Memories ... September 20

 In Remembrance

(For my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

Today is the anniversary of  the passing of my maternal Great Grand Uncle,  Patrick Joseph Farrell.

*Our common ancestors are: Michael Farrell and Susan Muldowney/Downey.

• Patrick was born on the 11th of April 1877, at 56 Havannah Street in a mining village named Tanfield, near Stanley in County Durham, England.

• When Patrick was born his father, Michael Farrell, was 42 and his mother, Susan Muldowney / Downey, was 35.

• Patrick was the 7th of nine children born to Michael and Susan, who were both Irish-born but had moved to Scotland and then England in search of work.

• At the age of 3, Patrick was listed on the 1881 England Census as living at 140 Havanna Street in the civil parish of Tanfield, in the district of Lanchester, County Durham, England.  This would have one house in a long row of colliery houses provided by the mine owners.

• His father Michael was working as a 'coke drawer'.  His older brother Thomas, aged 13, was working at the colliery as a 'screener'.  His older sister Margaret (my great grandmother), aged 15, was not living with the family as she was employed as a servant for the Robinson family in a house at 10 Havanna Street.  Patrick's other siblings included Helen Ann aged 9, Elizabeth aged 7, Michael aged 5, and his 8 month old brother James. 

• Life for Patrick in his early childhood years would have been one of poverty and deprivation.  These early years were spent in the Durham coalfield region of north-east England where his father worked primarily as a 'coke drawer'.  The family moved around the region a fair bit, from Lanchester to Tanfield to Stanley, looking for lodging and living in mining village housing.  These colliery houses were usually overcrowded, lacking adequate sanitation and basic amenities like running water.  The family would have experienced impoverished living conditions, starvation at times and likely poor health.

• In 1887 another brother, Matthew Felix, was born when Patrick was 9 years old.

• Shortly after, Patrick's family boarded the ship Cheybassa and headed to Australia.  At the time, Patrick's older sisters Margaret and Helen had already emigrated and were living in Queensland.  The remainder of the Farrell family, including Patrick joined them.

• In September of 1887 the Farrell family disembarked in Townsville, north Queensland, and then travelled on to Charters Towers.  Patrick was 10 years old.

• Patrick followed in his father's footsteps at first, and began working as a miner in his early adult years.

• The Australian Electoral Rolls for the years 1903 and 1908, when he was aged 26 and 31 respectively, show that Patrick was living at a place named 'Bluff Station', just outside Charters Towers, and his occupation was listed as 'miner'.  

• Patrick was also learning another trade during these years.  At some point, he had become apprenticed to his brother-in-law, David Davies, as an iron moulder.

• Around 1911, Patrick had left Charters Towers and moved to Maryborough where he started work as an iron moulder for Walkers Limited.

• He was known as "Joe" to his friends at this time.

• When he lived in Maryborough, he was an active member of the local community and earned a reputations as a "skilful and willing worker" with "many friends".

Attestation Papers - signed by Patrick in 1916

• On the 17th of November 1916, aged 39, Patrick enlisted for service in World War 1 in Bundaberg, Queensland.  He enlisted with the AIF 25th Battalion 19th Reinforcement.

• His signature gives us a hint that Patrick had not written much in his lifetime up to that point and while he was able to write a signature, it was not written smoothly and expertly.  Given that Patrick was 39 years old, I was a little taken aback by rather childish-looking attempt.

• Patrick was the oldest of three Farrell brothers who felt the need to do their duty for the British Empire and answered the call to serve with the Australian Forces.

• His younger brother James had enlisted in January of 1916, and his youngest brother Matthew had enlisted in July of 1916.  Perhaps Patrick felt the need to follow suit out of guilt or concern about his brothers going off to war without him.  Whatever the reason, Patrick enlisted before the end of 1916.

• After enlistment, Patrick joined the reinforcements of the 25th Battalion for training at Enoggera camp in Brisbane, Queensland.

Copyright expired - image in public domain

• After three months of training, Patrick's unit embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on the 7th of February 1917, and headed off to war.

• Patrick disembarked at Plymouth, in England on the 11th of April 1917, and marched into the 7th Training Battalion's camp in Rollestone that same day where he prepared for service on the Western Front.

• Once that training was completed, he proceeded overseas to France on the 30th of July 1917 and was admitted to the 2nd Australian Divisional Base Depot the next day.

• After two weeks at Base Depot, Patrick marched out to join the 25th Battalion in billets outside Saint-Omer in northern France.

• The 25th remained outside Saint-Omer, training and resting, until the 12th of September, when they moved to Winnipeg Camp outside Steenvoorde on the Franco-Belgian border.

• On the 17th of September, the battalion moved forward into Belgium, taking over the front line outside Westhoek the next day.  They readied themselves to take part in the next big attack of the Allied offensive aimed at capturing Passchendaele.

• Early on the morning of the 20th of September, the men of A Company of the 25th Battalion, including Patrick, were behind their jumping off tape in the trenches.  They were waiting for the signal to launch the attack on their objectives around Zonnebeke Ridge and along the Menin Road.

• Just after 5.40 am, as the men were beginning to leave the trenches, Patrick received a direct hit in the head from an enemy shell, known among the soldiers as a whizz bang.  

• Sadly, Patrick was killed in action within two months of disembarkation. He died instantly on the 20th of September 1917 near Polygon Wood in Belgium.  He was aged 40.

• There are specific details recorded in the Australian Red Cross Society's Wounded and Missing Enquiry files, some a little more gruesome than the one I've added above.  Thankfully, Patrick's death was instantaneous and he would not have suffered. 

• Although a note in Patrick's service record stated that his remains were buried after his death, his grave could not be located after the end of the war.  He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, alongside the names of over 6,000 Australians who served in the Ypres Campaign and have no known grave.

• Death notices for Patrick were published in newspapers in both Charters Towers and Maryborough.  It was noted in one of the items that Patrick's brothers James and Matthew were both away overseas, fighting at the front.  Thankfully, both returned home safely.

• Patrick's name appears on the Ypres-Menin Gate Memorial in Belgium, inscribed on Panel 23, and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia on Panel 104.

The Story of Cyril Ernest Connors / Memories ... June 18

This post tells the story of my paternal Grand Uncle, Cyril Ernest Connors  (1888 - 1942).

Our common ancestors are:  Thomas Edgar Connors and Susannah (Susan) Fullagar Hukins.

I'm publishing this post on the anniversary of my grand uncle's passing.

In Remembrance

(For my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

• Cyril Ernest was born in Berry, New South Wales in April of 1888.  He was the eighth of ten children born to Thomas Edgar Connors and Susannah (Susan) Fullagar Hukins.  

• By the time Cyril was 22 years of age, both his parents had died and two of his brothers had passed away.  His brother William had died of tuberculosis at the age of 28, and his brother James had tragically died at the age of 23 of burns received during an accident at his workplace.  

 

• In 1913 Cyril was living with his older brother Percy in Berry, New South Wales, and both were working as 'carters' - typically carters transported goods, such as produce, around the region in horse-drawn vehicles.  

• The brothers had grown up working on farms and were known as excellent horsemen.  Cyril had worked on and off as a horse breaker in the region and had also been a member of the Berry Lancers Militia Regiment for around seven years.

• On the 1st of October 1914 Cyril travelled to Adamstown, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales, to enlist for service in WW1.  He was 26 years old.

Attestation Form - World War 1 - Cyril Ernest Connors

• On his Attestation Form, Cyril listed his trade/occupation as "horse breaker", and he identified his brother Percy as his next of kin.

Cyril Ernest Connors - Lighthorseman WW1

World War 1 Service

• Cyril enlisted with a mounted infantry regiment, the 6th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, 'B' Squadron
• He embarked in December of 1914 aboard the HMAT A29 Suevic
• He spent time training in Egypt before arriving at Gallipoli on the 20th of May 1915
• The 6th Light Horse (without their horses) were responsible of a sector on the far right of the ANZAC line, playing a defensive role until it left the peninsula at the end of 1915
• Just prior to this though, Cyril became ill with influenza while fighting at Gallipoli 
• In October 1915, he was evacuated to Malta aboard the hospital ship HMHS Formosa 
• He spent six month recuperating at the Floriana Military Hospital in Malta, and was then sent to Egypt where he joined the Imperial Camel Corps 
• This unit saw some heavy fighting and Cyril was wounded several times
• He rose to the rank of Company Quarter Master Sergeant

• In 1918 the Camel Corps was disbanded and Cyril was transferred back to the Light Horse
• He returned to Australia on leave in November 1918 just as the war was ending.

Sadly, Cyril's youngest brother Erice Sylvester (the baby of the family who had enlisted in September of 1915, while Cyril was fighting at Gallipoli) was killed in action in France in December of 1916.  

Cyril was at that time serving with the Camel Corps in Egypt.  I do wonder at what point Cyril found out about the death of his brother, and how that impacted him, both emotionally and psychologically. 

A postcard photo of Vera
that she sent to her brother while
he was away serving during WW1

• In February of 1922, at the age of 33, Cyril married Vera Agnes Coleman at Murwillumbah in New South Wales.

Cyril was aged 33 and Vera was 25 years old.

They went on to have seven children, four sons and three daughters, although sadly their first-born daughter passed away when she was only eight months old.

• Between the years of 1925 to 1936, Cyril worked at the State Government's Wollongbar Experiment Farm.  He was appointed the Dairy Foreman in 1928.

• Cyril changed employment in 1937 and began working as a Stud Master at the Camden Park Estate.

• The 1937 Electoral Roll shows Cyril and wife Vera (and family) living at the Camden Park Estate, near Menangle in New South Wales. 

• By the beginning of 1942 however, the family had moved to Baerami Creek, in the Upper Hunter River region of New South Wales.

• In January of 1942 Cyril travelled once more to Adamstown in New South Wales to re-enlist with the Volunteer Defence Corps.

 

World War 11 Service

• Cyril enlisted in the Second World War in January 1942.

• He was attached to the Camp Staff at Raymond Terrace in New South Wales and was likely involved with recruit training.

• Six months after his re-enlistment, Cyril passed away suddenly.  He died in June of 1942 at the age of 54, survived by his wife and six children.

• Cyril was buried at the Alstonville Cemetery

The Story of Thomas Richard Connors / Memories ... April 19

This post tells the story of my paternal Uncle, Thomas Richard Connors  (1911 - 1972).

Our common ancestors are:  George Thomas Connors and Grace Olive Brown.

I'm publishing this post on the anniversary of my uncle's birth.

 Anniversary of a Birthday:   

(For my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

*Our common ancestors are: George Thomas Connors and Grace Olive Brown.

 

• My paternal uncle, Thomas Richard Connors, was born on the 19th of April 1911, at Mullumbimby, in New South Wales.

• His father was George Thomas Connors and his mother was Grace Olive Brown.

• Thomas was the third-born of eleven children born to George and Grace, and he was known as 'Tommy' to his family. 

• Tommy's father George worked on dairy farms in the Richmond Valley / Lismore area of New South Wales between Tommy's birth year 1911 and the early 1920s.  The family moved around for quite some time, to wherever George was able to find work.  By 1924, when Tommy was 12 years old, the family had moved to Queensland, around the Maleny area at first, but then further south around Beaudesert.  By 1936, father George, mother Grace and a few of Tommy's siblings had moved to Gympie.

• In 1932, aged 21, Tommy married Dulcie Elizabeth Charlotte Hunt at Murgon in Queensland, and they went on to have a son two years later.  It seems however that the marriage did not last.

• The 1936 and 1937 Australian Electoral Rolls records Tommy living at Mellor Street in Gympie, and there is no mention of his wife Dulcie.

• The 1936 electoral roll record shows he is with his father George and his sister Beryl at Mellor Street.  His mother was recorded as living in Wickham Street that day, and I'm not entirely sure why this would be so.

• The 1937 electoral roll record shows Tommy living on his own at Mellor Street, while his parents and older sister have moved to O'Connell Street.

Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial
AWM ARTV06766.

• Tommy enlisted with the 2nd AIF on the 3rd of June 1940, exactly nine months after the Australian Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies had announced Australia was at war with Germany.  He joined the 2/15 Australian Infantry Battalion.

• The attestation form completed and signed by Tommy states that he was 29 years 1 mth old, and that he was single.  While he might have been estranged from his wife, he was actually still married at this stage.  He gave his address as O'Connell Street in Gympie, which was the address of his parents.

This was Tommy's enlistment photo, taken a month after his 29th birthday.

His war service lasted until the end of January 1946.

He served firstly in the Middle East, from his disembarkation in February 1941, to February 1943.  

Tommy was a 'Rat of Tobruk" during 1941.

The Siege of Tobruk was a confrontation that lasted 241 days between Axis and Allied forces in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaign of World War Two. The siege started on 10 April 1941, when Tobruk was attacked by an Italo–German force under Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel and continued for 241 days up to 27 November 1941, when it was relieved by the Allied 8th Army during Operation Crusader.

The “Rats of Tobruk” was the name given to the soldiers of the garrison who held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps during the Siege. 

The garrison, commanded by Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead, consisted of the 9th Australian Division (20th, 24th, and 26th Brigades), the 18th Brigade of the 7th Australian Division, four regiments of British artillery and some Indian troops.

(excerpt from www.monumentaustralia.org.au)

The men of the Tobruk garrison lived in dugouts and caves, enduring scorching hot days, freezing cold nights and dust storms, all the while under daily bombings, tank attacks and artillery barrages.  Ordered to hold back the German advance for eight weeks, they held on for five months!

Tommy was in Tobruk for eight months in 1941 and towards the end of the war he would state that three months of that time was "very bad"!

A record of the 'Rats of Tobruk' put together in 2018, p. 102
https://ratsoftobrukassociation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/TOBRUK_AK_WEB_020721R.pdf 
found on the Rats of Tobruk Association website

(Photo held by the Australian War Memorial - Copyright expired - public domain)
L-R:  QX5873 Corporal Douglas John Allen, died of wounds on 22 September 1943 in New Guinea;
QX5139 (later 11189) Corporal John Thomas Sheppard, later awarded a Military Medal;
QX10535 Lance Corporal Alfred Claude Kling, died of wounds on 1 September 1942 in Libya;
QX17607 Corporal Paul Stewart Persse Delpratt;
QX3352 Private Thomas Richard Connors;
QX1970 Pprivate Stanley Lentell;
QX3350 Private Eric George Crawford, died of wounds on 27 October 1942 in Libya.

• The photo above shows a group portrait of members of the 2/15 Battalion, including my uncle Tommy.  He is 3rd from the right.  The photo was taken sometime in 1941 when they were serving in the Middle East.  Only four men in this group returned home to Australia at the end of the war.

• Tommy also served at El Alamein as a Bren Gunner, for about four to five months, and he would recall later on that "There was a lot of shelling on the first night and we were shelled for about four to five days.  The noise of our own artillery guns was very bad and we couldn't sleep."  That was his experience in just the first week there.

• After being withdrawn from the Middle East, the 2/15 Battalion then served in New Guinea, from 1943 to 1946.  During those years, Tommy suffered many bouts of malaria and both his physical and psychological health deteriorated.

• I know from stories told by my father (who was Tommy's brother), that the war experiences were deeply traumatic for Tommy and left wounds not visible to the eye.   A photo of Tommy was taken upon his discharge in January of 1946 and when putting his enlistment and discharge photos side-by-side, I think the impact of his war service is clearly evident.

• At the beginning of 1945, Tommy's first marriage had been dissolved by decree of the Supreme Court of Brisbane.  

.

• He was discharged from the Australian Military Forces in January of 1946.

• After his discharge, Tommy married Catherine Millicent Soames (known as Cathy) when he was 36 years old.  They were married in Nambour, Queensland in 1947.   At that time, Tommy was working as a public works employee.

• The 1949 electoral roll shows Tommy, aged 38, and wife Catherine living in  Channon Street, Gympie.

• Tommy and Catherine went on to have four children, and during the 1950s the family was living at Imbil, near the Imbil State Forest in southern Queensland.  

• The 1954, 1958 and 1963 electoral rolls show that Tommy and Catherine were living at Stirling Crossing at Imbil, and Thomas's occupation was forestry worker.

• The 1969 electoral roll shows Tommy, aged 58, was still working as a forestry labourer, but was now living back in Gympie with his wife Catherine.

• Sadly, Tommy passed away not much later, in 1972, aged 61.  He was buried at the cemetery in Gympie.

• A plaque was also erected to Tommy's memory at the Garden of Remembrance in Brisbane, in honour of his service to our country.

• Fittingly and rightly so, Tommy's grandson has proudly marched in a previous Anzac Day parade wearing his grandfather's medals.

• On this 2023 Anzac Day, 77 years after Tommy's discharge from war service, we remember him. 

The Story of Ernest Thomas Stanley Cusack

Documents are the essential resource for anyone researching their family tree.  I spend a lot of time reading through records of all types, then follow this up with hours and hours spent analysing the information, coming to conclusions and entering accurate, worthwhile data on my family tree. Most of the time this process does not elicit an emotional response.  

There are some documents however that really do tug at the heartstrings.  They make you pause and consider the impact certain events have on people you may have never met but feel a very strong connection to, because they're family.  War Service Records belong in this category of documents.  

Every year, as we approach our national day of remembrance known as ANZAC Day (April 25th), I pull out one of these records, spend time reading through it all very thoroughly, then pause to reflect on the contribution made by that family member, and the impact their service must have had on their immediate family at the time.  This year I thought I'd share some of the details from one particular war service record, from World War 1.

What's in an Australian World War 1 service record?

- an attestation paper completed on enlistment.  It includes next-of-kin, employment, marital status, age, place of birth and a physical description

- a service and casualty form which shows movements and transfers between units, promotions and details of injuries and treatment

- military correspondence between the Department of defence and the soldier's next-of-kin notifying of wounds or death, awards and medals, and answering questions on the whereabouts of a service member.

There are no details about that service member's involvement in particular actions and battles, nor any account of their day-to-day life in the service.  Those aspects of their war-time service need to be discovered elsewhere.

This week's post uses one particular war service record to tell the story mostly of my paternal 1st cousin 2x removed, Ernest Thomas Stanley Cusack (1897 - 1919), but I do include a few little details about two of his brothers, who also answered the call to support the British Empire during the dark days of World War 1.

Our Common Ancestors are:  Patrick Cusack and Eliza Exton.

Ernest Thomas Stanley (known as Tom by his close family) was born in July of 1897, the son of James Cusack and Mary Ann Catherine Davies.  He was the 8th of 14 children born to James and Mary Ann.  There were 6 boys and 8 girls in the family.  Ernest was born in the Murwillumbah area of New South Wales, but by the time he was 18, the family were living in Byron Bay.

As Ernest was approaching the end of his teenage years, his world was drastically changed by the outbreak of a world war.  When the U.K. declared war on Germany on the 4th of August 1914, nations in the British Empire, including Australia, followed willingly.  Recruiting offices around Australia opened only 6 days after the war began. 

Around 55,000 young men joined the newly formed AIF (Australian Imperial Force) in the first 4 months of the war.  Nearly 100,000 enlisted between April and October the following year, 1915.

One of Ernest's older brothers, Harold John Charles Cusack was amongst those 100,000. 

He was the first of the Cusack brothers to answer the call.  He joined the armed forces - 15th Battalion, 12th Reinforcement -  in August of 1915, at the age of 20, and embarked for overseas in November, aboard HMAT A23 Suffolk.  

Tel elKabir, Egypt
The Australian Army training camp c. 1916
Photo courtesy of the Australian War Memorial

Harold made it to training camp with the 15th Battalion in Tel elKebir, in Egypt, and was then posted to Zeitoun. 

Unfortunately, or luckily (depends on your point of view), he was admitted to hospital in March of 1916 with acute appendicitis.  

Harold did not proceed with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and did not end up seeing action during the war. 

He returned to Australia in May of 1916 and was discharged, medically unfit, upon arrival back home.

I'm assuming Harold met up with his younger brother Ernest upon his return to Australia, and no doubt had many long conversations about what it was like sailing overseas and landing in Egypt.  Maybe these stories helped convince Ernest that he also needed to serve.

Not long after, on the 15th of June 1916, Ernest himself enlisted with the 5th Machine Gun Battalion.  

First of all, he submitted his application to enlist: 

Application to Enlist

This provides some basic information - Ernest was literate, as he was able to provide a complete signature.  His occupation was that of labourer.  His father, James Cusack, had passed away and his mother, Mary Ann, was the one who gave consent for Ernest to enlist and added her signature to the document.  Ernest was aged 18 years and 11 months.  

On the same day, in the town of Lismore in New South Wales, his attestation papers were completed and signed by Ernest.

Front page of the Attestation Paper

So it was, that on June 15 1916, Ernest signed his life away.

For some unknown reason, of the three Cusack brothers who enlisted in WW1, there are enlistment photos for both of Ernest's older brothers, but none of Ernest.  His attestation papers do however provide a little detail about his physical appearance.

This is why I spend time pouring over documents.  Given this information, I found I was able to visualise Ernest without a photo.  He was quite a tall sturdy young man, 5 ft 8", with brown hair and grey eyes, weighing 9 1/2 stone. 

Another of Ernest's older brothers enlisted just two months later.

James Herbert Cusack enlisted in August of 1916 and his unit embarked from Brisbane on the 27th of October 1916.

James remained overseas, fighting on the Western Front, throughout 1917, 1918 and half of 1919.  He returned to Australia in August of 1919.

He had married in London, in May of 1919, so returned home with a bride.

Sadly, his younger brother Ernest never returned home.  Let's return to Ernest's story:

Just three days before Christmas of 1916, Ernest embarked from Australia on the ship "Persic" and sailed off to join the war effort.  His point of disembarkation was Devonport in England in March of 1917. 

Belton Park Camp, near Grantham during WW1

He was "marched in" to the Machine Gun Corp training camp at Belton Park Camp near Grantham, but it appears he fell ill within a week and was in hospital for 11 days.  

After that he returned to training.  Each man in the Machine Gun Corp (MGC) spend a minimum of five weeks in training before being posted to one of the frontlines.  They were taught the mathematics of the machine gun, firing, map reading and the use of semaphore flags.

It wasn't until June of 1917 that Ernest saw action in France.  All of these details are clearly recorded on the first page of Ernest's Statement of Service Form:

Statement of Service Form

Page 1 of this service form also shows that he was transferred to the 15th Machine Gun Company in late June of 1917.  Shortly after, Ernest was wounded in action, with a "shell wound to the chin", in September of 1917.  Sounds like he was hit by debris from an exploding shell.  

The military correspondence section of Ernest's war service record shows that his mother received this telegram in October of 1917:

Such a brief, stark statement!  Imagine receiving such a telegram!  It would be frightening and I can only imagine the anxiety it must have caused.  Of course, unknown to Ernest's mother, he was already in recovery.  Ernest re-joined his unit just a couple of weeks later.

Ernest's Casualty Form Active Service  (two pages) provides some detail about his whereabouts during his service  

He was at Camiers Camp in France, which was the base depot of the Maching Gun Corps (known today as Etaples Camp).  

He was also at Le Treport, which was an important hospital centre on the coast of northern France, about 50 miles south of Camiers.

As mentioned previously though, there is no mention of particular battles that he was involved in.

You can see on page 2 of this Casualty From that in March of 1918, he was granted leave in the U.K. for two weeks, and then was granted more leave in February of 1919.  

Leave was granted to the majority of men and women who served in the First World War. When the war first begin, there was an expectation that it would be a short war.  Of course, that proved to be far from the reality, so as the conflict dragged on, morale flagged and it became alarmingly clear that the hardship and horror of the front line fighting was taking a toll on soldier's physical and mental health.

Leave provided some respite from the dangers of war, and was deemed necessary in order to reduce the sense of separation which many of the Australian troops would have experienced, being so far from home.  The intervals of leave were not long, but provided much needed moments of rest and recreation.  

Unfortunately, whilst on this second round of leave, the benefits of this time off from war were very short-lived for Ernest.  He contracted influenza and was admitted to Endell Street Military Hospital in London on the 21st of February 1919.  

Endell Street Military Hospital
London

On February 24th there was an entry that read "dang. ill", which obviously meant "dangerously ill"; but that abbreviated word "dang." was crossed out at some point and "ser." was written underneath.  That meant "seriously".  So within 3 days, Ernest's health had deteriorated badly.

He hung on for nine days, but early on the tenth day, on the 3rd of March 1919, the Military Hospital at Endell Street sent a telegram to the Australian Army Headquarters in London, informing the office of the death of Private Cusack.  He was 21 years old.

This is a section from the Report of Death Form completed at Endell Street Military Hospital:

The form lists 'influenza' as the disease Ernest was afflicted with, but there is the word 'pneumonia' scribbled in pencil underneath as well.  It sounds like Ernest was indeed gravely ill.  The form states that he passed away at 6.50 am on March the 3rd.

Ernest's mother, Mary Ann, received this telegram on March 6th indicating that her son, who had been away from home for over two years, was "seriously ill". 

This news would have been devastating for everyone in the family, given they had not seen Ernest for such a long time.  Of course, Ernest had already died by the time this telegram had been sent, so worse was to come for his mother and siblings.

A newspaper article printed in the Tweed Daily newspaper indicates that the news of Ernest's death did not reach home until March the 8th (although there is an error regarding his name).  The article goes on to say that it was the Byron Bay Shire Clerk who received this news first.  He apparently then passed this on to a Reverend M. Gerry, who went to visit Mary Ann to give her the news.

Newspaper item in the Tweed Daily, Tues Mar 11 1919, p2                                               

Amongst the war service records of my relatives who fought and died in the first World War, disease was not listed as a common cause of death.  Of course, war creates perfect conditions for diseases to flourish and before the beginning of the 20th century, disease had indeed claimed many more military lives that combat itself.

Australians volunteering for the first world war were subjected to quite strict medical tests before enlistment and many were rejected.  Australians were also given a range of inoculations when they joined up, including jabs to fight smallpox and typhoid.

Unfortunately, despite all these precautions, many thousands of Australian troops succumbed to disease during the war.  The most common cause was respiratory tract infections, including influenza and pneumonia.  Combined, they claimed around 3,300 Australian lives during the war, and Ernest was one of them.

In Ernest's war service record there is a Burial Report, dated 12th March 1919, that provides some information about his funeral. 

 

Ernest was buried in the Australian Military Burial Ground at Brookwood, in Surrey, England - Plot IV, Row J, Grave No. 7 - and he was "accorded a full military funeral".

The report lists a Private Atherton, from the 4th Machine Gun Battalion, as either a relative or a friend, along with a Miss and a Mrs. Atherton, who all attended the funeral.  I found that particularly interesting as it seems to indicate that Ernest had family or perhaps a close friend over in England and probably spent his leave with them.  I suppose they visited him in hospital as well.  I do hope so.  It would be so comforting to think Ernest was not on his own when he was so gravely ill.

The information from the burial report then became the content of a letter that was sent to Ernest's mother on May 29th, 1919.

I do wonder if Mary Ann ever received a photo of Ernest's headstone.

In August of 1919 yet another telegram was sent to Ernest's mother, Mary Ann, informing her that she would be receiving a parcel of her son's personal effects. 

This is the list of what would have arrived in that parcel.

The following In Memoriam item appeared in the newspaper, The Byron Bay Record, on the 22nd of March 1919.

A Roll of Honour item appeared in the newspaper, The Northern Star, on the 21st of March 1919.

A Roll of Honour item appeared again in the newspaper, The Northern Star, on March the 3rd 1922.

Each evening between sunset and sunrise, names from the Australian War Memorial's Roll of Honour are projected onto the facade of the Hall of Memory (the dome) at our Australian War Memorial in Canberra.  

This Roll of Honour lists the 102,000 men and women from Australia's defence forces who have died in the service of our nation and Ernest's name will appear on these dates:

One of these days I would love to be there to see the name of a relative highlighted and acknowledged in this way!

 

Special Note to any family members:  If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.