Researching World War 1 soldiers from the Moreland area

Moreland City Libraries has put together an excellent collection of resources on researching the World War 1 years and has an ever-growing collection of digital resources, including images and publications, which are available for you to download and read at home.

For example, by putting 'Soldier' into a search of Moreland's Local History Catalogue, I came up with this image of Leslie ('Swannee') Prior, who, it is claimed, was Brunswick's youngest soldier.

Image courtesy Moreland City Libraries.

When I used the search term 'war' a number of images came up, all related to Brunswick. This one is of a 1915 send off to soldiers at the Brunswick Town Hall. It is probable that some of the men pictured here were from Moreland, which is right on the border between Brunswick and Coburg.

Image courtesy Moreland City Libraries.

The following photograph shows a gathering held in Coburg (at the Public Hall) in 1919 to welcome home returned servicemen. It can be found online by searching TROVE, another invaluable source of images and newspaper articles, amongst other things. (Note that on this occasion, the image has been labelled  incorrectly as a recruiting dinner, dated 1914.)

Image courtesy Coburg Historical Society

Local libraries and historical societies depend on donations of images and memorabilia from family members and others to help build a picture of what a particular community was like. You may not wish to part with your precious family treasures, but do consider donating digital images of the material to your local historical society and/or library.

No matter which side your family member fought on, or which country they lived in at the time, if they settled in the Moreland area at any stage, please consider sharing the material you have so that we can build a more realistic picture of what our communities were like during and after the war years.

Raising funds for the Glenroy Military Hospital

To begin with, in November 1915, Linda Davis organised a  bazaar and garden party at her home, 'Moreland Hall', and managed to secure Senator Pearce, the Minister of Defence, to open it. It was at this event that Senator Pearce spoke about the reason for the establishment of the Glenroy Military Hospital - for those who were taken ill before they went to the front.

From this point, Linda Davis worked tirelessly to support the Glenroy Hospital, in addition to other patriotic causes. No doubt she was involved in the Coburg Patriotic League Novelty Fair in April 1917, which featured a ‘lady with a hundred pockets’!

In March 1917, Linda was nominated by the St John’s Ambulance Society as its Queen of Soldiers. This was part of a great fund-raising effort – a Queen of Victoria competition. There were other Queens – of Sport, of Motorists, of Railways, of Music, of Peace and so on.

Linda Davis’ Queen of Soldiers’ fund-raising efforts began with a Military Pageant on 28 April 1917. One of the star turns was an equestrienne display by the Ladies of the Purple Cross and the Misses Crinnion of Rose Street, Coburg. The Remount Section AASC put on a display and there were races, drills, bomb throwing, semaphore displays and even a ‘balaclava melee’. 

Then came a Sports Carnival on 12 May  at the Coburg Recreation Reserve. It included many groups, including the Coburg Cowboys (who put on a wild west display), Oaklands Hunt Club and a ‘Pre-historic display’ by Coburg Harriers.

 Coburg Cowboys. Image courtesy Coburg Historical Society

A Hard Times Ball in aid of Queen of Soldiers was held at Coburg Town Hall on 12 July and there were many other fund-raising events, the most spectacular of which were the raffles organised as part of Linda Davis’s Queen of Soldiers effort.

Mount Alexander Mail, 11 August 1917

Weekly Times, 4 August 1917, p.34

Finally, in late August, the results came in. At first there was great disappointment – Linda had been ‘beaten on the post at the last minute by a matter of £7.’ (Brunswick and Coburg Leader, 24 August 1917, p.3) She had actually raised the most money (£1,700-2-9d), beating the Queen of Sport, Mrs Wheeler, but because the money had not gone in on time, she was deemed to have come second. (Brunswick and Coburg Leader, 23 November 1917, p.2)

Leader, 4 August 1917, p.49

The matter did not rest there, however. The decision was overturned. Linda Davis, Queen of Soldiers, was victorious!

Brunswick and Coburg Leader, 23 November 1917, p.2

Brunswick and Coburg Leader, 30 November 1917

And here she is, Linda Davis, Queen of Soldiers, winner of the Queen of Victoria competition:

Table Talk, 2 August 1917, p.18.

And again, with her team:

Table Talk, 2 August 1917, p.18.

This ends the blog entries on the Glenroy Military Hospital.

I have been researching the Glenroy Military Hospital’s history for a while now and it has not been an easy task. The Broadmeadows Historical Society has generously allowed me to scan and publish the images you see on this blog of ‘Ashleigh’ and ‘Sawbridgeworth’ and for that I thank them. Coburg Historical Society has provided images of ‘Moreland Hall’ and I thank them. Just about everything else has been pieced together from newspaper articles that I located on TROVE. 

Every researcher with an interest in Australian history should thank their lucky stars that someone, somewhere conceived the idea of TROVE. It truly is a source of great treasure!

Patriotic efforts of the Davis family of Moreland Hall, Coburg and others

'Ashleigh', one of the two Glenroy houses used to accommodate sick soldiers during WW1. Image courtesy Broadmeadows Historical Society.

You may have wondered why a Military Hospital in Glenroy has taken up so much space in a blog about Coburg's World War One experiences.

The answer is simple: Much of the fundraising was done in Coburg and the driving force was Miss Linda Davis, daughter of Cr Albert Davis of  'Moreland Hall' and granddaughter of William Davis of 'Nassau', who featured in earlier blogs. Her brother Rupert served in the war, which has also been the subject of an earlier blog entry.

'Moreland Hall', Jessie St., Coburg. Image courtesy Coburg Historical Society.

Linda Davis seems to have been a phenomenal fundraiser right from the start of the war. From September 1914, the local newspaper, the Brunswick and Coburg Leader, reported on Coburg's fundraising efforts, beginning with a Garden Fete at 'Moreland Hall', opened by Maurice Blackburn MLA, to raise funds for the Coburg Patriotic Fund and the Foundling Hospital. 

In early December, Linda Davis helped organise a grand patriotic concert at the Public Hall in Bell Street to raise funds for the Red Cross. 

In the following June, the Brunswick and Coburg Leader reported that Linda had ‘made a systematic canvass of Sydney Road, Coburg, during the week in quest of sweets, tobacco and cigarettes for our returned heroes, and succeeded in gathering a good supply.’

And on it went ...

Linda, her mother and her sister Myrtle were members of the Coburg Branch of the Red Cross. Linda organised a dance at the Public Hall to raise money for the Red Cross and for wounded soldiers. She co-ordinated the knitting of scarves for the troops. She organised a Plain and Fancy Dress Ball. She was responsible for a concert at the YMCA Hall in Broadmeadows that was attended by 1,500 people.

And then the Glenroy Military Hospital opened its doors and as its supervisor, Linda Davis really came into her own.

Fundraising for the Glenroy Military Hospital will be the subject of the next few blog entries...

Patients at the Glenroy Military Hospital

Image courtesy Australian War Memorial. Image DAX1070.  Portrait of Isolation Camp, rear of Army Medical Corps Base. Army Medical Corps, Isolation Camp, Ascot vale. C 1916.

Once again, the story of the men who were treated at the Glenroy Hospital has begun to emerge from that wonderful online newspaper collection found at TROVE. Each time I go back and search again, I find that new resources have come online, so this story is far from over.

At first I found only mentions of men who had died, but slowly a picture is emerging of some of the others who were treated there.

What follows here are the references to patients that I have uncovered so far:

July-August 1915. Signaller Stanley Selbey (Stan) Stoney, late of the Parramatta Boys Scouts, contracted measles at Broadmeadows Camp during a fortnight’s instructions and spent three weeks at Glenroy Hospital.  By mid-August he was at home on furlough. He went on to serve in France and arrived back in Australia in July 1919, having survived a bout of influenza at the end of the war. (The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 11 August 1915 and attestation papers)

16 August 1915. Private Rudolph (Rody) Ryan of Mortlake died at Glenroy Military Hospital. (Argus, 16 August 1916) His attestation papers show that he died just over a month after enlisting in the 10 Reinforcements of the 7^th Battalion. He was a 32 year old traveller and listed his mother, Mrs Annie Ryan of Warrnambool, as his next of kin. He died at Glenroy Hospital on 16 August 1915 of tubercle of lung (12 months), measles and haemophysis. He was buried at in the Roman Catholic section of  Coburg Cemetery, Compartment A, Grave 46 on 16 August 1915.  The Mortlake Dispatch of 18 August 1915 records that his sister was serving overseas as a nurse.  

28 August 1915. William Swanson Naismith, second son of J.T. and M.E. Naismith, died at Glenroy Military Hospital of influenza and heart strain. (Attestation papers and Portland Guardian, 28 and 30 August 1915) He was in the Naval Reserve Unit and had been ill for a month. His body for returned to Portland for burial. A detailed account of his funeral can be found in the Portland Guardian, 1 September 1915.

Bendigo Advertiser, 3 Sep 1915. 

2 October 1915. A typhoid patient was discharged from Glenroy Military Isolation Hospital. The unnamed soldier arrived in Wagga on 3 October and was admitted to Wagga Hospital on 4 October. (Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga), 15 October 1915) This is the only mention I have found to a typhoid patient being treated at Glenroy.

30 October 1915. Thirty-two year old Donald Kirk died at Glenroy Military Hospital. of measles and broncho pneumonia. He was the fourth son of James Kirk of Myocum, NSW.  (Mullumbimby Star, 4 Nov 1915, p.5)  His attestation papers show that he was a cheese maker who enlisted in the 12 Reinforcements, 2^nd Light Horse at Toowoomba on 11 September 1915, about six weeks before his death. He was buried in the Church of England Section of Coburg Cemetery, Compartment D, Grave 648 on 30 October 1915. 

November 1915. Pte Joseph Paul Lugg of the 4th Light Hosrse was a measles patient and doing well, according to his widowed mother Agnes, who lived at Airey's Inlet. Unfortunately, Pte Lugg did not recover. He died of cerebro spinal meningitis at the Alfred Hospital on 8 November and was buried at the Mount Duneed Cemetery the day after his death. (Geelong Advertiser, 3 Nov 1915 and attestation papers)

The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 23 Nov 1915. 

Wilfrid Esmond Kilburn joined the Flying Corps as an air mechanic. He survived the war and returned to Australia in March 1919.

12 June 1916. Tarrant Baker of Broadford died at Glenroy Military Hospital bronchial pneumonia and measles, having been ill for 12 days. He had been in camp at Seymour from 1 March to 22 May but was transferred to the Glenroy Military Hospital on 7 June 1916 (It is listed here as #5 Australian Infectious Diseases Hospital, Glenroy). He had enlisted in the 13/24th Battalion in February that year. (Attestation papers and Argus, 23 June 1928)

August 1916

Wangaratta Chronicle, 23 August 1916. 

Much of the fund raising for the Glenroy Hospital was organised through the efforts of Linda Davis of 'Moreland Hall', Coburg and the citizens of Coburg. This will be the focus of the next few blog entries.