state at Anzac House in Melbourne. Bert was buried with full military honours in the Presbyterian section of St Kilda Cemetry in Melbourne.

Even after his death, Bert's status didn't diminish among former diggers. His gravesite became a place of annual pilgrimage for the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion.

Remembering Albert Jacka VC

Various memorials commemorate Bert in his childhood home of Wedderburn and in St Kilda, where he spent his post-war life.

A memorial to Bert was unveiled at St Kilda Cemetery in May 1932. Jacka Boulevard in St Kilda is named after him, and his name is inscribed on the Victoria Cross Memorial in the town.

In 2001, the suburb of Jacka in Canberra, ACT, was gazetted and named in his honour.

Albert's Victoria Cross, Military Cross and other medals are held in Canberra by the Australian War Memorial.