“Dead” Soldier Returns...

Anzac Day. The day to remember those who fought for our country. Some survived. Many didn’t. And in reality those that returned were changed forever. It was while I was going through the military records of Arthur Vincent Elphick (Mr Lonetester’s great grandpa), that I kept seeing the name of Donovan Russell Elphick written in his records. Arthur was one of twelve children in the family, and Donovan was his youngest brother. On checking Donovan’s military records on the National Archives of Australia website, and reading through the dossier, one page in the record jumped out at me. But firstly, some background information … Born in Prospect, South Australia, but living in Western Australia, 24 year old Donovan signed up to serve his country in January 1915. After training in Western Australia, he was assigned to the 5th Reinforcements 11th AIF, and sailed to Egypt in June 1915, and was obviously in the thick of it from arrival, as within a week of arriving he was in hospital suffering from “deafness”. From here, I’ll let you read the article as that explains it all … The above article came from a Victorian newspaper, and is dated 20 October 1915. This story was repeated in numerous Victorian, South Australian and Western Australian newspapers over the weeks following. As you can imagine it was quite a story. And to say that it shocked his brother (Harold), when he walked in would be an understatement. Donovan was one of six boys in the family, with three going off to war. Sadly only two returned. And while Donovan Elphick did survive World War 1, he died in Perth on 25 December 1936, aged just...

Patriotic Day, Gumeracha, 1918...

Isn’t it funny how you learn history through ‘things’? My history lesson this week has been about Patriotic Day. I admit that I hadn’t heard of such a day, but thanks to a purchase of the badge (as shown above) on ebay, I was inspired to find out more. But what’s interesting is that I found very little on it. Wikipedia and Google both let me down, so I headed to Trove, but even they didn’t have much. It doesn’t seem to have been an Australia-wide thing, or even a South Australia-wide thing, but rather something the townsfolk have decided to do for themselves. Held in 1917 and in 1918 (at  least that’s all I could find), it seems that in 1917 it was used to raise fund for the war effort, and in 1918, was used to support the returned soldiers and the families of those who didn’t. If anyone has further information about Gumeracha’s Patriotic Day, please leave a comment below, as I’d love to know more about it. And don’t you just love the image of the Gum weir on the badge … how cool is that? And for those that are unfamiliar with the region, here is a actual pic of the weir...

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....

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...

World War One: “Out With the German Names”...

There’s no doubt that almost every Australian family was affected by World War One in some way or another. One sad fact that came out of World War One, was the intense hatred of Germans that emerged, together with all things German. The German families who emigrated to Australia and were happily living their lives, being a part of so many local communities. However when war broke out they were suddenly classed as an “enemy alien” purely because of their heritage, with many sent to concentration camps. Yes, even in South Australia. South Australia had a substantial German population, so much so that many towns and other geographical localities had German names. However, come the start of World War One … and all things German was “the enemy”, so to have German place names was no longer acceptable. To rectify this a Bill was passed to change the name of numerous German named towns and localities towns in South Australia. To make life easier for all I have compiled a listing of the places that were affected, together with their new name. German Place Names in South Australia Original name Substitute name Bartsch’s Creek Yedlakoo Creek Hundred of Basedow Hundred of French Cape Bauer Cape Wondoma Berlin Rock Panpandie Hock Bethanien Bethany Bismarck Weeroopa Blumberg Birdwood Blumenthal Lakkari Buchfelde Loos Carlsruhe (or Karlsruhe) Kunden Ehrenbreistein Mount Yerila Ferdinand Creek Ernaballa Creek Mount Ferdinand Mount Warrabillinna Friedrichstadt Tangari Friedrichswalde Tarnma Gebhardt’s Hills Polygon Ridge German Creek Benara Creek German Pass Tappa Pass Germantown Hill Vimy Ridge Gnadenfrei Marananga Gottlieb’s Well Parnggi Well Grunberg (or Gruenberg) Karalta Grunthal Verdun Hahndorf Ambleside Hasse’s Mound Larelar Mound Heidelberg Kobandilla Hergott Springs Marree Hermann’s Landing Moramora (& later Nildotti) Hildesheim Punthari Hoffnungsthal Karawirra Hundred of Homburg...

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...

Trove Tuesday: Lieutenant, POW & World Record Holder...

For today’s Trove Tuesday post, I’d like introduce William Beavis Randell, now he’s an interesting character … World War 1 Air Force Lieutenant, POW in Germany and prior to all of that a world record holder for the half-mile on a Rudge motorcycle. It’s true, family history is far more interesting that fiction! Now before I go any further, I need to explain just “which” William Beavis Randell this is, as so far in my family tree I have five of them, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there ends up being more again. William Richard Randell (the paddlesteamer Captain), named his first son who was born in 1855 William Beavis Randell. Sadly this son didn’t live long, and his second child who was born in 1856 was then also named William Beavis Randell. This second son is who our story is about. So it turns out that William was a motorbike world record holder (although I can’t find it listed on the Guiness Book of World Records, but maybe they weren’t recording them then) who then joined the Air Force and went to WW1 and while bombing Germany he was shot down, and was captured as a POW. As I didn’t put the whole article above as it is a long one, you can read the full text of the article here (or click on the link above): Cycling and Aviation LIEUT. W. B. RANDELL, A.F.C. Will Join Air Force. He is not so much enamoured of the  air that he dislikes the motor cycle, or   the ‘”dinkum bus” as he used to call it, but Lieut. W. B. Randell of the A.F.C., says he is going to join the permanent Australian Air Force if the Government...

Trove Tuesday: The Saddest News of All...

While ‘Troving’ for one of my family surnames recently, I came across an article that was just heart-wrenching, and have decided to share it with you as a Trove Tuesday post. It is an article which advises that Charles Spurgeon McCullough, the son of my son of great great grandparents the Rev. Robert McCullough and his wife Eva (nee Richardson), had been killed in action in World War 1. Having never been exposed to the atrocities of war other than reading about it in history books, and seeing it on TV, I don’t pretend to have any real concept of the feelings of how my family (or any family for that matter) felt when their son left for war. Let alone getting the news that he’d been killed in action. And how the family dealt with this afterwards? But you can get a small sense of it from the article. As the text is somewhat blotchy, here is the transcript of what it says: PRIVATE C. S. McCULLOUGH. Private C. S. McCullough, who left with the 4th Reinforcements for the 6th Battalion of the A.I.F., was killed in action on July 13. He was the second son of the Rev. R. and Mrs. McCullough, who recently left the pastorate of the Mitcham Baptist Church for Burnie, Tasmania. Private McCullough was just over 20 years of age, and was educated at Queen’s School (Hobart) and Parkside School, and after leaving his first employment was with Messrs. Cowell Bros. and James Marshall & Co. Prior to offering his services to the army he had been with the Union Steamship Company. He left four sisters, Mrs. Ralph Hannaford, Narracoorte; Mrs. P. Willmott, Sydney; Nurse McCullough, “Walwa” Hospital, Fullarton; and Miss E. McCullough, Burnie;...