Ernest Clow (Lilydale): Leaves his job as a shoemaker and enlists in the AIF, he is 20 years old.

Gnr Alfred Niblett, (Lilydale), Royal Field Artillery: On board the HMAS Karroo, in a letter to a friend in Lilydale –‘I suppose you have all heard about the Sydney smashing up the Emden off Cocos Island. It was a blessing all round to have that boat out of the way; it meant a lot to everybody too, as she was not a great way off Australia when the Sydney went after her. You can imagine the rejoicing on the boat because we could have nothing against her guns.

That was the first piece of excitement. The next was when we had our boat run into us at four o’clock in the morning. We had the back of the boat all smashed right in. The other vessel rebounded and hit us again on the side, knocking that in also, but as luck would have it she never made a hole or leaked. It shook us up a bit I can tell you’.