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The wreckage of SS Cumberland off Gabo Island after hitting a mine laid by the German raider Wolf, 7 July 1917. Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.

  • More than seventy people attend a dinner and reception at the Orange Oddfellow’s Hall to welcome home Francis John Hubbard from the war. Lance-Cpl Hubbard Welcomed Home
  • All six ships of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla operate together for the first time as HMAS Huon, Swan and Torrens arrive at the Cocos Islands and join sister ships HMAS Parramatta, Yarra and Torrens. The flotilla was raised in response to an urgent request from the British government for assistance in dealing with the increasing threat posed by German U-boats.
  • 22 German Gotha G.IV bombers raid Margate and London, killing 57 people and injuring 250
  • The British Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is formally instituted by Sir Neville Macready, authorising female volunteers to serve alongside their male counterparts. More than 57,000 British women would serve by the time peace was declared in November 1918.
  • French troops on the Western Front gain ground at Cerny and Verdun