Divided loyalties

With the Ascanius docked at Port Melbourne Pier, several hundred people gathered to farewell the original members of the 29th Battalion "for destination unknown".  Most civilians and soldiers assumed incorrectly that the troopship was heading for Gallipoli to join the ANZACs. 

Not everyone in Melbourne supported the decision for Australia to join the war.  Some members of the Irish Catholic community in Melbourne were opposed to Australia fighting alongside the British, who at the time were depriving Ireland its independence.  However, their voice was muffled by the dominant political discourse at the time that supported Australia's war efforts. The April 1916 uprising in Ireland, in which members of the IRA were caught and executed by the British, would have served to reinforce the views of the group of Irish-Catholics who opposed Australia becoming an ally with Britain.

The decision for Thomas to join the war appears to have been controversial among members of his family.  This view is supported by Thomas' nephew, Father Peter Carrucan.  In November 2010 Father Peter informed me that Thomas' mother, Margaret Lynch, opposed her eldest child's enlistment into the Australian Infantry Force because of her strong Irish Catholic political views at the time. At the risk of being too interpretative, this apparent division within the family may provide us with some understanding for why Thomas was treated in the manner that has been described (see cousin Bev's comment and and Draft Essay #1).

A photo of the troopship Ascanius prior to its embarkment on the 10th November 1915.