Under Any Old Gum Tree
This one act play was hosted at the Collie Senior High School Performing Arts Centre on March 30th 2014, supported by the 2015 ANZAC tour group.
Written and Directed by Noel O'Neill with Kieran Garvey as Martin and Rex Gray as the Orderly.
"One man's journey into hell". From Ireland to Australia....From "No Man's Land" to Insanity.
Excerpt from Hansard - Parliament of Western Australia:
MR M.P. MURRAY (Collie–Preston) [12.58 pm]:
Last week the Collie community took part in commemorative activities to honour our adopted Victoria Cross hero, Martin O’Meara. The Australian and New Zealand Irish ambassador, His Excellency Noel White, was special guest at the Shire of Collie’s civic reception, before laying a wreath in memory of Martin O’Meara at Soldiers Park in Collie. Martin O’Meara was born in Tipperary, Ireland in 1885 and settled in Australia in 1914. He worked as a sleeper cutter around Pinjarra and then Collie, before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1915. He was awarded the Victoria Cross during World War I for his heroic actions at Pozières in France, where he put his life at risk to carry supplies and ammunition to no-man’s-land on the battlefront; he also carried wounded soldiers on his return journey. The newly opened Collie Senior High School performing arts centre was the venue for the one-act play Under Any Old Gum Tree, written by local playwright Noel O’Neill. The play tells Martin O’Meara’s story, from his days log cutting in the bush around Collie, to his days during the Great War, to his final time at the Claremont lunatic asylum due to shell shock. I congratulate the two principal actors, Kieran Garvey and Rex Gray; Gaelforce Promotions; Fred Rea; Peter Murphy; Frank Murphy and Ed Croft; along with the students of Collie Senior High School (sic.. Anzac Tour) in the performing arts centre, who contributed to making the event a great success. Following the play, a complement of Irish songs dedicated to Martin O’Meara and the Irish community were performed by Sean O’Rouke, Phil Beck, Fred Rea and Collie Senior High School student Courtney Salmeri. Their contribution rounded off an excellent evening in Collie.
"From Collie's Banks to No Man's Land" by Dave McGilton
Below is the song "From Collie's Banks to No Man's Land" by Dave McGilton
"This song is a tribute to Tipperary man Martin O'Meara VC who emigrated to Collie in Western Australia prior to WW1 and joined the Australian Imperial Force as a Stretcher Bearer in August 1915. He was awarded the VC for his immense bravery during the Battle of Pozieres in France the following year."
Song written and Copyright Dave McGilton 2013
Song written and Copyright Dave McGilton 2013
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/fro...
The information below comes from the
Martin O'Meara Website
http://martinomeara.weebly.com/
WHO WAS MARTIN O’MEARA?
Martin is believed to have left Ireland in 1912 and travelled to South Australia, and then on to Western Australia in 1914. Martin first worked in the Pinjarra area and then made his way south to the town of Collie in search of employment. And it wasn’t too long before he found work cutting railway sleepers in the virgin jarrah forest east of Collie.
Being a sleeper cutter in those days was physically demanding and highly dangerous work; however Martin loved the outdoors along with the camaraderie he shared with his fellow sleeper cutters.
But it was the Great War that saw Martin, on the 19 August 1915 enlist with several of his sleeper cutter mates in the Australian Imperial Forces.
Martin left Australia in December 1915 with the 12th Reinforcements to join the 16th Battalion in the Middle East. After training in Egypt in early 1916, the battalion then moved to the Western Front in France where it fought on the Western Front.
On 9-12 August 1916 the 16th Battalion mounted several attacks on German positions near Mouquet Farm northwest of Pozières. However, devastating German artillery fire caused heavy casualties amongst the 16th, with an entry in the 16th Battalion’s War Diary (12 August 1916) stating laconically that 'the trench as a trench had ceased to exist'.
During this period O'Meara, who was operating in No Man’s Land between the Australian and German positions, behaved in a manner which led one of his officer to describe him as: 'the most fearless and gallant soldier I have ever seen'.
O’Meara was credited with having saved the lives of over twenty-five wounded men by carrying them-in from No Man’s Land under the most indescribable conditions.
Even after the battalion was relieved its commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Drake-Brockman, saw O'Meara returning to the front line through a massive bombardment to rescue two more wounded soldiers despite (it was claimed) having himself 'reached a position of comparative safety'. At other times he had, on his own initiative, brought up much-needed supplies of ammunition and food. And it was for these actions, that Martin O'Meara was awarded the Victoria Cross.
Martin spent the rest of the war with the 16th Battalion and was wounded three times, firstly near Mouquet Farm in 1916 and later at Messines and near Bullecourt in 1917. He travelled to London in July 1917 where he was presented with his Victoria Cross by King George V.
He, reluctantly, left the 16th Battalion in France in August 1918 at the direction of the Australian Government, who wanted Victoria Cross recipients to return to Australia to assist in recruitment of new soldiers. In November 1918, Martin returned to Perth, Western Australia, but was hospitalized shortly after arriving. His experiences during the war caused him to have a complete mental breakdown.
He was discharged from the AIF in November 1919.
Sadly Martin would then spend the rest of his life in mental hospitals, suffering from (what was described at the time as) Chronic Mania and he was unable to attend a special Armistice Day dinner in 1929 given by the Governor of Western Australia to honour the WA’s V.C. recipients.
Having spent from 1926 to 1935 at the Lemnos Hospital in Shenton Park, Western Australia, Martin passed away at the nearby Claremont Mental Hospital on 20 December 1935.
Martin was buried with full military honours in Karrakatta Catholic cemetery by Fr John Fahey DSO (himself a former AIF Chaplain). Mourners at his funeral included three VC recipients: C. Sadlier, J. Woods and Thomas Axford. Western Australian Senator and former wartime Defence Minister, Sir George Pearce was one of his pallbearers.
In 1986 his VC was donated to the West Australian Army Museum. Martin had visited his native Ireland in 1916 where money was raised as a testimonial to him from Lorrha and neighbouring parishes; he left the money gathered to the parish for restoration work on the historic Lorrha Abbey.
Ian Loftus, Perth, Western Australia
