William Major OLIVE
William Olive was born on 25 August 1890 in Richmond, Victoria. His parents were Henry Thomas and Ella Ada (née Coney) Olive. He attended Scotch from 1904 to 1909. For two years Bill was in senior cadets. He was Dux in Mathematics in 1907. He was a 1909 Prefect. He ‘Passed the higher divisions of the Royal College of Music.’ He was also awarded a Scholarship to Ormond College and the Argus Scholarship for Civil Engineering.
William was a civil engineer when he enlisted on 14 June 1915 at Melbourne. He served in the 5th Field Company, Australian Engineers with the rank of Lieutenant.
William died on 23 April 1916 in Bois Grenier, France. He was 25 years of age.
Service record
William ‘Bill’ Olive had spent 4 years with the Melbourne University Rifles. No doubt this and his Bachelor of Civil Engineering led to his appointment as a lieutenant in the 5th Field Company of engineers in November 1915. There is some uncertainty in the records as to his rank before that.
At Suez in late 1915 or early 1916 he saw a raft collapse with several men on it and dived into the canal fully clothed to rescue them. He brought one ashore, but was ‘heart-broken’ when the man died. Olive was himself shivering with cold, but was preoccupied with the condition of his fellow rescuers, for whom he secured whisky to prevent them from catching a chill. A fellow sapper commented that Olive’s ‘thought was always for others, and we revere his memory as a gallant and brave soldier.’
His service record states that he was killed by a shell explosion at noon on 23 April 1916. On 23 April 1916 Olive was with a working party in a support trench when a 4.2 inch German shell hit the side of the trench. One account said the group had been pinned down for several hours, another that he had been talking to one of his men when the shell hit.
All accounts agree that Bill was killed instantly. His commanding officer, Major W.A. Henderson praised Olive’s ‘unfailing cheery nature’. One of Olive’s friends, fellow Old Boy Major Norman Harris, and like him a brilliant mathematician, wrote that ‘Bill was one of the best fellows I have ever known; a splendid officer, and always a gentleman, and a firm favourite with the men.’
Lieutenant Clive Steele, another Old Boy and destined to rise to the highest position within the Royal Australian Engineers in World War II, wrote that Bill ‘was beloved by his men and fellow-officers, and he was my greatest friend here.’ William Olive was the first Old Boy to die with Australian forces on the Western Front and the first Scotch College engineer killed in the war.
William Olive is buried in the Erquingham-Lys Churchyard Extension, France.
Photographs and Documents:
Postcard inscribed by eight Old Boy officers on board the transport Ceramic in December 1915. Olive’s name appears in the third row down.
Sources:
- Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour
- Mishura Scotch Database
- National Archives of Australia – B2455, OLIVE WILLIAM MAJOR
- Scotch Collegian 1916
- The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=229954
