March of the Dungarees

The March of the Dungarees was a snowball march in November 1915 in South-East Queensland, Australia, to recruit men into the Australian military during World War I at a time when enthusiasm to enlist had waned after the loss of life in the Gallipoli campaign. The march began at Warwick with 28 men and followed the Southern railway line through Toowoomba, Laidley, and Ipswich to its destination in Brisbane, gathering 125 recruits along the way.

Following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 4 August 1914, Australia and the other members of the British Empire were also at war. The first Australian to perish on the Western Front was Lieutenant William Malcolm Chisholm of the Lancashire Regiment, who died in the Battle of Le Cateau in France on 26 August 1914. Closer to home, Australian troops secured German New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago in September–October 1914. Australians landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey on 25 April 1915. By October 1915, Australia had lost 7,279 men in the Gallipoli Campaign and thousands more were wounded. More recruits were needed.

On 5 November 1915, the Queensland Recruiting Committee held a public meeting in the Exhibition Hall in Brisbane to initiate a snowball recruitment march. Snowball Marches—named for their ability to gather up men along the way—began with the 'Cooees' march from Gilgandra to Sydney in October 1915. The March of the Dungarees was the second snowball march, travelling from Warwick to Brisbane. Another Queensland snowball march was the Cane Beetles March from Mooliba to Cairns for Anzac Day in April 1916.

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