Robert Herbert Thompson is one of dozens on our Darebin In Memoriam Roll that is not acknowledged on the Australian War Memorial as dying in the service of his country. Most of these were men (and a couple of women) that died immediately post-war, usually in a military facility and almost always as a result […]
Tag: Alphington
Darebin’s Boer War
The Preston Contingent ”Three Musketeers” in the persons of Messrs Chas. Patterson, Steve Prowse and Fred Michell – all Preston boys – called at this office in a high state of jubilation on Thursday, having been picked the day before to go with the Victorian contingent and fight for the liberties of their fellow Britishers […]
World War 1 Casualty : William Michael McDonald (Preston)
From 12 Regent-street, Preston, McDonald was alternatively listed as an agricultural student and a cheese-maker on embarkation. Somewhat unique in our archives in that he served in Egypt and Palestine with the Camel Corps rather than a Light Horse unit, McDonald died in the 14 General Hospital, Cairo on 8 May, 1917 from a septic haemorrhage […]
World War 1 Casualty : Nurse Amy Vera O’Grady
Nurse Amy Vera O’Grady (Roman Catholic Presbytery, Clifton Grove, Preston) Nurse Amy O’Grady was one of around a dozen women from Darebin that served in the Medical Corps, and the first of just two that died, in her case of cholera in the Sisters Isolation Hospital, Calaba, Bombay There were around a dozen local nurses […]
World War 1 Casualty : William George Vincent Williams (Australia’s First Fatality)
Few will be aware that the first Australian casualty of the Great War on 1914 was William George Vincent Williams from 36 Beavers Road, Northcote. Williams had spent five years in the Naval Reserve and had just a week left to serve out his time when war was declared and he was commanded into full […]
World War 1 Casualty : William Wailes (Preston and Epping)
William Wailes served as 3952, Private, 23rd Infantry and was 23 years of age when killed in action at Lagnicourt, France on 20 March, 1917. His military career was unexceptional – perhaps one or two more run-ins with officialdom than the norm – but he was unusual in that he was one of five brothers […]
World War 1 Casualty : Francis Joseph Tarrant (Northcote)
(The image shows the Commanding Officers and Officers of No. 3 Squadron, pictured in 1917. Tarrant is on the far right of the back row.) Frank Tarrant from 135 Westgarth Street, Northcote was one in our files that served the country outside of the A.I.F. and just one or two that died as a result […]
World War 1 Casualty : Norman Brassey Pearce (Northcote)
Pearce’s family placed Notices suggesting he was killed in France on 19 July, 1916 – the Army disagreed, however, posting Pearce as a Deserter after he failed to embark in October, 1915. One of the more bizarre “deaths” in our archives. His family claimed he was killed on 19 July, 1916 – the Army, however, […]
World War 1 Casualty : James Munro (Australian Flying Corps) (Thornbury)
James Munro from 65 Pender Street, Thornbury was unfortunate to be captured by the Turks while acting as an Air Mechanic in support of British forces near Baghdad; his fate remains somewhat clouded; Although conditions in German prisoner-of-war camps were generally good until 1918 when the Allied blockade of shipping resulted in major food shortages, […]
World War 1 Casualty : Roy Hector Jones (Thornbury)
Some servicemen went through the War as humble privates and content with their lot. For commissioned officers, the pressures were significantly greater, and in the case of Captain Roy Hector Jones, just a little too much Roy Jones was a brother of Corporal Leslie Theophilus Jones, also Killed in Action; the duo from 21 Alexandra-street, […]