A Family At War

As the mother of two young men, fighting for their God, King and country during World War One, Mary Ann was proud and stoic.  The mother of ten children, she had already experienced three of her sons dying as children during a diphtheria epidemic in 1891, the youngest only eleven months old.   Mary Ann also nursed daughter Alice through the disease before becoming ill herself.  Mary Ann’s strength and stoicism would no doubt help her when, as a single mother, she would see the country at war and one of her sons die, thousands of miles away from her, but always in her heart. Mary Ann was born in Alberton in 1854, only thirteen years after the town had been named.  Her parents, John and Jane, had come to the new colony from Ireland.   Marrying Arthur in 1875, Mary Ann would have her first child Alice in 1876 and her last child Muriel, 19 years later.  Only three years after the birth of Muriel, her husband would die following complications from the me...

The ninth of Arthur and Mary Appleyard's ten children, Francis was the first of the Appleyard boys to sign up to the Great War, signing his enlistment papers of August 18, 1914, two weeks after Australia entered the war. Known to his family as Frank, he was only 5 when his father, Arthur Horatio, son of convict Peter died.  Arthur had held numerous positions in the Alberton Shire from 1870 to 1898 and was the Shire Engineer when he caught the measles, leading to his early death at only 47. Three of his brothers had died as children during a diphtheria epidemic in 1891 and the family had moved from Gelliondale to Alberton to escape the sadness of the home.  Following the death of Arthur, Frank’s mother Mary, would lease out the rooms of her Alberton home to boarders to make money and ensure her children could continue their schooling. In 1903 Frank was registered as living in Won Wron and working as a labourer.  With his family well regarded in the area, and educatio...

Robert McGregor was 22 years and 5 months old in 1902 when he left the family farm at Lindenow to sign up for the 6th Battalion of the Australian Commonwealth Horse for Service in South Africa. Australia had become a Federation a year earlier and the Prime Minister, Edmund Barton had committed to providing troops to the continuing conflict in South Africa following a request by the British Government. East Gippsland was in the middle of a drought at the time and the Government encouraged young men who were experienced in riding and shooting and who worked with their hands. At a time where unemployment was high, the war provided an opportunity for many young men to apply for active service. But for many, the Boer War was nothing like they expected. Robert officially joined on April 26, 1902. The 6th Battalion was part of the third and final contingent to depart Australia and, by the time the ships carrying the 2,000 soldiers arrived in South Africa, the war had ended with the sol...

Ernest was almost 31 years of age when he made the decision to fight in the Great War.   The fourth child and third son of Jane and George Appleyard, Ernie was the sixth of their much loved sons to sign up when he was declared fit for active service on the 1 st of March, 1916. His brothers, Gordon, Charles, Allan and Darcy were all in various positions across the Western Front whilst Leopold was in the Middle East.   Ernie and his brother Walter tended to the family farms with his parents ageing and most of the local men of working age having already enlisted.    As well as his brothers, Ernie also had ten cousins fighting in the war.  There was much pressure for young men to ‘do their bit’ and still much naivety around the perceived romanticism of being a soldier.  Many families with young men still at home would receive white feathers, a sign of cowardice and design to pressure them into joining the war effort.  There was also pressure from th...