Lance Corporal Robert Harold Brealey of Cherry Gardens

The last of the Brealey's (I think!). Robert Brealey was born in Cherry Gardens, SA but enlisted in WA. He was just 18 when he enlisted, and joined the 51st Bn in France in April 1918 just in time to re-take Villers-Brettoneux at the end of the German Spring Offensive and some of the later allied offensives that led to the end of the war. He survived and returned to WA, also serving in the Second World War. Again, no photograph as yet, but his WW2 file should have one... if all else fails.

Private Sidney Brealey of Cherry Gardens

Just did the basic research on Sidney Brealey of Cherry Gardens, a private with 4th Pioneer Battalion who spent over two years on the Western Front. One of the Cherry Gardens Brealey clan, he was brother to Charles Brealey and (probably) cousin to Robert Harold and James Newman Brealey. He enlisted in WA where he was working at the time. More once I get a photo.

Progress Report

Have been consolidating my research and working away at my name list over the Xmas break, and as I'm back to work from Wednesday, I thought I'd do a progress report listing the names of the 51 sailors, soldiers and nurses I have researched so far. Some I have blogged and some not, as I haven't got a photo yet...

Cecil Claude Ahrens
Thomas William Alley
Alfred George Alsworth
William Altree
Gilbert Ernest Baker
Harold Alonzo Banks
Mark Alfred Betts
Alan Stuart Bigg
Lloyd Atkinson Bigg
Lyndon Samuel Bigg
Horace Lionel Billing
Victor Rupert Sydney Boothey
Harold Braley
Charles Brealey
James Newman Brealey
Gordon Cathcart Campbell
Neil Campbell
Bernard Revett Cant
Harold Charles Carne
Wesley Paul Choat
Irwin Nicholas Coad
Harry Stanley Conigrave
William Arthur Conlon
Tressilian Herbert Coombs
George Frederick Dall
Cyril William Davies
George Hamilton Downer
John Lanarch Downer
William John Dunn
Andrew Francis Flanigan
John Patrick Flanigan
Thomas Roy Gamble
John Besley Gillen
Alexander Bosworth Gosden
Hiram Bailey Gosden
Robert Storrie Guthrie
Albert Ernest Hall
Charles Irvine Harris
John Brooas Harris
Russell Hope Harris
Eric Leland Light
Keith Macrow
Frank Leslie Ougden
Oswald Vincent Pearson
Alfred George Sinigear
John Lewis Smith
Edward Charles Sparkes/Sparks
Malcolm Neale Tilbrook Steele
Harold Sullivan
Harold Thorp
Percy Wade

If you have a relative on this list, please email me and I will share my research with you!

treasure trove...

A few days ago I discovered that State Records of SA hold a collection of photographs of WW1 sailors, soldiers and nurses that were sent in to the old Public Library under a voluntary program run until 1952. So far I have identified about 40 photographs against the names on my list.

I am heading into town on Tuesday to go through them and see what quality they are and find out about the cost of digitising them.

Sapper Malcolm Neale Tilbrook Steele of Blackwood

Photo: Courtesy Jenny Sharman (nee Steele)

Malcolm 'Mally' Steele was born in Mount Gambier, SA in 1895. He served in the senior cadets for two years, but was considered too short (at 5 foot 2 inches tall) for the citizen's forces. Despite his height, he was a handy amateur bantamweight boxer, and had won some fights before the war. He was a wood working machinist and was living with his mother in Norwood at the time of his enlistment at the age of 20.

He enlisted on 6 July 1915 and was allocated to the 32nd Battalion, a unit which included West Australians as well as South Australians. He arrived in Egypt with the rest of his unit in December 1915 and was allocated to the battalion machine gun section. After a spell in hospital, during which his unit prepared to ship out to France, he was transferred to the 9th Light Horse Regiment as a trooper. He served with the Regiment from May to October 1916 before a further stint in hospital then a transfer to the signals engineers as a sapper. He was allocated to the ANZAC Mounted Division Signals Squadron which used despatch riders, heliograph, telephone and semaphore to communicate between the brigades and regiments of the Division. He served with the Division between April and October 1917, but bouts of malaria prevented him from active involvement in the fighting during 1918.

After the war ended he was selected as a member of the AIF boxing team to compete in the Inter-Allied Games held in Paris in June/July 1918. He also fought bouts aboard the 'Prinz Ludwig' on his return trip to Australia in late 1919. Malcolm married in 1925, and was a member of the Norwood Sub-Branch of the RSL and a keen supporter of the Norwood Football Club all his life.

Malcolm also served in the Second World War reaching the rank of Corporal in the 4th Garrison Battalion. For some time he was in charge of the guardhouse located at the entrance of what became the Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park, SA. He also worked as a motorcycle dispatch rider at one stage during that war.

In 1949, Malcolm, his wife Dorothy, his daughter Jenny and her husband moved to Blackwood and built a home at 8 Cypress Avenue, Blackwood (later Hawthorndene), and Malcolm lived there until his death in 1973.

Signaller Alan Stuart Bigg of Blackwood

Alan Bigg was born at Nairne, SA on 9 March 1895, the son of Richard and Harriet Louisa (nee Atkinson) who ran a general store in the town. Alan and his brothers attended Nairne Public School until 1905 when the family moved to a farm near Echunga, and they were schooled at the Hahndorf Academy. Alan served in the senior cadets and citizen forces and was apprenticed as an electrical engineer to Newton McLaren in Leigh Street, Adelaide from 1910 until he enlisted. While he was at Newton McLaren he lived in a boarding house in Norwood.

With his father's permission, on 16 June 1915 he enlisted under regimental number 1419 in the 11th reinforcements of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. He arrived in Egypt in late November 1915, and received training as a signaller using semaphore, heliograph and telephone before joining A Squadron, 3rd Light Horse Regiment. He was kept very busy manning observation posts along the front with the Turks around Girga between February and April 1916. He returned to Zeitoun for more signals instruction in May 1916, then rejoined the regiment in mid June 1916 when they were operating near Romani.

After going on several fighting patrols in the area, he was with A Squadron during the Turkish attack on Mount Meredith in the early stages of the Battle of Romani on 4 August 1916. He was shot through the right foot during the fighting withdrawal of 1st Light Horse Brigade. The regimental doctor couldn't treat him due to the battle conditions, so he propped his foot on his horse's feedbag and rode back to the 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance where they dressed his foot and evacuated him back to Cairo where two days later his foot was operated on. After examination, a medical board determined that he would be unfit for further service because of his wound. He left Egypt to return to Australia, and after a short stopover in Melbourne, returned to Adelaide on 2 October 1916. He was treated at 7th Australian General Hospital at Keswick Barracks for six months after his discharge in March 1917.

Before the war ended Alan, his brother Lloyd and their parents moved from Echunga to Adey Rd, Blackwood to finish building the house that Alan and Lloyd's brother Lyn had been building before he enlisted. Lyn died of wounds during the War. Alan worked for another engineering firm in 1918, then on ships of the Adelaide Steamship Company until 1922. He married Dorothea Alice Hewett on 20 October 1923 at the Blackwood Methodist Church, and they had two children, Margaret and Robert. He worked as a carpenter on the '1000 homes' project in Colonel Light Gardens in the 1920's, then turned to poultry farming in Ascot Park during the Depression. His wife passed away in 1975, and he remained at Ascot Park until shortly before he passed away in 1984 at the age of 89 and was cremated at Centennial Park. His name is inscribed on the Echunga War Memorial.

Private Cecil Claude Ahrens of Upper Sturt

Cecil Ahrens was born at Upper Sturt, SA on 19 March 1897. His father Wilhelm (known as William) died the following year, and he was raised by his mother Elizabeth Jane Ahrens (nee Morgan). Cecil attended Scott's Creek Public School, and had spent a year in the senior cadets with the 74th Battalion at Stirling. He was working as a baker's assistant in Gumeracha immediately before he joined up.

He enlisted at Adelaide on 1 November 1915 at the age of 18, and was alloted to the 15th reinforcements of the 10th Battalion AIF, one of several battalions to be recruited solely from South Australia. He embarked from Adelaide on 9 March 1916, and was transferred to 50th Battalion reinforcements in May 1916 not long after he arrived in Egypt. He shipped to France and joined the 50th Battalion on 27 July 1916.

On the night of 12 August 1916, the 50th Battalion moved into the trenches opposite Mocquet Farm near Pozieres, France, and were subjected to a long and incredibly intense artillery bombardment. Sometime that night, he and a Corporal Noble were near each other when a shell landed close by and killed Cecil. Corporal Noble was so badly shell shocked that their officer wouldn't rely on Noble's statement about Cecil's death, so he posted Cecil as missing in action instead. In March 1917 an inquiry decided that Cecil had been killed in action on 16 August 1916, and this is what was put on the official roll of honour. He has no known grave and his name is inscribed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France.

On 6 July 1919, Mr George Laffer unveiled an honour roll in the Ironbank Methodist Church sunday school. That honour roll included Cecil Claude Ahrens. A gravestone erected by his mother is in the Cherry Gardens cemetery alongside that of his father.

Photograph: Courtesy State Records of South Australia

Wow, that really took a long time...

I'm finally back at it and grinding away at a long list of names (244 at last count). 44 done and 200 to go.

Of the 244 I have a 13 that are resisting being positively identified:

W Arnold (from a local Anglican Church honour roll)

EJ Cox (on the Coro Valley War Memorial)

CJ Howarth (also on the Coro Valley WM)

G Jeffrey (Blackwood Memorial)

EW Jones (Blackwood Memorial)

FWH Martin (Blackwood Memorial)

HJ Nicolle (Coro Valley WM)

SW Opie (The Anglican roll)

FC Pegler (Blackwood Memorial)

C Thomson (Blackwood Memorial)

EJ Thorp (Blackwood Memorial)

F Wall (Blackwood Memorial)

AC Weston (Blackwood Memorial)

If anyone has any clues on these ones, I'd love to hear them.

Cheers,

Ian

I am still alive...

Been incredibly busy on the family front, interstate for my father-in-law's memorial and interment, and laid up with a crook back for the last couple of weeks so haven't been on here much. Keep getting calls from family members, so will be posting again soon.

Private Wesley Paul Choat MM of Cherry Gardens

Image: AWM P03236.156

Wesley Choat was one of seven sons of Joseph Choat and Alice Mary Choat (nee Broadbent) and was born at Cherry Gardens in 1895. His parents subsequently moved to Clarence Park and he attended Goodwod Primary School and worked as a farm labourer before the war.

Wesley enlisted alongside two of his brothers, Raymond Haddon and Archibald Percy in A or Ack Company of the 32nd Battalion on 12 July 1915. The three brothers were allocated sequential regimental numbers of 66, 67 and 68. The battalion embarked for training in the Middle East on 18 November 1915, arriving a month later. After a short stint in hospital, Wesley was charged for refusing to carry a box off a church parade. In June 1916 the battalion shipped to Marseilles and by train to the front.

On 19 July 1916 the inexperienced battalion was thrown into the poorly planned Battle of Fromelles, and along with many other members of the battalion, both of Wesley's brothers were killed. Wesley himself was wounded by shrapnel and captured by the Germans. It took three months for his family to receive news of his capture and internment in a prisoner of war camp in Dulmen, Germany. He attempted to escape in September 1917 but was caught. After he recovered from his punishment of six weeks imprisonment on bread and water, he escaped again in December along with another South Australian soldier, Lance Corporal James William Pitts, and they managed to make it to Holland (a neutral country in that war). They made it back to England a few weeks later.

Wesley's parents were extremely relieved to hear of his escape, and wrote to the Army asking that he be spared from the firing line given the death of his brothers. However, by the time their request reached England, the commander of Australian troops in England had already decided to send both back to Australia in recognition of their nearly 18 months of hardship in captivity and their successful escape.

Wesley and his fellow escapee were awarded the Military Medal for the courage they displayed in escaping from Germany. It appears he lived in Curramulka on the Yorke Peninsula for some time after the war, although he did live on Unley Road, Unley in the early 1920's.

Wesley died in 1977 aged 81 and was cremated at Centennial Park. His name is inscribed on honour boards in the Curramulka Uniting Church, Goodwood Primary School and Unley Town Hall.

Private Eric Leland Light of Coromandel Valley

Image: Courtesy of Bryan and Margaret Burton

Eric Leland Light was a son of John and Jane Light and was born and raised in Coromandel Valley. He attended Coromandel Valley School and worked as a house painter and decorator before the war.

He enlisted at Adelaide on 17 March 1916 and was allocated to the 13th reinforcements to the 27th Battalion, one of the battalions recruited from South Australia. After a stint at the Mitcham Camp, he embarked on the 'Bulla' at Adelaide on 24 June 1916, and disembarked at Plymouth, England on 24 August 1916.

After a short period of training, he crossed to France and was re-allocated to the 32nd Battalion (a mixed SA/WA unit) joining them on 13 October 1916. Five days later he went sick to hospital with the mumps, , but returned in early November, only to be hospitalised with trench feet in early December. He spent some time in England recovering and undergoing training, crossing the Channel back to France to join his original unit, the 27th Battalion on 20 October 1917. In early February 1918 he was detached for duty with the 7th Brigade Signals Section as a 'pigeoneer' (sending, receiving and looking after homing pigeons). The 7th Brigade included the 27th Battalion, and was heavily involved in the fighting to stop the German Spring Offensive in March and April 1918 and follow-up battles at Morlancourt, Hamel and Amiens later that year.

After a couple of weeks leave in England in October 1918, Eric returned to 27th Battalion on 23 October, a little over two weeks before the war ended. He spent six months on leave in England taking advantage of the AIF Employment Scheme and working as a decorator, before finally leaving to return to Australia in November 1919. He was discharged on 30 December 1919.

Eric Light died on 25 January 1962 aged 65 and was cremated at Centennial Park. he is remembered via a plaque on the Columbarium Walls at Centennial Park, and his name is inscribed on the Coromandel Valley War Memorial.

Private George Frederick Dall of Blackwood

Image: Courtesy of Morgan Dall

George Frederick Dall was a son of George Frederick and Annie Dall of Blackwood. He was known as Fred to avoid confusion with his father, who had been living in the area for over 60 years when the war began, and was a significant community leader. According to birth and military records Fred was born near Laura, SA in 1890. He attended Coromandel Valley School and moved to Tintinara, SA in 1908 where he farmed a large property. His brother Walter ran a neighboring farm.

Fred enlisted at the age of 25 at Keswick, SA on 5 July 1915 and was allocated to the 32nd Battalion. The 32nd Battalion was a mixed South Australian and Western Australian unit. fred left Adelaide on 18 November 1915 aboard the transport 'Geelong'. The battalion arrived in Suez in December 1915 and commenced training. In April 1916, Fred was selected to be a driver in the transport section of the battalion. The transport section consisted of one officer, a sergeant and two dozen soldiers who were responsible for the unit's horse-drawn transport and pack animals. The transport section were usually located a short distance behind the frontline, and were responsible for carrying supplies forward to the companies of the battalion, such as food, ammunition and water. In late June 1916, the battalion shipped to France, landing in Marseilles and moving by train to training areas behind the front.

Fred arrived in Morbeque, France on 4 July 1916, and during the next two weeks the battalion was billeted in several towns including the town of Fleurbaix. On the evening of 19 July 1916, only three days after they entered the trenches for the first time, the 32nd Battalion were committed to the disastrous Battle of Fromelles, where the unit took 718 casualties, comprising 90% of the strength of the battalion before the attack commenced. The 32nd spent some time being reinforced and re-trained, and spent some time in the trenches during the remainder of 1916, but was involved in no more large-scale battles that year.

In March 1917, Fred was hospitalised for a couple of weeks due to illness, but after returning to the battalion on 4 April 1917, spent the rest of the war with the battalion in France. During this time the 32nd Battalion fought the Battle of Polygon Wood in September 1917, the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, and the capture of the Hindenburg Line in September and October 1918. Fred's cousin Private Joseph William Dall served with the 10th Battalion and survived the war.

Fred left Europe to return to Australia in May 1919, and was discharged in Adelaide on 12 August 1919. He returned to Tintinara after the war and married a former nurse from the United Kingdom who had emigrated to Australia to marry another returned serviceman, but had second thoughts and married Fred instead. While they were farming near Tintinara, Fred's brother Walter and his sister-in-law were murdered by an itinerant worker and their daughter abducted. In 1938 Fred and family moved to Smithfield. During the Second World War, Fred worked at the munitions factory at Penfield and a son served with the RAAF. They later moved to Mallala. When he retired in 1950 they lived on South Road near the old John H. Ellers car yard.

Fred died on 5 November 1956 at the age of 66, was cremated at Centennial Park and his ashes scattered. His name is inscribed on the Blackwood Soldiers Memorial.

Remembrance Day at Coromandel Valley Primary School

Image: News Limited

A really excellent Roll of Honour presentation ceremony today, attended by quite a few descendants of the men from the school who served in the First World War, including members of the Winn, Watchman, Jones and Smith families amongst others.

Well done to Principal Chris Bayly and his team, particularly Carol Moncrieff and her husband, and Geoff Lock and Ken Cocks. They have already discovered information about an ex-student who was not included on the Roll, but served overseas.

Lots of info to check and incorporate into my work, and several more family contacts to follow up too.

I also had a great chat with a Cherry Gardens contact about their honour rolls the other night, and have already received a pic and some new names from that area. Have a stack of files to share with them too.

Will post a big update soonish...

Private Gilbert Baker

Yesterday I did the research on Gilbert Ernest Baker, whose name is on the Blackwood Soldiers Memorial. He joined up soon after war was declared, served with the 3rd Light Horse on Gallipoli, and lost his hand during a bomb fight at Quinn's Post on 22 August 1915.

That's 38 names researched out of 237... Only 199 to go, but I keep finding new names at a rate of one a week...

In a strange coincidence, his grandson rang me today and left a message saying he had read about the project and that he had some memorabilia and photographs.