Key Dates in Australia's Military History: World War One – 1917
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Private James White, 22nd Battalion, AIF, and his family. Sergeant White was killed at the Second Battle of Bullecourt, 3rd May 1917.
(Photo courtesy of Mrs M Prophet)
20 March
Lieutenant FH McNamara, No.1 Squadron, AFC, becomes the only member of the AFC be awarded the Victoria Cross for his action in the raid on Tel el Hasi, Palestine.
11 April
First Battle of Bullecourt, France.
21 April
Foundation of the Imperial War Graves Commission, later the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, to erect and maintain war memorials and cemeteries.
3 May
Second Battle of Bullecourt, France.
Lieutenant Claude Vautin of No. 1 Squadron AFC (Australian Flying Corps), who was forced down over Palestine in July 1917, poses with his captor, German aviator Oberleutnant Gerhardt Felmy.
(AWM P02097.002)
May
Destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy take part in extensive anti-submarine operations in the Adriatic Sea.
7 June
Battle of Messines, Belgium.
22 July
Four members of the Australian Army Nursing Service—Sisters Cawood, Deacon and Ross-King and Staff Nurse Derrer—earn Military Medals for rescuing patients trapped in a burning Casualty Clearing Station at Trois Arbes, France. These are the first bravery awards won by Australian nurses in action.
Machine-gunners of the 4th Australian Division, Garter Point, Ypres, Belgium 27 September 1917.
(AWM E01401)
1 August – 14 November
Third Battle of Ypres—Australian soldiers in action, most notably at Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde Ridge and Passchendaele.
31 October
Australian Light Horse charge Turkish positions at Battle of Beersheba, Palestine.
20 December
Second conscription referendum in Australia and among forces overseas. Proposal to introduce conscription is defeated.
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