2nd Battalion – Page 2 – The Harrower Collection

Captain: Robert Joseph STEWART. M.C. V.D. M.I.D

December 3, 2020March 8, 2017 by David Harrower ACM

Rising Sun

2nd BATTALION - 34th BATTALION A.I.F.

Captain: Robert Joseph STEWART. M.C. V.D. M.I.D

Born: 11th April 1894. Peak Hill, New South Wales, Australia. Birth Cert:27092/1894.

Married 1: 25th April 1925. St Augustine's Church, Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia.

Wife 1: Eileen Emily Stewart. nee: Elliott. (1893-19..)

Married 2: 21st March 1932. Wellington, New Zealand.

Wife 2: Eleanor Margaret Stewart. nee: Gibson. (1896-1959)

Died: 1st March 1988. Exeter, Devon, England.

Father: Andrew Stewart. (1863-1943)

Mother: Agnes Cardiff Stewart. nee: Mead. (1869-1953)

INFORMATION

Robert Joseph Stewart served with the 42nd Infantry CMF prior to his enlistment with the 2nd Battalion AIF on the 17th August 1914 and embarked for Egypt on the 8th December 1914. Robert was transported to the Dardenelles for the Gallipoli Campaign and was Wounded in Action on the 25th April 1915 where he received a Gun Shot Wound to his Right Leg and was evacuated to the 17th General Hospital at Alexandria before returning to Australia on the 9th September 1915 on board HMAT "Themistocles"

Robert re-enlisted with A Company 34th Battalion AIF on the 8th of February 1916 with the rank of Lieutenant and embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A20 "Hororata" on the 2nd May 1916 and was an original member of the Battalion. He disembarked at Plymouth, England on the 23rd August 1916 and was march in to the Durrington Army Camp at Lark Hill where he was promoted to Captain on the 2nd of September and proceeded overseas for France via Southampton on the 21st of November 1916.

6th June 1917.

BATTLE OF MESSINES

At 10 pm on the 6th June 1917, the Battalion left its billets fully equipped for the assembly Trenches. The order of march being "D", "A", "C" and "B" Companies. All went well until just before reaching Gunners Farm, where the enemy was putting a number of Gas Shells over and Masks had to be put on. Ploegsteert Wood and the back area were receiving particular attention. All Companies were greatly delayed of the amount of Gas in the Wood, which resulted in a number of men being gassed on the way up and many others were completely exhausted. A number of men lost their way in the darkness and smoke. Many could not see at all and had to be led back by their comrades. I many cases it was the blind leading the blind. After a grueling March, the first arrivals reached the Assembly Points 30 minutes before Zero Hour, while the last company arrived only 10 minutes before Zero.

On the 7th June, seven seconds before Zero Hour, which was 3.10 am, four Miles on our front were fired. There was a violent swaying as if an earthquake had taken place and the men in many instances were thrown together. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by the explosives and terrific Artillery fire, the sound of which could not be heard over the intense Machine Gun Barrage. The men left the Trenches immediately and there were a number of casualties on the parapet owing to the heavy enemy Barrage. The supports were also being shelled and the Reserve Company ("D") suffered considerable losses. The weather was hot and sultry and every one felt the trying march.

The Battalion passed through the 35th Battalion in the vicinity of the enemy's original Front Line, near Ulsters Switch. The enemy fire had been very severe up to this point and many men were lying here. A halt in our Barrage gave the Company Commanders an opportunity of Checking their Compass Bearings, defining their limits, and getting into position for the next advance. At the left of the Barrage a fine assault in complete waves was made. The men gained their objective in fine style behind a perfect Barrage and commenced consolidating their position. The mopping up of the Trench System was soon accomplished and many of the enemy were killed in their Dugouts. By 5.30 am fair cover had been obtained on the Consolidation Line. At 6.30 am Enemy Machine Guns were located in a rebout in "Uncertain Trench" and heavy Artillery was brought to bear on them with good results. By 7.30 am the Black Line was down to two thirds of its depth and linking up by Companies and Platoons were in progress. The enemy was seen moving along "Uncertain Trench" and also reports were received from the 33rd Battalion that the enemy was massing 1,000 yards in front. Reports of enemy movement continued throughout the early part of the morning, but Artillery co-operation helped to disperse the tendency and during the day no organised counter attack was attempted.

At 8.30 am the Line was well dug along the Front and affording excellent protection for the men. By 9.30 am only one gap remained between "A" and "B" Companies in the full length of the consolidation of the "Black Line" to the River La Douve. The Trenches being now well down, widening and sandbagging were now in progress and at 11.30 am showed very plainly in an Arial Photo as a good defensive Trench. There were repeated inquiries for water from the Front Line. Carrying Parties were suffering heavy casualties and were completely knocked up with the long distance.

At 1.40 pm Captain: Arthur Sidney WHITLOCK with "D" Company advanced to the Green Line, without Artillery support, owing to an alteration in the Zero Hour not reaching him. At 2.45 pm he reported by Runner that, having waited 30 minutes and no Artillery Barrage as arranged have been put down, he had advanced to the Green Line and was consolidating. by 7.30 pm all Companies reported that their positions were well consolidated. Just before midnight Captain: Arthur Sidney WHITLOCK was killed between the Green and Black Lines, and Captain: Robert Joseph STEWART took command of "D" Company. Patrols under the Scout Officers were sent out during the night and encountered enemy Patrols which were dispersed. A number of enemy patrols were also killed by our Machine Gun and Lewis Gun fire earlier in the night. At 5.00 am on the 8th June an enemy Plane over, flying low and inspecting our new position.

Our casualties to date had been 8 Officers and 236 other ranks. Captain: Arthur Sidney WHITLOCK and Lieutenant: 584 Leslie William Roy WARNER K.I.A. Lieutenant's Lieutenant: William Walter MATTHEWS Lieutenant: Hector Reginald McLEOD, Lieutenant: Bruce Gray McKENZIE, Lieutenant: Benjamin Greenup BRODIE, Lieutenant: Thomas Clifton PITTAWAY, and Lieutenant: Frederick Winn WALKER wounded.

MILITARY CROSS

Captain: Robert Joseph STEWART. 34th Bn AIF. At St YVES during the offensive of the 7th to the 10th June 1917, this officer Commanded a Coy with conspicuous success. He lost all his Officers during the first few hours of the attack, but captured his objective in face of heavy machine gun fire from GRAY TRENCH system. He handled his Coy with great efficiency and by eight and half hours after Zero he had so far consolidated the position that he was established in a good defensive system. During the night of the 7/8th June under orders from his C.O he also assumed command of "D" coy. (The Coy Commander having been killed) and completed the consolidation of its position of the GREEN LINE. His unbounded energy and personally acted as a stimulant to his men and he throughout inspired them with the greatest confidence. An attempted counter attack on the night of the 8/9th was quickly and resolutely repelled, several of the enemy being killed. His alertness during the offensive enabled him to supply his C.O with accurate and useful information as to the movements of the enemy in front.

London Gazette 25th August 1917. Page 8826 Position 4.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 20th of December 1917. Page 3383 Position 8.

MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES

Captain: Robert Joseph STEWART. 34th Bn AIF

London Gazette 3rd June 1919. Page 7256 Position 2.

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 6th October 1919. Page 1467 Position 39.

12th January 1918.

Group portrait of the officers of the 34th Battalion at Meteren.

From left to right; back row: Lieutenant (Lt) Reuben Parkes (killed in action 30 March 1918); Lt L G Clarke; Lt Thomas Henry Britton MC (died of wounds 21 June 1918); Lt Stanley Herbert Delves; Lt Richard Paynter Stevens; Lt Joseph Michael O'Loughlin; Lt Laurence Sylvester McMahon; Lt Edgar Ernest Brunker; Lt Sydney Rogers Nicklin; Lt James Snedden; Lt George Edward Hodges; Lt Thomas Bellamy; Lt Russell Stanley Brown (killed in action 8 May 1918); Lt Arthur Baillie; Lt Francis Henry Samuel Lee; Lt Vincent Charles Callen (killed in action 20 August 1918); Lt Rex Bernard York; Lt Percival Thomas Coleman; Lt Albert Dowding (died of wounds 5 June 1918). Front row: Captain (Capt) Telford Graham Gilder MC; Lt Jeffrey Monfries; Capt Alexander Warren MacDonald (killed in action 30 August 1918); Capt Norman Sydney Caines MC and Bar; Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Ernest Edward Martin DSO; Capt James Stewart MC; Capt Herbert Henry Percy MC; Capt Benjamin Greenup Brodie (killed in action 5 March 1918); Lt Edward StClair Forbes; Lt Frank William Gifford; Capt Chaplain John Calder.

VOLUNTEER OFFICER'S DECORATION

Major: Robert Joseph STEWART. Australian Corps of Engineers. (Field Units) 2nd M.D

Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 1st May 1930 No: 33. page 878

Family Information

Robert was a single 24 year old Civil Engineer from Parkes, N.S.W. upon enlistment. His father Andrew Stewart was his next of kin from Rosedernate Road, Orange via Parkes, N.S.W. Robert served with the 42nd Infantry Battalion prior to WW1.

Agnes Cardiff Stewart. nee: Mead (1869-1953)

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© Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia)

Under Construction; 13/09/2013-09/10/2015.

Private/Driver: 804 Charles Roy KING. (Aboriginal, Gamilaraay)

October 21, 2021February 25, 2017 by David Harrower ACM

33rd BATTALION - 2nd BATTALION AIF.

Private/Driver: 804 Charles Roy KING. (Aboriginal, Gamilaraay)

Born: 1894. Burra Bee Dee Aboriginal Mission, Coonabarabran via Baradine, New South Wales, Australia. (No Birth Records)

Died: 1959. Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia. Death Cert:19360/1959.

Father: William King. (18..-1917) Died at Coonabarabran, N.S.W. Death Cert:3838/1917.

Mother: Mary (Aboriginal Unknown) Burra Bee Dee Mission (Gamilaraay)

INFORMATION Charles Roy King enlisted with the AIF at Narrabri, N.S.W on the 18th December 1915 where he went into Camp at the Recruitment Depot before he was en trained to the Rutherford Army Camp where his Attestation form was signed by Commanding Officer of the 33rd Battalion Lieutenant Colonel: Leslie James MORSHEAD. on the 14th February 1916 where he was allocated to C Company 33rd Battalion AIF.

MAITLAND CAMP RUTHERFORD N.S.W. 1916.Charles remained at Rutherford until he en trained to Sydney where he embarked on board HMAT A74"Marathon" on the 4th May 1916 and disembarked at Devonport England on the 9th July 1916. The men of the 33rd were en trained to the Durrington Army Camp at Larkhill where they were allocated to the 9th Training Battalion. Here the Battalion settled down to hard training, which included Route Marching, Trench Digging, Bomb Practice, Musketry and General Camp Routine before proceeding overseas for France on the 16th September 1916 where he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion AIF. Charles was Taken on in Strength at Estaples and joined the 2nd Battalion in the field in Belgium on the 29th September 1916.

Charles was treated by the 1st Australian Army Field Ambulance on the 1st January 1917 suffering from Trench Feet and was evacuated to the 12th General Hospital at Rouen before he embarked for England on board the "Grantley Castle" from Havre on the 30th January 1917. After treatment in hospital back in England he was discharged to the No:1 Command Depot on the 20th March from Perham Downs and proceeded overseas again for France via Folkstone on the 25th April 1917. Charles was marched in from Estaples and Taken on in Strength on the 2nd May 1917 and was Wounded in Action on the 20th September where he was treated by the 6th Australian Field Ambulance for a Gun Shot Wound to his Jaw and was evacuated to the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station.

After being treated Charles was transferred to the No:3 Convalescent Depot on the 27th September and rejoined his unit on the 13th October 1917. Charles was appointed Driver on the 18th October 1918 and returned to England on the 25th February 1919 and returned to Australia on board the "Boonah" on the 11th June 1919 before he was discharged from the AIF on the 4th August 1919.

Family InformationCharles was a single 21 year old Labourer from Baradine, N.S.W. upon enlistment. Eldest brother J William King of P/O Baradine, N.S.W. and Mr S B Smith (Brother in Law) of Burra Bee Dee via Coonabarrabran were recorded as his next of kin who married second oldest sister of Charles (No Record of marriage). Sister Louise Talbot of Rosemary Street, Gunnedah, N.S.W. Sister Mrs Hollon Barraba? Sister Remedy Violet Sydney? Elderst sister Mrs J Rutter P/O Gulargambone, N.S.W.

BURRA BEE DEE ABORIGINAL CEMETERY Gordon Griffiths

Gordon Griffith Phillip Watton

Phillip Watton Eliza Ruttley

Eliza Josephine Ruttley 1890 - Died 9th September 1919Nobody lives at Burra Bee Dee these days. At the old settlement, 14 kilometers northeast of Coonabarabran, the surrounding bush has grown in over the old vegetable gardens and flower beds. The frame of a child’s tricycle lies rusting in the long grass near a frame of weathered wooden poles, all that remains of one of the houses. And there is the cemetery. It lies at the end of a winding dirt road and it is here that the people of Burra Bee Dee were laid to rest during the years from 1892, when the 600 acre reserve was gazetted, till the 1950s. It is mainly the cemetery which now draws back members of the old Burra Bee Dee families, most of whom have settled in Coonabarabran, to the deserted settlement. The dead are still taken back there for burial. Burra Bee Dee was a place where people always made their own life: they milked their own cows, played music for outdoor dances, made their own clothes. Laura Hartley recalls that when people died the women sewed the shrouds out of calico. The women and children made the wreaths out of wildflowers. The oldest headstones in the cemetery are of local sandstone. In the late 1800s one of the residents, Sam Smith, cut the stone from a sandstone outcrop on a nearby hill and carried it down to the settlement where he carved and inscribed the headstones by hand.

Margaret Sommerville, THE DANCIN SUN (Canberra:Aboriginal Studies Press. 1994)

BURRA BEE DEE RESERVE (no. 47521) was gazetted on 21 February 1912Burra Bee Dee Mission and Forky Mountain is of State significance as it maintains and continues to show the historical process and activities and is a place of occupancy of Aboriginal people from the district. The site is associated to a significant historical phase of NSW as it was land granted to an Aboriginal woman, Mary Jane Cain in the early 1900's by Queen Victoria and gazetted in 1911 as an Aboriginal Reserve. The area is able to demonstrate the strong associations to past customs and provides an understanding of cultural practices that were undertaken. The site of Burra Bee Dee mission, the cemetery and Forky Mountain is associated to the Gamilaraay people as a significant place as it is the original site of occupation for many Aboriginal people, it is associated to the memory of Mary Jane Cain and it is a place of cultural, spiritual, historical and social values.

The site covers approximately 628 hectares of land which includes the mountain known as Forky Mountain. Throughout the area there is no physical buildings, remains or objects of former dwellings such as housing, school or the church. The only remaining site at Burra Bee Dee Mission is the cemetery which is still currently being used by the local community. In the early 1970's the original school house was removed and is being used for private use.

Base Line. New South Wales Government

Mrs. Mary Jane Cain, known as the "Queen of Burrabeedee" The Aboriginal Station, 26th February 1844 Died on July 29 1926.

WONDERFUL WOMANThe Late Mrs. Mary Jane Cain First Half-Caste Born on Castlereagh CHRISTENED ON HORSE-BACKWhen the late Mrs. Mary Jane Cain died recently at Burra-Bee-Dee Mission Station there was snapped a link between Coonabarabran as it is to-day and times when full-blooded aboriginals were far more numerous than whites in the town; when warring tribes met in bloody combat not far from where John-street now runs; and when wildly spectacular Corroborees were common sights to the few whites of the times (writes the Coonabarabran 'Times'). The age of Mrs. Cain at the time of her death Is given by the authorities at the Mission Station as only 85, but on investigation, and what conclusions can be drawn from the piecing together of many progmentary verbal records would seem to indicate that they are at least a decade out, and that the deceased lady was somewhere near the century when she passed away. Mrs. Cain was known and loved by all for a very great distance round the district and outside it, and a word against her, had anyone been foolish enough to utter it, would have evoked the undying hostility of the oldest and most well-known families of the North Western Slopes and Central West. Many of today's most powerful scions of the House of Merino were nursed or fondled by her in their young days, and entertain feelings of a fierce and belligerent affection for her it would not be good to challenge. These feelings are easily understood by anyone knowing anything of the deceased lady's nature. She had in the truest sense of the metaphorical term, a heart of gold. She was, in essentials, as much a lady as the veriest Vere de vere who ever graced the world.

First Born on River Mrs. Cain was born at Toorawandi, seven miles from Coonabarabran on the Castlereagh River, and was the first half-caste born on the river. She was never ashamed of either her white or black blood, being too much of a natural aristocrat for such spurious sentiments. She had the curious experience of having been christened on horse-back. With her people she was taken to Mudgee for the ceremony. When the party reached that town it was found that the priest had left on horseback for another part of his parish. The party set out after him and overtook him on the road between Mudgee and Coonabarabran, and with the subject, then about fourteen years of age, sitting in her saddle, he performed the rite. Very early in life Mrs. Cain married a Mr. Budsworth, a well-respected half-caste of the Singleton district and a trusted employee of the well-known McMaster family of pastoralists. Of that marriage there were three children. Later, having been a widow for some years, deceased married another half caste named Cain. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. McEwen, Presbyterian minister at Mr. Duncan McMaster's home at 'Weetalibah.'

We might Interpolate, incidentally, that most of Mrs. Cain's life was spent amongst Scotch people. In her youth the late Mrs. Cain followed the occupation of shepherd, thus engaged she mastered the art of reading, mainly from the study of her prayer book and odd newspapers she was able to gather together. She had a natural bent for reading, which in later years ran to novels and verse well as ordinary news and political writings. She preserved wonderful sight right to the last, and only a couple of days before death read all available newspapers. She read her prayer book right to the last. 'Poetic Justice' Mrs. Cain remembered well the breaking out of the Ophir gold diggings. She would chuckle sometimes when it was referred to, for it brought vivid memories of how poetic justice came to the blacks of those days. Just prior to the outbreak, many of the bigger squatters had supplanted their black labour with Chinese. When the gold discovery came the celestial decamped in a body for the field, leaving the flocks they had been tending to the mercy of dingoes, which were then pretty numerous. It was some days before the owners found out the state of affairs, and by that time the flocks were all scattered. The squatters had to go practically cap in hand to the blacks they had dispensed with, and entreat them to again assume the role of shepherds. They got the flocks together, and generally made a good save. After that the squatters steered clear of Chinese labour for a long while. Just prior to her death Mrs. Cain made a remark to her daughter, Mrs. Robinson, which, in view of the subsequent rain, is remarkable. She said: 'I am going to a new home. When I am gone you will have plenty of grass and water.' Apparently if Britain scrapped seven ' cruisers she is building and the United States builds the whole of her proposed 17, America will be behind. To .fit up an hotel with running , water, hot and cold, in every bedroom J I means an average outlay of about per room. There the 115 windows on the Terrace front alone of the British House of Parliament. Manx tallies.1; eats are so popular, especially with Americans, that there Is a real danger of the Isle of Man running short of them.

Western Age (Dubbo, NSW : 1914 - 1932), Thursday 22 August 1929, page 4

Notification of Indigenous Servicemen from Susan Smith (Dubbo, N.S.W.) July 2016.

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