Despite being the highest ranking and the oldest serviceman connected from Whittlesea to die in service during the Great War (and the only full-time soldier), Robert Garrick Wilson for some reason does not rate a mention on any of the Memorials erected around the Shire.
Even more surprisingly, his considerable contribution to Australia’s war effort does not appear to have been ever mentioned in the histories of Whittlesea and surrounds.
In addition to his albeit short contribution to the active military side of the war, perhaps his generosity in offering 200 acres of his estate “Mornington Park” at Broadmeadows which became the basic training camp for tens of thousands of Victorian servicemen that ultimately went to on in the service of King and Country was equally, if not more significant.
From at least 1909, Wilson owned Lyndoch Park, an extensive grazing property in Whittlesea as well as serving as a Major in the Australian Military Forces prior to resigning to volunteer for active war service with the Australian Imperial Force on 22 December, 1915. He also served as a member of the Whittlesea Council between 1910 and 1913, taking an active role as treasurer of the Kinglake Railway Extension League, and was a Justice of the Peace, served on the Board of Advice at Whittlesea State School and was a past President of the Whittlesea Agricultural Society.
He was promoted to Honorary Lieutenant Colonel when he enlisted, one report suggesting “… At the request of the headquarters staff, Mr. Wilson has also . superintended the establishment of canteens in the other States. So satisfactory-has been the work in Australia, that his services are now being employed farther afield”.
His next of kin was given as his wife, Mrs C. McAlpine Wilson, her address care of Equity Trustees, Queen Street, Melbourne.
Wilson embarked with the A.I.F. Canteens Section on RMS Majola six days later, his only son, 19-year-old Robert Garrick junior, embarking as an Honorary Lieutenant on the same vessel (this was a one-off transport of staff officers embracing a number of non-combatant units preparing for the move of troops evacuated from Gallipoli to the Western Front in the early months of 1916).
Wilson died from sinusitis in Cairo on 9 February, 1916. The brief report describes the attack as “sudden” and there is no indication that he was admitted to hospital before his death.
Given the harsh conditions in Egypt, his death may not have been as unexpected as it seems. A tribute in the Evelyn Observer written by “Mernda” (Cr. Walter Thomas) suggested “the late officer was anything but a robust man in health, but his brave spirits kept him up“.
The two identical names of father and son proved too much for National Archives – the service histories for both men are held in the same file.
Robert junior is shown as a cashier with the Garrison Institute and born in Camberwell. He was returned to Australia around a month after his father’s death by reason of his services being classified as non-essential and on account of his grandmother’s critical illness (she died in Toorak, 2 May, 1916). A letter in 1945 suggests that because of the short time he served, he had never taken any steps to claim the standard service medals that he was in fact entitled to. He re-enlisted in the Second World War while living in New South Wales and served for around 18 months locally with an Army Workshops section.
No circular was returned, but the AWM shows the place Robert senior was mostly associated with as Whittlesea, indicating he was still living in the district after acquiring Mornington Park.
Following the outbreak of war, Wilson made the property (described as on the edge of Campbellfield about a half-a-mile west of the Sydney-road and about a mile-and-a-half from Broadmeadows railway station) available to the military for use as the main training camp in Melbourne.
The Argus (13 August, 1914) went on to add that the costing of draining the site (of around 200 acres) would be “some hundreds of pounds” more than an alternative at Essendon had been chosen, “… but there are a great deal of compensation advantages … there is a splendid manoeuvring ground in the immediate vicinity“.
Following the selection of the site, the Army Service Corps was charged with making the camp “… sheltered by a ridge of pine trees and broad paddocks stretching away on every hand” ready for habitation, the chief concern the supply of fresh water. The Metropolitan Board of Works rose to the challenge and established a water supply two days ahead of
schedule.
A fleet of motor lorries conveyed an estimated 500 tons of equipment (the roads in the general vicinity said to be in uncommonly good repair) and the Railways Department provided temporary platform extensions and installed lighting both along the approaches and in the camp itself. Postal authorities established complete post, telegraph and telephone services along with a money order office and a branch of the Commonwealth Savings Bank.
A batch of 200 reservists that had been in camp at Victoria Barracks, many of them veterans of the South African war, moved in on Saturday, 15 August, just three days after the site was confirmed and assisted in the final preparations, The Argus noting that “as far as possible, they will be used as “stiffeners” for the expeditionary force”.
After a street march from Victoria Barracks through the city, four infantry battalions, numbered around 1,500 of Victoria’s initial quota of 7,000 men moved in on the following Wednesday, joining the reservists, Light Horse and Artillery that had arrived in the preceding few days. The camp was then said to number around 3,000 with 100 officers prior to the infantry “invasion”.
The Broadmeadows site was permanently acquired by the military authorities in August, 1915 when it was noted Wilson had vacated the house and the large rooms were being converted into cubicles to allow nurses to reside on the property; several other blocks were then under construction including a dispensary and an administration building as part of a 120-bed hospital. It was suggested that the price was still being negotiated, later a unconfirmed report putting the figure at £4,450, although his estate was assessed at just £3,120 in May, 1916, the proceeds of the sale perhaps passed to his widow or son prior to probate being granted
The purchase completed under the Lands Acquisition Act, 1906 was officially gazetted on 25 August, the area just over 142 acres. As an odd by-product of the establishment of the camp, the Commonwealth Government in February, 1916 ordered the nearby Green Vale hotel to be closed at 6 p.m., later hours “considered prejudicial to the health, training an, discipline and administration of the troops at Broadmeadows“. Victoria’s own six-o’clock closing law did did not come into effect until 25 October of the same year, originally a temporary restriction, but not revoked until the early 1960’s!
However fortuitous Wilson’s gesture was, it was to have an unfortunate side-effect.
The Director of Army Medical Services had warned as early as October, 1914 that the site was unsuitable for prolonged use owing to the clay character of the soil and difficulty of drainage.
The winter on 1915 came early and wet and conditions at the camp were held
partly responsible for the outbreak of meningitis which caused the deaths of dozens of Victorian servicemen; the Army was forced for a time to transfer all new intakes to Seymour until Broadmeadows was brought up to standard.
Although born in Scotland, Wilson was the son of Robert Garrick Wilson senior, a
prominent grocer initially in partnership with Thomas Scott in Fitzroy, later as R. G. Wilson and Co., 21 Swanston-street, Melbourne …”wholesale grocers, tea, coffee, wine and spirits merchants”. Although little is known of the younger Wilson’s earlier private life, it may well have been experience with the family business that uniquely qualified him for service with the A.I.F. Canteens.
The senior Robert Garrick Wilson died at his home in Clendon Road, Toorak on 2 August, 1909, aged 79 years and was interred in Booroondara Cemetery – it was noted that the Lord Mayor of Melbourne attended; his wife Annie Gallie Wilson died at the same address on 2 May, 1916 and was also interred at Booroondara. Victorian registrations reveal that the serviceman Robert Garrick had a sister (died Malvern, 1903) and a daughter (Newtown, 1971) that both also carried the names Annie Gallie.
Wilson (the serviceman’s) widow, “Katie” Catherine McAlister died at her home in
Melbourne Road, Newtown, Geelong on 10 September 1920 at 54 years of age and was interred in the New Geelong Cemetery … “widow of the late Lieut-Col. Robert Garrick Wilson, devoted mother of Nancy, Kitty and Rob …”. Commonwealth War Grave Commission records have her in Blessington St., St. Kilda.
Wilson senior was shown as Protestant on Attestation, but was noted in the Eltham and Whittlesea Advertiser, 24 May, 1918 as formerly the Sunday School superintendent and Treasurer of the Whittlesea Presbyterian Church.
The exact number of servicemen who passed through Broadmeadows will never be accurately known, but based on the Australian War Memorial’s total of 112,399 enlistments from Victoria, the figure could be 80,000 or more.
WILSON – On 9th February, at Cairo, Egypt, Robert Garrick, loved husband of Katie Wilson, of “Grassmere”, Williams Road, Toorak, late of “Mornington Park”, Broadmeadows. (The Argus, 17 February, 1916)
PERSONAL
– The many friends of Colonel Wilson will greatly regret to learn of his death which took place in Egypt on February 9 consequent upon illness. Colonel Wilson was the son of the late Mr R. G. Wilson of Messrs R G Wilson and Co., Melbourne and was formerly the owner of the site upon which the Broadmeadows military camp now stands. Colonel Wilson who was 45 years (sic) of age leaves a widow, two daughters and a son the latter being at present in Egypt. (The Argus, 14 February, 1916)
“The news of the death of Colonel R. G. Wilson, which occurred in Egypt on 9th February, was received at Whittlesea with the deepest regret (our correspondent reports). Colonel Wilson lived on his property, Lynedock Park, in the Whittlesea district, for many years. He was a member of Whittlesea Shire Council for some time, and occupied a seat on the committee of the local state school (The Age, 15 February, 1915).
UPDATE 3 July 2023 (Wikinorthia admin)
In April, a monument was erected in honour of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Garrick Wilson in the garden bed behind the Soldiers Memorial on the corner of Church & Laurel Streets in Whittlesea thanks to the research of Lindsay Mann, WHS Member, and the efforts of the Whittlesea RSL.
Robert Wilson was the highest ranking and oldest serviceman from Whittlesea to serve during the First World War. He volunteered for service with the Australian Imperial Force on the 16th December 1915 and established the A.I.F. Canteen Service which still operates today. Whilst in Cairo, he died of illness on the 9th February 1916. (Whittlesea Historical Society Inc. Newsletter No 29, June 2023, page 3)
REFERENCES :
Selection of Broadmeadows site (The Argus, 13 August, 1914) :
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10801744
Obituary (“Mernda”, Evelyn Observer, 25 February, 1916) :
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60663895
Application for probate (Weekly Times, 13 May, 1916) :
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129480232
Whittlesea Presbyterian Church Memorial service (Eltham and Whittlesea Advertiser, 24 May, 1918) :
