The Gardiner brothers of Chandos Street, Coburg

There were actually four members of the Gardiner family who were involved in the war - father Alexander and three of his sons Reginald, Raymond and Claude. 

Alexander, a carpenter aged in his 50s, was engaged in war work in England for the duration of the war and I've yet to discover whether records exist that might tell us what he did.

Reginald and Raymond Gardiner were teachers, so their war experiences were outlined in the Education Department's 'Record of War Service', published just after the war.

303 Pte Reginald Scott Gardiner, 55^th Btn

Reginald Gardiner was born at Casterton in 1893, the son of Alexander and Agnes Montgomery (Wilson) Gardiner. He became a Junior Teacher with the Victorian Education Department in October 1908, his first school being at Yarragon in Gippsland. He taught until the start of 1913 then entered the Training College in Carlton. He was doing well when he applied for leave to enlist in August 1914, just after war was declared.

Extract from Reginald's Career Record, Teacher number 16370, Public Record Office of Victoria.

Reginald left Melbourne with the first troop convoy on 21 October 1914. He was on board HMAT A3 Orvieto, the convoy's flagship. There were 16 ships in that convoy and there were quite a few Coburg men on board - 70 on HMAT A20 Hororata alone. There were 1,400 service personnel on board the Orvieto, 28 of them from Brunswick and 15 from Coburg. Reginald Gardiner was then part of the Army Medical Corps.

We are fortunate that extracts from some of his letters home to his mother were collected, the circumstances explained in the following memo:

(Courtesy AWM)

So, here's what Reginald had to say about the voyage:

He also wrote about the Gallipoli landing in a letter dated 5 October 1915.

And on 30 November 1915, he wrote about the cold weather they had endured.

And finally, in his Christmas Day letter home in 1915, he wrote about the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

To begin with, Reginald was stationed at Divisional HQ, but later joined the 55th Battalion. He was ill with influenza in 1915 at Gallipoli and was gassed while serving in France in November 1917, but survived the war, was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and returned to Australia in June 1919.

He did not returned to teaching and in July 1920 the Education Department granted him indefinite leave. A newspaper report in March 1922 reveals that he had resumed university studies and was one of fifteen young barristers admitted to the Full Court. (Herald, 1 March 1922)

Reginald's career as a lawyer was very short. He died in November 1922 aged just 29. It seems that he succumbed to the effects of his wartime bout of influenza and gassing. 

2325 Pte Raymond Aubrey Gardiner, 38^th Btn.

Image courtesy AWM. Image PO5248.0447.

Ray Gardiner was born in 1891 at Casterton. He was appointed a Junior Teacher at 1794 Bulumwaal, East Gippsland in March 1907. By the time he enlisted, he was Head Teacher at 3316 Cocoroc in the Werribee area. He showed promise as a teacher, as the following Inspector's report indicates:

He enlisted on 22 July 1916 aged 25 years and embarked on A17 Port Lincoln on 20 October 1916, just days before the first conscription referendum.

 Raymond Gardiner, the eldest son of the family, was killed in action at Passchendaele on 4 October 1917. The Roll of Honour Circular gives the following details:

(Courtesy AWM)

3303 Claude Montgomery Gardiner, 4^th Btn.

The third brother to serve was Claude, born at Bulumwaal, East Gippsland in 1899. He was working as a printer when he enlisted on 30 July 1917 aged 18 yrs. At first he was stationed at Broadmeadows but embarked from Sydney on 2 February 1918 and served in France from July 1918. He had permission to join from his mother as his father was in England on war work. He was wounded (GSW thigh) on 27 August 1918 and returned to Australia in January 1919. He died at Preston East in 1973.

Another brother, Norman Wilson Gardiner, born in 1895 at Casterton, was a carpenter like his father. He was living in Loch St, Coburg during WW2 when he joined the Civil Construction Corps.

Their sister Enid Victoria, born in 1897 at Sea Lake, married John Murray McKay in 1926 and  died 1976.