Remembering Tarakan, 1 June 1945...

Anzac Day, a day of remembrance of those who fought and died for our country. Whether they lived or died, nothing was ever the same again for those who went, as well as those at home. For today’s Anzac Day post, I looked at those from my own family who were involved in war – there have been many over the years in the various wars, but this times I’ve chosen to write about Harold Roy Winter, my grandma’s brother who was involved in World War 2. I’ll start off by saying that the military knows him as “Roy Harold Winter”, rather than “Harold Roy Winter”, simply (or so the story goes) as there was another person already signed up with that name so he switched it, so for this purpose I’ll go with the military version. Born in Victoria, he grew up in Adelaide, and signed up as a young 25 year old ready to fight for his country. He was assigned to the 2/48th Battalion Australian Infantry Battalion, and got to see to world … and war! Reading through the letters he wrote to family while he was in the army, he describes going overseas as a great adventure, as well as describing the monotony of army life. He also writes about the strength of the hospital staff … “The efficiency, determination and sacrifices to their job are a magnificent credit to them, and only we who have experienced it can give a true value to their worth. In many cases, patients were being attended by orderlies who were just as ill, or in some cases even worse. Such is to the spirit of the A.I.F. and it will keep all of us going till we die or...

My “Spirit of Anzac” Centenary Experience...

The “Spirit of Anzac” Centenary Experience arrived in Adelaide, and what an experience it was. The exhibition gives viewers a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to walk through various recreated World War 1 environments (via sound, audio, images, and in some cases figurines on sets) featuring more than 200 artefacts. You walk through “rooms” at your own pace, and are given stories and details of the various events and campaign via the audio headphones that you are given at the beginning of the tour. Generally it takes attendees anywhere from 1-2 hours to makes their way through. There really is a lot to see. This travelling exhibition which is transported from place-to-place on 10 semitrailers has been on the road since September 2015, and has already visited Albury/Wodonga, Launceston, Hobart, Ballarat, Bendigo, Wollongong, and Melbourne. With Adelaide only having a few more days left. After Adelaide the tour heads to: Tamworth – Apr/May 2016 Toowoomba – May 2016 Brisbane – Jun 2016 Mackay – Jul 2016 Cairns – Aug 2016 Townsville – Sep 2016 Darwin – Oct 2016 Port Augusta – Nov 2016 Perth – Nov/Dec 2016 Bunbury – Jan 2017 Kalgoorlie – Jan/Feb 2017 Geelong – Feb 2017 Orange – Mar 2017 Newcastle – Mar 2017 Sydney – Apr 2017 Entry is free, but bookings are required, and you can do so on their Spirit of Anzac website www.spiritofanzac.gov.au. First, here’s a short behind-the-scene video of the Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience, which will give you an idea of the work that’s gone into creating this exhibition. And here’s just a few photos from my visit today … If you get a chance, go and see it. It will give you more of an understanding on what our ancestors went through....

“War Memorials of the Adelaide Hills” Book...

The Adelaide Hills Council was fortunate to obtain a grant through the South Australian Government’s “Anzac Day Commemoration Fund“. For this they nominated that the funds would be used towards “research and preservation of Honour Board Memorials of Adelaide Hills”, and to “engage with schools and local groups to locate and research honour boards for inclusion in the publication War Memorials of the Adelaide Hills”. To commemorate Anzac 2015, a publication “War Memorials of the Adelaide Hills” was produced which details information about the war memorials throughout the Adelaide Hills in the towns covered by the Council, giving town name with details of the monuments. A second edition of “War Memorials of the Adelaide Hills”, that will also include additional material and corrections that have been made by the community will also be produced, and released in due course. The Council also have a separate project to research, photograph and record details on all the honour boards in the Council area.  While the majority of the honour boards can be found in local RSLs, community halls and schools, others have found their way to more obscure locations. The lack of detail of honour boards made it difficult to provide a comprehensive account of the memorials within the Council area. The aim is for this one to be released as a book as well. The Adelaide Hills Council covers a large area in the Hills region, and includes the towns: Aldgate, Aldgate Valley, Ashton, Balhannah, Basket Range, Birdwood, Bradbury, Bridgewater, Carey Gully, Castambul, Chain of Ponds, Charleston, Cherryville, Crafers, Crafers West, Cudlee Creek, Dorset Vale, Eagle on the Hill, Forest Range, Forreston, Greenhill, Gumeracha, Heathfield, Houghton, Humbug Scrub, Inglewood, Inverbrackie, Ironbank, Kenton Valley, Kersbrook, Lenswood, Lobethal, Longwood, Lower Hermitage, Marble Hill, Millbrook, Montacute,...

On the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month …...

For Remembrance Day this year I wanted to share with you a couple of pages from what is known as the “Kelly Diary”. And I am eternally grateful to not only have a copy of this diary, but also that the current keeper of this treasure has kindly allowed me to reproduce these pages here. But first of, let me start by saying, no, these are not descendants from the Ned Kelly line in Ireland, but rather those from the Isle of Man. Or should I say the line of William Kelly born near Ramsey, Isle of Man in 1804 to be a tad more specific – since the Kelly name is like Smith in the region. The ‘diary’, and I write it in quotes because it is not strictly a diary, was written by Elise Marcia Kelly of Joslin in South Australia in late 1938. In this 34 page booklet she not only writes the lineage history from William Kelly (born 1804), together with information on the big 100 year reunion that was held in 1938, but also details of those who were involved in World War 1. And it is these pages I am sharing with you today.   On the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month … WE WILL REMEMBER...

Anzac Day at Gumeracha

The town of Gumeracha in South Australia is a small town. It’s the kind of country town, where everyone knows everyone, and everything. The kind of town you walk down the street and say hello to everyone on the way. Putting it simply, it’s a quiet, friendly town. With a population of only a few hundred in the early 1900s, you can imagine that when the call came in 1914 for men to ‘serve their country’, and the locals joined up, it wasn’t just families affected, but rather the whole town would have felt it … in numerous ways. For my Anzac Day post this year, I decided to head to Trove, to see what the newspapers had to say about Anzac Day at Gumeracha. I fully expected to read about commemoration services, and town gatherings and so on, kind along the lines of what the town does nowadays. But what I didn’t expect to find was that they held Fairs or Fetes on Anzac Day. Yes, true. Trove surprises me yet again! But it makes sense when you realise that the town wanted to build a hospital as a permanent memorial to the locals who fought and paid the ultimate price in the First World War, so fundraising was needed. In 1921 the Gumeracha Fair had stallholders, competitions and a concert … In 1922 the Fair was a “Japanese” theme, complete with a decorated umbrella parade … as this is a long article, I’ve only included a portion of it below. But you can view the full entry on Trove here. In 1923 I found two references to Anzac Day in the newspapers. On the 16th of April 1923, The Advertiser has a brief report of the more formal and solemn...

20 Remembrance Day Facts...

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, We will remember them. On this day we take time to remember, reflect and honour those who fought and died in war. Here are just a few facts for you to think about that relate to Remembrance Day. How it began … Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to commemorate the official end of World War I. Remembrance Day ceremonies are held around the Commonwealth to remember the sacrifices made by all men and women who have fought and died in war. The war officially ended “at the 11th hour (11am) of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when the Germans signed the Armistice Agreement. Remembrance Day was first observed in 1919 throughout the British Commonwealth thanks to King George V declaring the anniversary of the signing to be dedicated to a solemn observance of the men and women who gave their life during the conflict. The first official Armistice Day was subsequently held on the grounds of Buckingham Palace the following morning. The name variants … It was originally called “Armistice Day”. After the end of the Second World War, the Australian and British governments changed the name to Remembrance Day. Armistice Day was no longer an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate all war dead. Remembrance Day is also known as Poppy Day. The United States used to commemorate Armistice Day on November 11. However, in 1954 they changed the name to Veterans Day. The meaning behind the Poppy … The red poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day and symbolises the bloodshed. The tradition of pinning a blood-red poppy to one’s lapel for the duration of Remembrance Day...

Movember Ancestors #2: Arthur Albert Beecken...

The second moustached ancestor I wish to introduce you to for my Movember Ancestors series is Arthur Albert Beecken. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the Beecken’s on my blog before. Not because they’re not interesting, but rather as it’s not a side that I’ve concentrated my research on yet, so I don’t have a whole lot of information. However I do know that Arthur Albert Beecken was born in South Australia in 1877, and served in the Boer War from 1898-1900. And according to the Beecken Family History book, he was the 32nd person in South Australia to enlist in the South Australia Mounted Rifles. In the first photograph Arthur sports a small “handlebar”‘ style moustache, which is sometimes also called a “trucker mo”. In the second he’s changed it up to a stylish “English” moustache with a touch of “pencil” added to the ends. For more an image of the many varying styles of moustaches available, please check visit this page, with another great pic...

ANZAC Day Blog Challenge: Restyn Walter ‘Pete’ Randell...

April is here, which apart from Easter, is the month to commemorate Anzac Day (at least for us here in Australia and New Zealand) and Auckland Libraries have issued the Anzac Day Blog Challenge again. You know it was this time last year when they held the same Blog Challenge that it made me realise  just how little I knew about my military ancestors. Who of them actually went to war? Where did they go? What was their rank? … and so on. So I made it my mission over the past year to rectify that. And while I’m no expert on any of them yet, I did kept the folk at the National  Archives of Australia busy by ordering copies of a heap of my reli’s which I’ve been going through slowly. So for this year’s blog challenge I’ve chosen my great uncle Restyn Walter Randell (aka Pete Randell), one of my grandma’s brothers, because I’d seen a photo of him in his airforce uniform (as below), and it always had me intrigued. So after obtaining his military records (of which there was a heap – 72 pages in fact), it told me that he initially signed up for the army, and then transferred to the airforce a few months afterwards and from what I can tell (I’m still learning how to interpret military records jargon), he worked as a airforce mechanic for the RAAF at Laverton and Ascot Vale, both in Victoria. And as usual with military records, they contain a wealth of information – not just the military part – but also personal details as well. From Uncle Pete’s military records I found out all sorts of snippets that were news to me … – he...

Who is Rex Porter, WW1 Anzac?...

There’s no question that we all get frustrated at uncaptioned photos. They are the bain of every genealogist or historians life. It’s Murphy’s Law that we’re bound to come across the most awesomest photo in the family collection, but it’s uncaptioned. Which leaves us with so many questions. Who is in the photo? Where was it taken? When was it taken? What was the occasion? And so on … But here’s one that IS captioned that GIVES me so many questions, so I’m sharing it in the hope that someone can help answer some of them. As you can see from the picture below it is captioned “Rex Porter in Swansea 1912”. As I don’t have any Porter’s that I know of in my family history I don’t know how this photo ended up in my family’s collection. But I do know that my dad ended up with some items as he was the local historian for the town of Gumeracha in the Adelaide Hills, and people gave him things that were relevant to the region or to other families in the district, so I wondered if this was one of those items. So I started my search at the National Archives of Australia to check out what they list for Rex Porter. I did a search for record from 1910-1920, and came up with two entries. So my options from that site are: Rex Wilfred Porter, who enlisted at Sydney, New South Wales in July 1918. Winfred Rex Porter, who enlisted at Adelaide, South Australia in September 1915. Based on the dates of both of these, together with the date on the photo, neither seem likely. However Winfred Rex Porter’s next of kin (his wife) is listed as...

Remembrance Day: William Harry Green – Orchardist, Family Man, Soldier...

William Harry Green (1878-1915) was born at Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England and emigrated with his parents William and Fanny Green (nee Haycock)  and siblings Frank, Bert and Ida aboard the “Australasian” when he was 6 years old. The family settled in Gumeracha, a small town in the Adelaide Hills, in South Australia with Will attending the Gumeracha Primary School for a time, before transferring to the Blumberg (now Birdwood) School, and completing his schooling in 1892 age 13. Will married Anne Duthie in 1904 and at this time his occupation was listed as gardener at Gumeracha. The Green family lived at ”Springvale” at Gumeracha and were orchardists and beekeepers. This property had two houses on it, and Will, Annie and his four young daughters lived in the top house, with his parents William and Fanny living in the bottom one. Will enlisted with the Australian Army in October 1914, and was assigned to the 9th Light Horse Regiment. This regiment was formed in Adelaide and trained in Melbourne between October 1914 and February 1915, with about 3/4 of the regiment coming from South Australia and the other quarter from Victoria. As part of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, it sailed from Melbourne on 11 February and arrived in Egypt on 14 March 1915. The Australian War Memorial states that the “light horse were considered unsuitable for the initial operations at Gallipoli, but were subsequently deployed without their horses. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade landed in late May 1915 and was attached to the New Zealand and Australian Division. The 9th was fortunate to be the reserve regiment for the Brigade’s disastrous attack on the Nek on 7 August, but subsequently suffered 50 per cent casualties attacking Hill 60 on 27...