Called to the Bar and enlisted the same day by Joanna Fear
Joanna Fear is the manager of library and information services at the Federal Court of Australia, Brisbane.
William (Bill) Albert Amiet was born in June 1890 at Murgheboluc, near Geelong in Victoria.
His father’s family had migrated from Switzerland to grow fruit in the region.1 Amiet was educated at the University of Melbourne2 where he was awarded a BA with first class honours in 1911 and won the Wyselaskie scholarship for modern languages.3 He completed an MA the following year.4
Amiet moved to central Queensland in 1912 to work with the YMCA and then as a master at Maryborough Grammar School.
Amiet began his legal studies while still teaching in Maryborough. In July 1914 the Supreme Court granted Amiet an exemption from complying with the rule that required intending students-at-law to provide certificates of fitness from two practising barristers5 on the basis that he “had not resided where there were practising barristers, and he knew only one”.6
Amiet was in Brisbane sitting his intermediate bar examinations when Britain declared war on Germany.7 He and a number of other students appear to have petitioned the Barristers’ Board to grant concessions that would enable them either to complete their studies more quickly or enlist without jeopardising their careers.8
At that time the admission rules required 12 months between passing the intermediate and sitting the final examination.9 The board appears to have refused their request.10 As a consequence, Amiet decided to complete his legal qualifications before joining the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
He moved to Brisbane in December 1914 and supported himself by coaching students. He got a room at the Inns of Court, attended sittings of the Full Court and diligently ‘read the law’. During this time Amiet put his language skills to good use by offering French and German classes to soldiers in his coaching rooms at the Inns of Court on Saturday afternoons.11
In October 1915 he wrote home telling his family he would go to war after his final exams.12 Good to his word, Amiet was admitted as a barrister on 2 May 1916 and enlisted the same day.13 His diary notes: “CALLED TO BAR … ENLISTED”.14
Amiet joined the 26th Battalion at Enoggera and spent a number of months training in Fraser’s Hill Camp and working in the records office. He left Brisbane on the HMAT Boonah on 21 October 1916. The voyage to England took 81 days, stopping in Fremantle, Durban, Cape Town, Sierra Leone and Dakar. During the journey Amiet kept himself occupied providing lectures on French literature, European history, astronomy and ancient history. He also read, played cards, learnt semaphore and musketry, and represented a fellow soldier at a court martial, noting “we got him off under K.R. 496”.15
On arrival in England, Amiet spent five months in camp at Rollestone working under fellow Queensland lawyer Lieutenant E.W. Cleary. His duties included preparing offence reports, court martials, courts of inquiry and absentee reports.16 Amiet was also reading texts on military law including: Banning’s Military Law Made Easy; Coddington’s The Young Officer’s Guide To Military Law; Guide to Court Martial Procedure; Manual of Military Law; The King’s Regulations; Australian Defence Act; Power of Company Commanders; and Summary Power of the Commanding Officer. Every second Sunday provided an opportunity for sightseeing with day trips to Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bristol, Bath and London, where he saw a Charlie Chaplin show.17
On 21 May 1917 Amiet left England for the Somme. More training ensued in ‘the bullring’. There was also time to use his legal skills; on 9 June he noted that he had “made 5 wills” and on 19 June “gave a man Williams advice about a divorce”.18 Amiet saw action in late June 1917 in the Bapaume area. His diary notes: “left at midnight in battle order for a ‘stunt’ in old Somme battlefield”19 … “bayonet and firing stunt in Bapaume”20 … “Fatigue work at Beugny. Broken aeroplane … bursting shells”.21
Amiet spent the whole month of July 1917 sick in hospital in France. This provided an opportunity to read 31 books – one a day.22
On his recovery Amiet rejoined his battalion and in mid-September was involved in the battle of Polygon Wood. His diary entry for 19 September 1917 records:
The following day he wrote:
Amiet was mentioned for his contribution to this battle along with Pte Charles Abel, Pte Harold Broadbent and Pt Richard Allen Henry Allan who were all commended:
During October 1917 Amiet attended the ANZAC Corps Intelligence School in Aveluy where he learnt map reading, aerial photography, contours, reconnaissance, observation, codes and ciphers, French and German military terms, the German conscript system, German bombs, badges of rank, uniforms, and shoulder straps.26
In December 1917 he attended the German Linguists School in Bailleul and then spent seven months officer training in Oxford where he was assessed to be:
He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 1 August 191828 and rejoined the 26th Battalion in France.
In early October 1918 Amiet was involved in heavy fighting at Bellicourt, sustaining shrapnel wounds to the thigh on 3 October 1918. His diaries record: “My water bottle blown and slight shrapnel wounds.”29
The following day he noted:
On 5 October: “Bellicourt. Slept til 9. Wound getting stiffer …”31
And the following day: “Hargicourt … Capt Cooper and Doc Newing insisted on my going to hospital.”32
Amiet was transferred to a London hospital where he remained until the armistice was signed the following month. He was made lieutenant in December 1918.33
Amiet was mentioned in despatches when he was on the list of names deserving of special mention submitted by Sir D Haig on 16 March 1919.34
In 1919 he was granted leave with pay and subsistence to attend Kings College, University of London where he undertook further legal studies35 as well as psychology, Esperanto, shorthand and Pelmanism, a memory training and personal development system popular in the early 20th Century.36 Amiet left England in September 1919 aboard the HMAT Port Sydney.37
On returning from the war, Amiet went into partnership with solicitor Vincent Macrossan in Mackay. Their firm Macrossan & Amiet survives today.38
He married Agnes May Hurley in December 1923 and the couple had three daughters.
Amiet was actively involved in the Mackay community, serving for six years as the president of the Mackay RSL, foundation president of the Mackay Rotary Club, president of the Mackay Amateur Race Club and the Mackay Dramatic Society. He was chairman of the Mackay Ambulance committee, Mackay Show Association and the Mackay branch of the Royal Geographical Society.39
Amiet also served on the executive of the Country Party in the Mackay district for over 30 years, resigning shortly before his death. He unsuccessfully contested the Federal seat of Herbert in 1929.40
Amiet was also a well-known literary figure, publishing books on literature and astronomy41 and contributing a weekly column to Mackay’s Daily Mercury newspaper for 34 years. His final column was “written without reference from his hospital bed”42 just days before his death.
Bill Amiet died in Mackay on 13 April 1959 aged 68.
Notes
1 Entry for WA Amiet on AustLit – austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A15766 – accessed 30 July 2014.
2 Ormond College.
3 University of Melbourne Annual Report 1910-1911 at pp 721, 723 and 729 – digitised-collections.unimelb.edu.au/bitstream/handle/11343/23463/111169_UMC191207_Annual%20Report.pdf, accessed 25 July 2014.
4 ‘Death of Mr W.A. Amiet’, The Daily Mercury, Mackay, 14 April 1959, p2.
5 Rules relating to the admission of barristers, 1896 (Qld) r18, form 4.
6 ‘Matter of intending law student’, The Brisbane Courier, 25 July 1914, p16. Amiet had provided certificates of fitness from a practising barrister and his Honour Sir Arthur Rutledge KC, a judge of the District Court; WA Amiet Diary, 24 July 1914, William Albert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.
7 He received the following marks: Jurisprudence 73, Roman Law 72, Constitutional law and histo-ry 71, International law (public and private) 65.5, Average 70.4. WA Amiet, Diary 3-4 August 1914, William Albert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.
8 WA Amiet, Diary, 1 September 1914, William Albert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.
9 Rules relating to the admission of barristers, 1896 (Qld) r27.
10 WA Amiet, Diary, October 1914, William Albert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.
11 ‘Another offer’, Brisbane Courier, 9 January 1915, p6.
12 WA Amiet, Diary, 10 October 1915, William Al-bert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.
13 As above, 2 May 1916.
14 Ibid.
15 As above, 6 January 1917.
16 As above, 15-17 January 1917.
17 As above, January – May 1917.
18 As above, 19 June 1917.
1919 As above, 24 June 1917.
20 As above, 26 June 1917.
21 As above, 27 June 1917.
22 As above, July 1917.
23 As above, 19 September 1917.
24 As above, 20 September 1917.
25 Australian War Memorial website – stat-ic.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1068586–118-.PDF – accessed 30 July 2014.
26 WA Amiet, Diary, October 1917, William Albert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.
27 AIF service record for William Albert Amiet.
28 AIF service record for William Albert Amiet.
29 WA Amiet, Diary, 3 October 1918, William Albert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Li-brary, The University of Queensland Library.
30 As above, 4 October 1918.
31 As above, 5 October 1918.
32 As above, 6 October 1918.
33 AIF service record for William Albert Amiet.
34 Supplement to the London Gazette, issue 31448, 11 July 1919, p 8831 – thega-zette.co.uk/London/issue/31448/supplement/8831 – accessed on 30 July 2014.
35 This is likely to have been part of the Australi-an Government’s education scheme. See Charles Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Volume VI The Austral-ian Imperial Force in France during the Allied Offensive, p1070.
36 WA Amiet, Diary, January 1919, William Albert Amiet Collection, UQFL71, Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library.
37 AIF service record for William Albert Amiet.
38 macamiet.com.au/about/history/ – accessed 25 July 2014.
39 ‘Death of Mr W.A. Amiet’, The Daily Mercury, Mackay, 14 April 1959, p2.
40 Ibid.
41 For example: Literature by languages : a roll call (Angus & Robertson, 1932); A Shakespeare or two (Angus & Robertson, 1935); Starry pages (Angus & Robertson, 1934); Starry ages (Angus & Robertson, 1937); Courses in literary history (Angus & Robertson, 1938); Scrambled scrutinies (Watson, Ferguson, 1949); Metrical diversions of a sexagenarian (Watson Ferguson, 1952).
42 ‘Death of Mr W.A. Amiet’ The Daily Mercury, Mackay
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