Fort Queenscliff - The Soldiers

The Soldiers

Though over two hundred military units have been associated with Fort Queenscliff since the 1860s, two major groups of permanent soldiers have been based here: the coastal gunners of the artillery and their technical support provided by the sappers of the fortress engineers. As well, there were Militia (part-time) soldiers who were to bring the Bay forts to full strength during wartime and who trained at the Fort throughout the year, particularly at camps over Easter.

To a great extent, the soldiers at the Fort were peacetime soldiers - and as has been said, 'soldiers in peace are like chimneys in summer'! Though always part of the town, the soldiers (leathernecks) could always find opponents such as the fishermen (squids) and rivalries, not always healthy, resulted. However, many soldiers married Queenscliff lasses and there are frequent cases of whole families of men joining the Service, sometimes over three generations.

The routine of the Fort governed the lives of its occupants. New recruits were given rigorous training by experienced non-commissioned officers, but given few privileges until they had fully joined their regiment. Married recruits were normally not accepted - indeed soldiers had to notify their Commanding Officer and, at times, gain his approval to marry. Prior to World War I, 'the married establishment', that is those who were entitled to married quarters and rations, was severely restricted.

Food was very basic and monotonous. One incident in the early 1900s told how for weeks on end there was not 'pudding' until constant demands resulted in a dessert made from boiled cabbage scraps. Sobriety was encouraged, not always successfully, by the establishment of a soft drink bottling factory inside the Fort. The 'Artillery' bottles of this factory are much sought after today.

Outside the barracks activities with the locals included concerts, musical recitals, spelling bees, roller skating, lectures and lantern slide shows, occasional tattoos and moving picture shows.

A humorist during World War I perhaps exaggerated only a little when he wrote The Queenscliff Dinkum" in the Fort Critic of 28 February 1918:

"When you take a boat to Queenscliff as you're standing on the shore,
You will see some dinkum soldiers for a cert;
For when they are not drilling or the amber liquid swilling,
They are down there on the lookout for some skirt."