- Australian forces occupy German New Guinea. The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force lands at Rabaul; troops skirmish with Melanesian and German troops at Bitapaka in the German colony of New Guinea while attempting to capture a nearby radio outpost. Six Australians are killed in the action. They are the first of 60,000 Australian troops to fall in the First World War.
- British Government issue orders for the raising of the second New Army of six divisions
Members of the AN&MEF bringing Capt Brian Colden Antill Pockley on board HMAT Berrima. Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
Capt Pockley was wounded after he set out to find Able Seaman AB Williams who had been wounded by enemy fire during an Australian advance. Capt Pockley found AB Williams with Leading Stoker W Kember who had carried him for nearly half a mile. Capt Pockley removed his red cross brassard and tied it to Leading Stoker Kember’s hat, sending him to the rear with the wounded man, as he was returning Capt Pockley was fired upon and wounded. He was later picked up by an ambulance cart and carried to HMAT Berrima, where he and AB Williams died during the afternoon. AB Williams was the first Australian shot in the First World War and Capt Pockley was the first medical officer of the Australian Forces killed in the course of his duty.
