Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron”, Nicola Perscheid, c1917. Image courtesy Postkartenvertrieb W Sanke.
- Day 783 of the war. World War I is at its midpoint. 62 men from Orange have already died in service; a further 174 will die before the declaration of peace on 11 November 1918.
- Prime Minister Hughes appeals to the Australian public to support the Military Service Referendum Bill. He declares:
Australia is called upon to face the supreme test of nationhood. We, boasting our freedom, are called upon to prove ourselves worthy to be free…Now is the hour Australia is called upon to gird up her loins and make her great effort…This is a war to the death – a fight to a finish. The future of Australia and the hopes of Australian democracy hang on victory…Your kinsmen and your Allies across the sea look to you to do your duty. Your comrades in the Australian armies, whose glorious valor has covered the name of Australia with undying lustre, call to you to come and stand by their side…In the name of Australia, I abjure every man and woman in the Commonwealth to vote “YES.”
- German air ace Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron”, shoots down his first of many Allied aircraft. Royal Flying Corps airmen Lionel Morris, aged 19, and Tom Rees, 21, are killed when von Richthofen shoots down their plane following an air raid. The Red Baron – Manfred von Richthofen
- British forces attack Bir el Mazar in Sinai; Turkish troops withdraw to El Arish
