Trove Tuesday: More about Dave Taylor

I was searching, with some success, the newspaper files on Trove for mention of my great-grandparents when they lived at Lismore, Victoria early in the 1900s. Just following rabbits down various burrows as you do.

Henry and Martha Taylor seem to have had a fruit and vegetable shop in Lismore - Henry was a market gardener - while maintaining a connection with properties at Ecklin South and Cobden.

One of the newspaper items I found was a letter from a soldier, local Lismore lad Patrick Leslie McGowan known as Les, written to his mother from Egypt and published in the local rag in August 1915. He was a soldier in the AIF in World War 1. Les is not a relation of ours but in his letter he mentions Henry and Martha Taylor's son, Dave.

I've previously written a blog post about Dave because he too served in WW1 but, unlike Les, he was killed in action in France. Les' letter adds a little more detail to Dave's story.

Dave Taylor

Dave sailed to Egypt on the 'Clan Macgillivray', arriving March 1915, and then immediately sailed to Australia and then back to Egypt as a Military Policeman (Provost) on the 'Ulysses'. Les McGowan had enlisted in April 1915 and also sailed on the 'Ulysses' from Melbourne. Like Dave he was a Military Policeman on the ship, and off and on throughout the war ( he also served as a shoeing smith at times), when he served at Gallipoli, France and India.

This is Les McGowan's letter in which describes the journey from Melbourne to Egypt and something of the life of a soldier in Eygpt. A month or so later both Les and Dave went to Gallipoli.

Les McGowan's letter published in
 the Lismore, Derrinallum and Cressy Advertiser
18 August 1915

Dorothy's war

With ANZAC Day approaching I thought I'd write about my grandmother, Dorothy Wyllie.

Dorothy was a teenager, a young woman, at the start of World War 1. She lived with her parents in rural Victoria at South Ecklin near Cobden and she had a lot of relatives in Western Victoria as well, her mother's siblings and their families.

In 1916 Dorothy married Allan Wyllie and moved to the Wimmera area of Victoria where Allan was a farmer.

Dorothy Wyllie nee Taylor

So how is this relevant to ANZAC Day? Dorothy didn't go to war but a lot of her relatives did. Some came home, some came home injured, some didn't come home. She, and many other women like her, waited at home, worried, wrote letters, joined the Red Cross and organised packages to send overseas and ran a home and raised her family on the farm.

This is a long list of Dorothy's close relatives who served in World War 1 and World War 2.

World War 1

Brother: James William (Bill) Taylor. Bill served in 2nd Australian Machine Gun Battalion in France and returned to Australia 1919.

Brother: David Edgar Taylor. David served on Gallipoli and France and was killed in action at Pozieres, France 5 Aug 1916.

Brother-in-law: William Angus Wyllie. Angus served in the Middle East then France with the 58th Battalion. He was wounded in action and sent to England for treatment to a gunshot wound in his shoulder. He rejoined his unit in France, was wounded a second time and again sent to England. He returned to Australia 1919.

Cousin: Francis George Brown was a private in the 9th Light Horse. Served in Gallipoli, France (wounded in action) and the Middle East. Returned to Australia 1919 an invalid. Two half-brothers (Jack and Gordon) also served.

Cousin: John Henry (Jack) Brown. Jack was a private in the 60th Battalion and served at Gallipoli and in France. He was killed in action at Fleurbaix, France on 19 July 1916.

Cousin: Lindsay Gordon (Gordon) Brown, Jack's brother. Gordon enlisted under a false name using his mother's surname, Cooper. He was a private in the 29th Battalion and served in France. He died in France of influenza on 27 November 1918, just after the war ended.

Cousin: William Herbert Maskell. A private in the 14th Battalion. He enlisted in 1914, served in Gallipoli and the Middle before being transferred to France. He was sent to England suffering from shell shock and was sent home to Australia in 1917 an invalid. He was Mentioned is Despatches for bravery at Pozieres, France in August 1916.

Cousin: Stanley Gordon Maskell, William's brother. Stan was a private in the 58th Battalion. He served in France and was wounded in action (gassed), wounded a second time (gunshot wound to a knee). After being transferred to a hospital in England he was invalided home to Australia in 1918.

Cousin: John James (Jack) Brown. Jack was a private in the 38th Battalion and served in France. He suffered from trench feet and was eventually sent back to England to recuperate and take furlough before returning to France. He was shot in the arm and was sent back to hospital in England. He was sent back to Australia as an invalid.

World War 2

Brother: Leonard Allen (Allen) Taylor. Allen was a sapper in the 2/16 Army Field Company and served in the Middle East and Asia.

Son: James William Wyllie. Jim served in the Middle East and South-east Asia with the 2/1st Battalion in northern Africa and the south-west Pacific.

Son: Angus John Wyllie. Angus served as a Corporal in the 101st Motor Regiment before volunteering to transfer to the 'Z' Special Force for covert operations in New Guinea and the Indonesian islands. He specialised in communication. Invalided to Australia with tropical dermatitis.

Brother-in-law: Charles William Fraser. He was a Corporal in the RAAF, a motor cycle driver. He served in Darwin.

Cousin: David Edgar Brown

Cousin: Geoffrey William Brown. Geoffrey was a Private in the 2/21st Infantry Battalion, captured and held as a Prisoner of War on Ambon. He was executed (beheaded) there in 1942.

Cousin's husband: William Harry Tasman (Bill) WHITBREAD. Bill was a Corporal  in the 2/29th Aust. Inf. Batt. POW on Burma-Siam Railway.

Cousin's husband: Albert William Hampson

Cousin's husband: David Llewellyn Roberts. In the 2/3rd Infantry Battalion. Served in Greece. Captured in Crete. Prisoner of war at Stalag Hammelburg 13C (XIIIC), working on railways. Flown to UK 10 Apr 1945 and returned to Australia in May 1945.

And, as well, several family members including her brother-in-law Angus Wyllie, served in the Citizen Military Force for the duration of the second World War.

Harold McGregor KIA

Grandfather Roy Phelan served with the AIF in France in WW1 and I've blogged about his military life several times. But this time I'm writing about a real photo postcard that he had in his album. It's a photo of another Australian soldier and on the reverse side are the words (in two different handwriting styles). I suspect that Roy's wife, Annie, wrote the second sentence:
Harold McGregor killed France 18 Sept 1918. Same day Roy was knocked.
There is also a note in the stamp square that says 'Give this one to Gib'. Gib was Roy's brother but may refer to a different Gib.

Harold McGregor killed France 18 Sept 1918
same day Roy was knocked.

I knew we didn't have a relative called Harold McGregor so I went searching to see what the connection was. It turns out that Harold, born in Gisborne, was from Mitiamo and Pine Grove in Victoria, the same area as Roy and his future wife Annie (Sims). And, also, Harold served in the same battalion as Roy. The reverse of the postcard gave me the date that Harold was killed in action and the fact that it was the same day that Roy was badly injured in battle ('knocked').

Harold McGregor, a farmer from Pine Grove, was 27 years old when he enlisted in the AIF. It was October 1917. Harold's father had died in 1912 and his mother, Margaret, also lived at Pine Grove. And Harold had some siblings, three brothers and two sisters, and his oldest brother had been killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915.

Death notice for William McGregor, Harold's oldest brother.
The Argus 3 Jul 1915

Harold enlisted and started his training at Broadmeadows near Melbourne in preparation for a transfer overseas. He embarked on the 'Nestor', the same ship as Roy, but I discovered in a newspaper item that he didn't get any home leave before he departed - he volunteered at short notice to board ship in place of a married man with children who hadn't had a chance to visit his family before embarkation. As the newspaper headline states it was a 'brave, soldierly act'.

Gisborne Gazette 22 Mar 1918

Roy Phelan wrote very regularly to his future wife, Annie Sims, and in his letter written from the pier in Melbourne he mentioned Harold McGregor.

On Pier

28/2/18

My Darling Annie,

We are getting a move on at last. We left Broady at 7 this morning and arrived here about 9. Now we are waiting to embark and expect to leave about 11. You love will be envying me the lovely trip that we are going to have. We don't know where we are off to but Annie dear you can guess as soon as we land you love will be one of the first to know of it. Altogether there are at least I500 of us and we had special trains. Very important aren't we….

We have drawn all our clothing and today finished up by getting water‑proof sheets. I am not sorry either for the more stuff we get the more we have to carry. Yesterday everybody had to put one bag out and it has been sent off already.

Harold Mc. was on one of the wagons so was speaking to him for a few minutes. He said he would be going very shortly now. If he does it will be very hard on his mother for she must be getting very frail now. This afternoon we were given leave from 2 o'clock and you should have seen the rush. Everything was overloaded and it was a wonder some reached their destination.  

And Harold is also mentioned in another letter written en route. The comment confirms the newspaper account of his hasty embarkation.

Nearly every day we have to get into life belts. Having to get into them makes one think that at some time or other we are going to get wet. I am not looking forward to it though. While promenading the deck the other night I ran into Harold McGregor. I did not know he was coming and don't think Harold did either. He has since told me he was only warned the night before.  He could have refused to come as they must give a man at least two clear days warning. All the Mitty boys are aboard. Lew, Eddie, Harold and myself. We generally manage to get together of a night for a yarn.  

Both Roy and Harold were in the Fourth Division of the AIF, in the 46th Battalion. After landing in England they were both sent to Codford to do more training but were living in different camps. They met up occasionally over the next month or so prior to being transferred to France, as Roy details in three more letters to Annie.

Codford

England

 9th June 18

My Darling Annie,

You can't guess who came into this camp Friday, Love. I was busy doing my best to darn a hole in my sock when in walked Harold McGregor. He had just come over from Park House camp. All the men in the A.S.C. who came over on the Nestor have been transferred into the infantry and what's more into the 46^th battalion.  Harold says he is going to get back into the A.S.C. He may but am afraid he will have a hard job unless the doctor says he is not fit for the infantry. It seems funny doesn’t it Dearest comparing Harold with me and then classing me as the fitter of the two.

Codford...

Today I went along and saw Harold and we had a long chat about good old Mitty, and then decided to go over and see Lew. We got there alright but found him away in the hospital with the measles and we could not get any word of him. I don't know how we have escaped as now there are only 30 of us out of isolation. Harold has been up before the doctor and has been classed fit so am afraid he will have a job to get out of the infantry. 

Codford

England

Sat 6‑7‑18

My Own Dearest Annie,

 At last the time for France is drawing near and Love I am looking forward to going. You may think it strange Darling for going to the front may seem terrible to you but it is really only another phase in a soldier’s life and to my way of thinking the quickest way to home again. The only thing I am sorry for is that Harold and Lew are not coming over with me and it will be just a chance if we meet again for some time…

Harold and l went over to see Lew tonight and then we all went down the village and had tea and a jolly good tea it was. It will be the last we will have together for some time and Darling the next time we do, I trust it will be at Mitiamo. We next went to the pictures, the first time I have been since we came here, and they were good. I now wish I had gone more often.  We went in to them a little after 7 and intended staying only an hour but it was 9 o'clock before we came out so we then had supper and got back home again. I have everything ready now Love although I am rather late so Sweetheart I am writing by candle light for I know you will not mind if I make a good many mistakes, blotches etc. Some of the boys are merry and are wandering about kicking up a row. One can hardly blame them though for perhaps it will be the last time we will meet under the same circumstances. Some are singing others dancing, and still others doing their best to wake all the sleepers up. It reminds me of the last night at Broadmeadows…

The next letter that mentions Harold was written from France so Roy was aware that it would be censored. Locations and strategic matters were not allowed to be mentioned but I know from other sources that the 46th Battalion was preparing to join with other Australian Battalions flanked by British and American forces in a battle now known at the Hindenberg Line. The men in the 46th did most of their fighting near a village called Bellenglise.

France

30/8/18

My Dearest Annie,

…

I only had a little over the week at the con camp and then went back to the base. The morning after reaching it one of the first ones I saw was Harold, he had landed in with a number of others sometime during the night.On the Sunday they put a number of us through gas again. I think they must like seeing us with our masks on for lately we have been going through it every few weeks. We left the base Monday after‑noon and after a days train riding and a few miles marching we got back to the battalion again. I came back to my platoon while Harold although in a different platoon he is in my company so we will always be fairly close to each other.This time we are billetted in a village and I am on the top floor of a three storey house.

On the first day of the allied push, on the 18 September 1918,  Roy was badly injured by shrapnel near Bellenglise and ended up in hospital in England. He didn't know it at the time but his friend Harold was killed the same day by a machine gun. From hospital he mentioned that he hadn't heard from Harold.

1st London Gen. Hospital

Camberwell

London

My Darling Annie,

…

It is some time now since I have heard from Harold & Lew and I have been wondering how they are getting on…. 

It was not until December that Roy heard, via Australia, that Harold had been killed.

Brondesby Park

Kilburn

London

15/12/18

My Dearest Annie,

…

Poor old Harold. Your letter Love was the first word I had of his being killed. No wonder I had never had any answers to my letters. It was only a couple of days before that we had been laughing and joking together. He was a good lad, one of the best. I never saw him that day Annie for he was in another platoon which was on our right and I suppose Harold would get a good way further on than I did. It would be a great blow to his Mother…

The Argus, 24 Oct 1918

The Argus 25 Oct 1918

Gisborne Gazette 25 Oct 1918

One of the newspaper notices mentions that Harold's brother, Gilbert, was also an enlisted soldier but I haven't found proof of that.

Several of Harold's soldier mates made statements to the Red Cross that they had seen him killed instantly by machine gun fire but several years after the war his mother was still writing to the army to see if they had any of his belongings because she hadn't received anything at all.

There is no headstone for Harold McGregor so it appears his body was never recovered. His name is on the wall of the memorial at Villers-Brettoneux, France. He and his brother are also mentioned on the war memorial at Mitiamo.

War memorial, Mitiamo, Victoria

Nearly 100 years later, in November 1914, the Gisborne Gazette published an article about the two McGregor brothers who had been killed in action and it mentions a drinking water fountain that was erected in Gisborne in 1935 by their brother John in their memory. The McGregor Memorial Fountain still exists.

Sepia Saturday: The Church Army, WW1

When my husband's grandfather, Roy Phelan, was an Aussie soldier on leave in London he purchased a handful of postcards depicting the Church Army Soldiers' Hostel and posted them home. They show various rooms within the building that were used by soldiers on leave or recuperating from illness - the dining room, the recreation room, the bedrooms - and must have been popular because there are numerous images of the same postcards on the web. Roy may have stayed there as he was a man of faith and was also injured in 1918.

The hostel was set up by the Church of England in the Buckingham Palace Hotel and run by the Church Army. The Army also set up refuge huts in France.

Postcard of the Church Army Soldier's Hostel, Buckingham Palace Hotel

Soldiers in the canteen, Church Army Soldier's Hostel

An Australian called Canon David Garland (who was the architect of Anzac Day) talked about the Church Army in a speech in Australia 1917. This is an extract from that speech:

Extract from a speech by Canon David Garland, the architect of ANZAC Day, November 1917.

And this article was published in a Queensland paper in 1917. I found several similar articles in other Australian and New Zealand papers.

Brisbane Courier, 22 May1917

Roy also sent this photo home. It shows food canteens being carried to through  the trenches to soldiers serving on the Front. The text has been hand written but there's nothing written on the back.

WW1 Postcard. Carrying food up the front line on the Western Front.

This blog has been written in response to the Sepia Saturday prompt that shows a Salvation Army magazine photo of a soldier eating. You may find some more soldiers marching on their stomachs over at Sepia Saturday.

Sepia Saturday: Roy saw a ghost (on a postcard)

Roy Phelan was a country lad from Victoria, Australia so England (let alone the trenches of France) must have been a shock. He spent some time around Codford when he first arrived in Europe in 1918 and after the war he remained in England for about six months while he recuperated from a bad shrapnel injury. So he, like many other soldiers, was a tourist.

And, like many other soldiers, he bought postcards to send home or to keep as a record of his visit. For this post I've selected several of his postcards from a visit to Hampton Court Palace. None of these has been posted or written on the reverse. The Palace is outstanding even in the UK so I can only imagine how overwhelming it must have appeared to Roy.

Entrance to Vine and Gardener's Cottage, Hampton Court Palace. Postcard c1918.

South-East Front, Hampton Court Palace.
Is it possible that the lawn was dug up for vegetable gardens in WW!?

The third postcard is my selection for the Sepia Saturday theme of 'horror and Halloween'.

It is also Hampton Court Palace and shows the ghost of Jane Seymour. Apparently she was seen every night! I wonder if she still appears. Roy must have been intrigued because we don't have a lot of ghosts her in Australia and especially not in his home town of Mitiamo that was only about 40 years old at the time.

The Hampton Court Palace Ghost.
 Queen Jane Seymour's Ghost.
As seen nightly near the private stairway, leading to apartments formerly occupied by her.

******

Now, close your eyes if you are easily shocked. You've been warned.

This an old sepia photograph taken by a member of a photography club in Melbourne in the 1950s. It is one of a collection of photos donated to the Genealogical Society of Victoria.

Experimental photography and development techniques.

If you want to see more horrible photos sidle on over to the Sepia Saturday page.

Sepia Saturday: The best medicine

In September 1918 Roy Phelan was on the front line in France when he was badly injured, hit on the head by shrapnel. Somehow, in the middle of all the noise and mayhem, Roy was stretchered out and taken to a Field Hospital at Abbeville behind the lines, and then across the channel to England. He spent months in hospitals in England recuperating and was still very ill when he returned to Australia but recovered and lived a long and happy life.

His family back in Australia were informed that he was seriously ill and the first few letters they received from Roy after he was injured were written by a nurse. This one was written to Ann Sims who was later to become his wife.

29th Sept 18

Dear Miss Sims

3782 Pte R.J. Phelan, 46th Btn, asked me to write to you to let you know he was admitted to this Hospital, the Third Australian General, on the 18th inst.

He has a nasty wound in his head but has shown a slight improvement the last couple of days. He is quite cheerful again.

He asked me to explain to you that he will be unable to write to you for some little time yet.

He sends you his best love.

With best wishes

I remain

Yours faithfully

P. Murdock

(Aust. Red Cross)

Amazingly, I found a photo of Miss Murdock and the other nurses who served at the 3rd Australian Hospital on the Australian War Memorial's website.

Miss Murdock is second from the right in the back row.

Roy gradually recovered his health and his good humour and wrote home about some of the concert skits and social occasions he had been involved in and made light of his health problems. But some of his treatment must have been truly awful and he would have seen his fellow inmates going through some tough times as well. He sent home these two postcards. Maybe laughter is the best medicine.

Watching someone else being "done"!

Being "done" oneself!

This blog was in response to the Sepia Saturday theme image below, a cutout bookmark advertising medicine. I can't imagine what medicine Roy would have had to take but you can see what others have written on the same theme here.

Mt Macedon

We recently visited the Macedon area in Victoria. Neither of us had been there since we were children in the 1950s so it was time - such a beautiful spot and only and hour or so from home. The first European to climb the 1000 metre mountain near Macedon was Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836. He named it Mt Macedon after Phillip II of ancient Macedonia.

Some of my family visited the area c1947. It looks like they're in a garden which isn't surprising because Macedon is famous for its beautiful private gardens. Dorothy and Allen Wyllie are my paternal grandparents.

Family picnic, Macedon c1947: (l-r) ?, May Rose and her sister  Dorothy Wyllie,
Dorothy's daughters Barbara and Dorothy, and her husband Allen Wyllie.

Some of my husband's family visited the area before the war, shortly after a large cross was erected on top of Mt Macedon. On a clear day you can seen Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay to the south.

This large cross is one of the most significant war memorials in Victoria. It was built in 1935 as a memorial to soldiers who served in the 1914-1918 war by a wealthy resident, William Cameron, whose son had died in the war. It's 21 metres high, is faced with terracotta tiles and embellished with a large bronze sword. The cross was restored in 1995 because it had been damaged by storms and a devastating bushfire in 1983 known as Ash Wednesday.

Phil at the Memorial Cross, Mt Macedon.

Phil's uncle, Gibson Phelan, with friends and family
at the Memorial Cross, Mt Macedon in the 1930s.

Memorial Cross and gardens c 1935 [Museum Victoria MM045589]

Memorial Cross and gardens after the bushfire in 1983 [Sydney Oats, Flickr]

Memorial Cross, 2014

We discovered a lovely cafe at the top of the mountain, delightful gardens and natural bush as well as walking trails and a memorial to a plane that crashed into the mountain in 1948. (It was a DC3 ANA flight, he Captain and his First Officer were killed, the hostess and 19 passengers survived.)

ANZAC Day: William Angus Wyllie

On a personal level we remember family members who served in war. My husband and I remember these grandparents and great-uncles who voluntarily enlisted in WW1. Two were killed in action.

William Angus Wyllie
Thomas Henry Smith
David Edgar Taylor (KIA)
James William Taylor
David Ray Leed (KIA)
William George Leed
Robert John Daniel Phelan
William Thomas Alford

Today I'm highlighting William Angus Wyllie (known as Angus), my grandfather's brother.

Angus was a farmer at Carron, north of Minyip in the Wimmera district of Victoria, where his parents, Robert and Jeannetta, had created a prosperous wheat farm and built a home.

In July 1915 Angus enlisted at Ballarat. He was 30 years old. His initial training was a Castlemaine and Broadmeadows in Victoria.

On 1 April 1916 he embarked on HMAT A23 'Suffolk' and sailed to Egypt and the Middle East. In June he was transferred to France via the port at Marseilles and joined the 58th Battalion there. He was appointed Lance Corporal in December 1916. In February 1917 he was wounded in action, a gunshot wound to the shoulder, and after several weeks was transferred to Cheltenham and then the 3rd Auxilliary Hospital at Dartford in England. He was five months recuperating from his injuries and was discharged from the hospital 16 July 1917 and transferred to the training brigade at the Sandhill Camp at Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire.

On 10 November 1917 he left for France via Southampton and rejoined his unit in the field 18 November 1917. In August 1918 he was promoted to Corporal and then a month later to Sergeant.

On 29 September 1918 he was again wounded in action. This time it was a gunshot wound to his left leg. He was again sent to England, to the Chester Hospital. The war ended in November and on 9 December Angus appears to have been transferred to AHQ at Hardcott in London. He was granted two months leave with pay and subsistence (21 April until 21 June) to attend a motor mechanics course at the Mansion Motor Training Garage in York St, Westminster.

Angus' maternal grandparents, William and Mary Ann Cook, migrated to Victoria from Plumstead in Kent in 1852. There must have still been some contact with relatives there, maybe his mother's cousins, because we have this photo of a visit. Angus is seated at right.

In July 1919 Angus departed England on the 'Demosthenes' and disembarked at Melbourne 14 September 1919. He had been in the AIF for four years including several long periods in the field of battle in France.

Like many diggers Angus had formed a relationship with a girl while he was in England and after the war he sent her money to join him in Australia but she never came. But all was not lost in love and war. In September 1921 he married the teacher at the school near his farm at Carron, Dorothy Cosstick.

Australia was at war again when Angus was in his 50s and in March 1941 Angus enlisted in the army again. He was 56 years old. He served three years as a guard at Queenscliff on the coast of Victoria and he moved his wife and daughters to nearby Point Lonsdale. He was discharged in April 1944 because of his age and medical condition (he had arthritis in both knees).

Trove Tuesday: In which Germanton and Germantown are featured.

Christmas 1909. Edie from Germanton (NSW) sent her friend in Collingwood (VIC) a postcard wishing her a merry Christmas. I don't know these people because it's postcard I found at a market.

The card has a Greek or Roman theatrical theme that doesn't strike me as particularly relevant to Christmas but then I shouldn't be too critical because someone in a hundred years time will look at today's cards in amazement or amusement. Or maybe they'll be sending each other e-cards instead of wasting earth's resources. Or maybe the tradition will have died out altogether by then.

I wondered where Germanton was because I'd never heard of it, and it sounds similar to Germantown (now called Grovedale) near Geelong. So I searched the newspapers on Trove.

It turns out that in 1909 Germanton did indeed exist but a few years later the name was changed to Holbrook because of hostilities in World War 1. The area had been settled by a large and industrious community of German families from the mid 1850s.

The Argus, 19 June 1915

The same thing happened to Germantown near Geelong. The area was settled by many German families from the 1850s onwards and they had developed vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens. In July 1915 the council voted to rename it Cornwall, one of the titles of the King, but the name was later disallowed because it was already in use in Victoria so the name Grovedale was chosen.

Geelong Advertiser, 3 July 1915

Germanton and Germantown weren't the only towns and localities in Australia to have a name change because of the war. And it wasn't just the town name that was changed - hotels, railway stations, sport teams and numerous other examples can be found. Why did they go to all that trouble? The residents with German background had been here for two or three generations and weren't stirring up trouble at the time but there were certainly tensions in the town. It must have been an uncomfortable time for all residents of German background.

Sepia Saturday: Christmas 1918

It was December 1918. The war was over, peace had been declared in November, but cousins, Roy Phelan and Alex Gordon, were still in England and they managed to meet up in London. It took a long time to get all of our boys home to Australia. Alex didn't get home until July 1919 and Roy in June 1919.

If you look closely at the photo below (click on it to view enlarged) you'll see that Roy appears to have a band under his hat. Indeed he did. He received serious head injuries from shrapnel on the battlefield in France and spent months recovering in England.

Roy Phelan (left) and his cousin Alex Gordon, London, December 1918

We have the letters that Roy wrote to his girlfriend (later his wife), Annie Sims, in Mitiamo, Victoria. These are two letters he wrote in December 1918. He wrote about spending Christmas with his friends, the Plumtree family, at Plumstead near London. I think their son was, or had been, the Church of England minister at Mitiamo. At the time Roy was still at the Military Hospital at Bronesbury Park north London, but must have been well enough to come and go a bit.

Letter 1

Brondesbury Park, Military Hospital, Kilburn, 23‑12‑18

My Dearest Annie, Again this week I received letters from my Love.  What a shock it must have been for my Darling when they told you I was wounded. It wouldn't have been so bad if you could have only found out how I really was. Well in any case I am as good as gold now and trust shall not be a great while now before I can say good‑bye to hospital for good. I still wear my night cap and think it is just as well for my hair has hardly grown at all yet. Only two more days till Xmas. How different it will be in every respect this year.Truly this year we can hear the Angels sing Peace on earth goodwill towards men, and yet will there will be many sad homes for there will be the vacant chair. Annie God’s ways are wonderful and perhaps dark to us, yet what a comfort for us to know there is Light if we could only see it. When I tell you of all my trips Sweetheart you will be thinking there is not too much wrong with me.  Monday I was in to Australia House and cabled home for money. I haven't been able to draw any pay since I have been in hospital. They said at the bank they would have it here within a week so that is pretty good going. Two or three days I have been out for walks and also back to Camberwell to see the other boys. Friday I met Miss Grace P. and she took me through Selfridges which is supposed to be one of the biggest shops in the world. Yesterday I was out to Plumstead again and if I can get away Xmas Day I am going out for dinner. Percy brought me home in the evening and then I went to Church. What do you think of me Dear.  Doesn’t sound as if I am very bad does it.... I hope Annie you have a very Happy Xmas and you may be sure I shall be thinking of my little Girlie so far away. Goodbye Dearest, With fondest love      

          From your ever loving boy, Roy

Letter 2

Brondesbury Park, Military Hos., 29/12/18 

My Dearest Annie, Another Xmas has come and gone and I could not help wondering how my Love would spend hers. Of course you would not be able to go anywhere for it is your busy time. I had 48 hours leave and of course went out to Plumtree’s arriving there about 11 o'clock Christmas morning. The usual good things for dinner Annie and you may be sure I did full justice to them. Except for going for a walk we stayed in both on Boxing Day & Friday so that, I had a quiet, but very enjoyable time considering I am so far away from my Sweetheart. Christmas morning I got up in good time and went to 7 o’clock Communion. I was surprised at the number of people who were there for at that time it was just about dark and jolly cold. Last Tuesday I met Percy & we were going to the museum but instead went shopping and are going to the museum on Saturday. When I came back Friday night there was a concert across the road, so over I went. It was extra good and was I glad I went. The next night our house gave an evening to the other house.  There was a set tea, and on the tables were all sorts of good things such as jelly, fruit salads etc. The concert lasted about an hour then games were played for awhile and they finished up with a dance. We were all given 3 packets of cigarettes, a couple of studs and a tie pin. By this I expected to see snow but although it has been cold, none has fallen yet. A couple of mornings ago I was out for a walk and noticed any water lying about was frozen and Love I suppose you are doing your best to keep cool. What price the ice‑cream this year?  Have come to a close once again. So darling trusting you are keeping well I am   Ever your loving boy, Roy  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Happy Christmas to all Sepia Saturday bloggers (and our readers).  

Remembrance Day: We remember those who served

On a personal level we remember family members who served in war. My husband and I remember these grandparents and great-uncles who voluntarily enlisted in WW1. Two were killed in action.

  William Angus Wyllie
  Thomas Henry Smith
  David Edgar Taylor (KIA)
  James William Taylor
  David Ray Leed (KIA)
  William George Leed
  Robert John Daniel Phelan
  William Thomas Alford

I've written a blog about Thomas Henry Smith and David Ray Leed here and here.Today I'm highlighting David Edgar Taylor.

David Edgar Taylor

David was the eldest son of Henry and Martha Taylor who lived at South Ecklin near Cobden, Victoria. On the 30 November 1914, when he was 22 years old, he enlisted in the AIF and was attached to the 6th Battalion.

David sailed to Egypt on the 'Clan Macgillivray', arriving March 1915, and then to Australia and back to Egypt as a Military Policeman (Provost) on the 'Ulysses'. He was then transferred to the 22nd Battalion (Second Division) and went to Gallipoli with that battalion in August 1915. [Note: Each Division four battalions of about 1000 men.]

The arrival of the Second Division at ANZAC.
The 6th Infantry Brigade camping in Rest Gully 5th September 1915.
  Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 Vol X11

We have a few fragments of a diary the David kept and some letters that he wrote home This is his diary from Gallipoli. I've retained Dave's original spelling.

Diary Page Four [Gallipoli, September 1915]

 … shell us again they gave us some big ones that the boys call … ball,  one landed just near us & blew a big hole in the ground just like a water hole they call them  … explosive shells
9^th  It has been quiet all day, tonight we tried to bluff them that we were going to attack them by giving them three rounds nappaid then duck behind the parript & let them waist there minition  our artillary has been giving them a hot time of it
10^th they gave us some more shells this morning one of our cpls got buried in his dug out & was there some time before he got out
11^th  We gave them a few more rounds nappied this morning, after that … us a few rounds in return but we did not bite like they do  they also gave us a few more shells
12^th   has been quite a day  they gave us a few more shells, it is just a  week since our … landed on the dardnelles we have only had 26 casualties … were killed the others were wounded  … guns on our cliff all day they sound like … Beachy Bill as our boys  call her has been … all day landing on the …  she killed 4 & wounded 26 this gun has accounted … since the first landing our guns can never get on to …

..th they gave us a good shelling this morning of the … it one had his arm torn clen of  the rest of the day was quite
… morning .. us  a … more shells but no one was hurt …
 … have had a quite day our artillary giving them gip  all …  … not supplied to it we have also given them a  hot …   2 more of our chaps got shot though the …
16^th  got some more shells today but done no damage tonight a piece of shell landed just beside me while on  my post
19^th  very quite all day till five oclock we had just come back from a swim on the Beach & having tea when all of a sudden they started to bombard us & for about an hour they peppered us hot & solid  they also used there machine guns on us we were all huddled up in our dug outs when the order came to fall in & stand to arms & out we had to get with shells flying all around us & get in to the firing line with  … we had 14 casualtys 2 were killed right out and 9 others were terrible cut about … amount there was left … a major as 9 oclock tonight we thought they were going to attack us all night we straining our eyes & waiting for them to come till day light but they did not to relive our feelings
20th  Today we shifted along the firing line some distance  has been quite all day got a few more shells to day but they did no damage
21st  our war boats have been shelling the Turks all day every shell that fell seem to scoop out yards of there trench
… I have been sick all day had cold shivers this morning our guns … shelling them they gave us a few shells this evenin but  they … have the same strength as our shells do
… sick this morning & have been off duty all day … mail came in today but I got no letters from home … today this is the 8^th time that I have …
22^nd  They started to shell us early this morning but as usual our boys give them the worst of it one of our guns opened up on trenches in front of us & God help the men that tried to leave in that trench & not only that our shells were landing every where.  This afternoon they were trying a new gun of ours on the Turk trenches in front of us it was awful to watch them shells you could hear them coming over like a big … coming through the air the sound was bad enough for us to hear but not half as bad as  must have sounded for the Turks
23^rd  quite all day we gave them a stir up this morning with both arrittarly & rifle some of our shells were coming over 4 miles & landed in a Turks trench about 20 yards in front of us the very air … is alive with shells they opened … there 75 on us but done no damage our guns soon quitened it this was the first time that they had opened there artillary on us at night for they were frightened of showing there guns up
24^th  We again shift along the line we are not allowed to leave the firing line for one minute with out calling the … up they shelled us again this afternoon but done no damage our artillary has been keeping them busy all day
25^th  We are in supports to day for a spell which is the … since we landed also a wash which is also our second  this … had to go back to the firing line
26^th They have kept shelling away all day with there …  …was hurt very badly our war boats have been giving them some shells this after noon
27^th  This morning as daylight we discovered that they had put up some barb wire in front of there trenches through the night, none of us had noticed them doing it, this morning they made it a bit hot for us they gave us about 200 shells, today we hear that our boys on the left  have advanced about two miles inland, we also get word that England has broke the German line in the western front  we again go to the supports I have not taken my clothes off since we landed & only had my boots off once bar when we went for a swim

28^th  we still get good news from the western front & all hope that the war will soon end for we are sick of this life, we are feeling dirty & grimey, we were having tea to night when a shell landed just near us we were all ordered to our dug outs & had just left our places when a shell landed right where I was sitting I was at my post just after when another shell landed just beside me but as luck would have it the ground was soft if it had been hard I would not have been alive to write this
29^th  very quite all day a few shells landed near us at dinner time but done no damage

October 1915
1^st  Two chaps killed on the next post to me shot them in the head with bullets from a machine gun I had a look at the post this morning there was blood every where they gave us some shells this after noon
2^nd  We got a lot of shelling this after noon we have been deepening our trenches to day had to nock  off now & again & get into our dug outs away from there  shells
3^rd  word was passed on to us from the turks that many of them would surrender if we would not shoot them when they were coming over we sent back word that they could come but not more than 2 at a time, just after dark about 20 were seen coming towards our trenches & others were getting over the parript  & thinking that they were going to attack us we were told to stand to arms & our … gun open out on them after more were seen coming over we were all ordered to take down our sand bags & fix bayonets ready to charge but they did not come they sent word that they had mistaken our  … & that they were only coming over to give them selves up
4^th  we had just been relived from the firing line this morning and they opened up with there 75 on us for about an hour they gave it to us hot & solid we had to go to the firing line again & stand to … the post that we had just left was blown to pieces & one of our chaps with his arm blown off many others were wounded one of the chaps on the next post had been shot through the head he was a fine fellow & was the only support of his crippled Sister He was Pte Grant
…back in the firing line to day things were very

On 29th October 1915 Dave was suffering from severe pneumonia and a week later was transferred to the hospital ship 'Somali' and taken to Gibraltar. On the 19th December he was transferred to the 3rd London Auxiliary Hospital in England, still suffering from pneumonia.

David was sent to France on 25th March. In the meantime the 22 Battalion had been posted to France, and David rejoined them on 31st July 1916. In April 1916, shortly after his arrival in France he write to his sister, my grandmother:

Well Dear Sister I had quite a good time in England I will never forget it, it is the Best Place that I have been in yet of course it does not come up to Australia but for all that it is the next Best better than France anyway you see I have not seen much of France yet but what I have seen of it I don’t care too much for & will not be sorry when we get a move on as for England I could stay there till the war is over but like all other things that are good they have to end Duty must be done so here I am some where in France.

The Second Division, AIF, on the march in France, July 1916

The Germans held the Pozieres area on the Somme River and were in an immensely strong position with clear views over all possible lines of advance by the allies. In July 1916 the British Infantry and the Australian First Division had made costly attacks against Pozieres and the village was reduced to rubble. The First Division last 5285 men in three days, and were replaced by the Second Division on 27th July. In ten days they lost 6848 men before they were relieved by the Fourth Division.

Dave Taylor was killed in this battle, on 5th August 1916, but his body was never found. His family was told that he was 'Missing in Action' and an enquiry 14 months later found that he had been 'Killed in Action'. He is listed on the Memorial Wall at Villers-Bretonneux.

The O.G.1. trench, Pozieres, France. This is the area where David Taylor died.

Sadly, David's mother could never quite believe that David had been killed. And the family heard that he was 'Missing in Action' on the day before my grandmother's wedding. I've written about that here.

David Edgar Taylor.