on the transport Hororata on 19 October 1914 along with the first contingent of Australians bound for Egypt, arriving there in December 1914. On 25 April 1915 the battalion took part in the Landing at Anzac Cove as part of the second wave. Whitelaw disembarked with the battalion's machine gun section, but his time ashore was cut short when as he was evacuated later that day with a bullet wound to his foot. He spent a number of months recuperating in Egypt and in the United Kingdom before being repatriated to Australia in November 1915 whereupon his service in the AIF ceased and he returned to the Permanent Force, assigned to an administrative and instructional role in the 3rd Military District (Victoria). In late 1917 Whitelaw had transferred to the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery, which had responsibility for all coastal artillery batteries around Australia. Undertaking various staff and regimental appointments he served in this capacity until the end of the war, seeing no further overseas service. Inter war years In October 1920 Whitelaw was transferred to the Staff Corps with the rank of captain. Following this he undertook further artillery officers' training at the School of Gunnery before taking a post there as an instructor in 1927. An appointment to the United Kingdom followed next, lasting from 1928 until early 1931 when he returned to Australia to take up the post of chief instructor at the School of Artillery, marching-in in January. In October he received news of his promotion to major. In July 1937 he was promoted again, this time to lieutenant colonel following a stint on the general staff at Army Headquarters in Melbourne. Second World War Whitelaw was promoted to colonel a month after the outbreak of the Second World War and took on the important role of the commander of all coastal defences in New South Wales. During this time he championed the transfer of technologies such as radar from the United Kingdom and advocated their development in Australia. During this time he undertook a couple of overseas study tours in his official capacity, first to the Netherlands East Indies and then to Singapore to investigate the development of coastal artillery in Allied forces. In 1941, while serving as the aide-de-camp to Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie in his capacity of governor general, Whitelaw received a temporary promotion to brigadier and the following year was