Thomas Hetherington was born on the 29th March 1895 at Stockton, NSW. His parents were John Hetherington (1857-1906) and Mary Jane Hutton (1855-1953).

Thomas had two older siblings: Percy Byers Hetherington (1887-1961) and Leslie Hetherington, born 1888. Both applied to join the army. Percy in July 1917, while living at 2 Clarence St, was declared unfit to serve as he had lost two fingers off his left hand. Leslie SN 2924 enlisted in 1916 while living in Stanley St, Mt Lawley.

Thomas was a printer when he enlisted in March 1915. He was admitted to hospital with a hernia whilst on training in July 1915 before he left to go overseas.

He was appointed Lance Corporal in Egypt in March 1916, and in June the same year he travelled to France, some months later being promoted to Sergeant. In May 1917 he was transferred to the 70th Battalion from the 11th Battalion. In January 1918 he was promoted to Lieutenant in the field.

At the beginning of September, he was admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound to his scrotum.

He was invalided to England and hospitalised and placed on early return to Australia in December 1918.

It is assumed that Thomas moved around after his return as he is not listed at an address until 1949 at “Jarramongup Station” at Ongerup, where he is listed as station manager. In 1951 he was at Kookynie moving back to Perth in later years to Nollamara.

However, Thomas’s brother Percy and his wife Beatrice Myrtle continued to live at the family home at Clarence St throughout the war and up to the 1950’s.

Thomas married Sofia Henrietta Louise in 1948, and they had one son born in 1952 called Robert Ernest.

Thomas died on the 3rd August 1971.

Thomas James Garth was born in India on the 1st June 1867 into an Imperial Military family.

He moved to Australia from England in 1911 and settled down in Mt Lawley with his wife, Sarah Ann (nee Martin) (1868-1943). They had four sons and one daughter. The three elder sons: John Garth (1894-1929), Thomas Garth (1896-1969) and Frank Garth (1898-1916), served in WWI, and their youngest son Reginald (1903-1959) served in WWII.

Thomas James Garth was 42 when he enlisted in September 1914. He was promoted to Sergeant as he had led a military life in India and England. However, he soon got into trouble and was discharged later for misconduct.

Thomas rejoined again in March 1915, and was appointed Sergeant soon after. He went overseas and joined the 28th Battalion and went to join forces in Gallipoli. On arrival at Gallipoli, he was admitted to the field hospital with influenza followed by enteritis, then sent back to Egypt on the hospital ship, returning to Australia for rest and change.

In June 1916, he was back on the front in France and joined his unit.

On the 3rd November 1916 he was reported missing in action and after a court of inquiry on 27th July 1917 was declared to have been killed in action. There is No Known Grave, “Known Unto God” and he is remembered on memorials in France and on the Mount Lawley Inglewood Memorial,

John Garth was the eldest son of Thomas James Garth (1867-1916) and Sarah Ann Garth (nee Martin) (1894-1929). He had three brothers and one sister.

In 1913, John joined the Australian Regular Army when he turned 18. He was on duty when the announcement that WWI was starting, and he joined the Australian Imperial Force. He joined the 55th Siege Artillery Battery on the same day as his brother Frank on the 1st June 1915.

He left Melbourne as Gunner in July 1915 and joined his unit in France.

He was wounded in action on the 16th March 1916, during one bombardment and received multiple wounds. He spent a long time in hospital but managed to rejoin his comrades at the end of May in the field. On the beginning of June, he was again wounded in the field with another gunshot wound to his head, left wrist and back. He again was shipped to England and returned to Australia for change and was discharged as an invalid in February 1917.

In 1917 John returned to live with his mother Sarah who had moved to 95 First Avenue, Mt Lawley.

John married Josephine Gertrude Smith (1894-1989) in 1919, and they moved to 69 Monmouth St, Mt Lawley where John worked as a clerk. In 1925 they lived in Woodroyd St and in 1928 lived in Money St, Perth. John’s health never improved.

John died on the 18th August 1929.

Thomas Garth was born on the 29th July 1896 in India to parents Thomas James Garth (1867-1916) and Sarah Ann Garth (nee Martin) ( 1894-1929). He was the second eldest son. He had three brothers and one sister.

He enlisted in August 1914 as a Driver with the 18th Battery Field Artillery. He had done previous military service prior to enlisting. He joined not long after finishing his schooling.

He served through the Gallipoli campaign and then served in France.

In December 1916 he applied for leave from the Army to return to Australia as his father had been killed, as had his brother Frank, and his brother John had been badly wounded. He asked that he could return to help his mother who was alone with a daughter of 15 and a son of 13.

He was allowed to return to Australia and arrived in May 1917. In December 1917 he was given an honourable discharge allowing him to receive his war medals at the end of the war.

He returned to the family home. In 1919 he married Kate Darling Campbell (1898-1992).

In 1921 he moved to Carnamah into one of the four soldier farmer settlements and farmed until 1929 when they returned to Perth.

Thomas served in WWII, W 48493.

The couple had one daughter in 1920 named Marion Florence Garth.

Thomas died on the 16th July 1969.

His ashes were scattered over the gardens at Karrakatta Cemetery.

Frank Garth was born on in Dover, England around July 1898 to parents Thomas James Garth (1867-1916) and Sarah Ann Garth (nee Martin) (1894-1929). He was the third eldest son. He had three brothers and one sister.

He enlisted on the same day as his brother Frank in June 1915. He joined the 16th Infantry Battalion.

He joined the Battalion in Gallipoli in August 1915 and was wounded by gunshot in the left knee within a few days and transported by ship to hospital in Alexandria. When he had recovered and was discharged in October, he rejoined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli) but was sick again with tonsillitis and neuralgia and was again taken to hospital in Egypt.

In March 1916, he left to join the 24th Field Artillery Brigade in France, arriving in Marseilles.

On the 10th December 1916 he was killed in action in the field. It was a few weeks after his father had been killed in the same area.

There is No Known Grave, “Known unto God”.

He is remembered at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France, and memorials in Perth.

Frank Francis Whittaker was born in 1889 in Ballarat Victoria to parents George Edward Whittaker (1852-1908) and Mary (nee Mann) (1867-1907).

He had four siblings: Catherine May (1888-1890), brother George Edward (1889-1937), Violet Florence (1895-1937) and Irene (1900-1927).

Frank enlisted mid-June 1915 when he had been working as a machinist. He left Australia for Egypt and was assigned on arrival in November to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli).

At the beginning of January 1916, he joined his battalion.

At the end of January, he was admitted to hospital with Pes Cavus (a foot deformity) and a few weeks later in March was admitted to hospital at Heliopolis with Talipus Equinovaros (club foot).

He embarked for Australia in April 1916 on the HT Runic for discharge from the service.

On discharge he moved back in with his brother George Edward and his wife Florence Gertrude.

In 1918 he married Ida Gertrude Trott (1892-1927). They had four children: Mary Patricia (1918-1996), Francis “Frank” (1920-1990), Ronald Vincent Joseph (1922-1993) and Doreen Margaret (1927-1986).

In 1921, they lived a while in Bulwer St but moved into 136 Seventh Ave where he stayed even after Ida died. He was still living there in 1937, but by 1949 had moved to 198 Seventh Ave.

His brother moved away from Clarence St around 1920 but also stayed in the area living in 38 First Ave.

Frank Francis died on the 16th November 1949. He is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery Perth.

Photo courtesy of VWMA.

Joseph Percy Parkin had two Serial Numbers which are both listed in records causing confusion, especially as on one of these records he is listed as Joseph Perry Parkin. This happened since he left the service and a year later retuned as a Retuned Soldier

Joseph Percy was born in 1891 in Leeds, England to parents Joseph Parkin (1857-1898) and Ellen Walker (1857-1947). Joseph had a younger brother, Horace Walker Parkin, born 1893.

Joseph Percy was employed as a Vulcaniser when he enlisted on the 13th January 1915. He left Fremantle on the HMAT Berrima aged 24 years. He went off to Gallipoli in June 1915 with the 11th Battalion.

In August he was wounded in action with a bullet to the nose. He left Gallipoli by ship to Lemnos, transferred by hospital ship to Alexandria, then to Convalescent Hospital. At the end of August 1915, he was sent back to duty.

A week or so later at the beginning of September, he was admitted to hospital with influenza, and two months later admitted with enteric fever. In December, he was sent by ship to Port Said to return to Australia for a change.

At the end of December 1916, he left Australia again on the HMAT Berrima, arriving two months later as a returned soldier. He attended training camp in Dorrington and Codford.

In March 1918 he went to France with the 11th Battalion Reinforcements.

He was wounded in action again in August 1918 with a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. He was sent to England and admitted to Graylingwell war hospital.

He was sent home to Australia in the beginning of 1919 and then discharged.

In 1919 Joseph married Phillis Evelyn Collett (1900-1941). They had two children and lived in East Perth.

After Phillis died, Joseph remarried Gladys Garenth Swaffer (1899-1944), the widow of John William Swaffer (1890-1939). He too had served in WWI in the 44th Battalion.

Joseph Percy died on the 22nd April 1955. He is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth.

Private Arthur Watts was born in 1896 in Fremantle to parents Arthur Watts (1874-1945) and Rosina “Rose” (nee Buckley) (1878-1946).

Arthur (Junior) was the eldest of nine siblings: Gray (1898-1943), Rose (1900-1985), Florrie (1902-1982), Samuel (1904-1905), May (1906-1982), Thomas (1908-1982), Hilda (1910-1978) and Daphne (1912-1994).

The family moved into the house at Clarence St in 1916 after living in Fremantle.

Arthur enlisted on the 15th May 1916. His occupation was listed as a Horse Driver.

In June 1916 he joined the 32nd Battalion. He left Fremantle on the ‘Port Melbourne’ at the end of October, arriving in England at the end of December. He was admitted to camp hospital at Hurdicott in February 1917.

Two months later he left for France and joined his Battalion in the field.

He was wounded in action on the 29th September 1917 and transferred to field hospital but because of the severity of the lacerated wound to his right leg, then was transferred from Rouen on the 9th of October. He was admitted to the war hospital in Bath and later transferred to convalesce in Dartford.

He returned to Australia on the 5th April 1918 and discharged in November. It is assumed he returned to his family home but in 1920 the family moved away from Clarence St, Mt Lawley.

In the middle of May 1941, Arthur was found injured on Canning Highway, South Perth. He was hit by another driver (who tried to avoid him) and reported the accident to the police. Arthur was taken to Perth Hospital but died a couple of days later from a fractured skull, legs and ribs.

He is buried at Karrakatta Cometary.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry

Private Stanley Arthur Smith was born in Fremantle in 1896 to parents George Smith (died 1914) and Catherine Smith (nee Brown) (1854-1917). Stanley was a farmer when he enlisted in July 1916 at the age of nearly 25.

He enlisted in July 1917 when he was living with his sister in Clarence St.

He left Fremantle in February 1917 as Trooper with the 26th Battalion 10th Reinforcements, arriving in Suez in April, then off to training camp at Moascar, then with the British Expeditionary Force as a temporary driver.

On the 9th December 1917 he was the middle driver of a wagon team when he was thrown from the mule, where he fell to the ground and was injured. He was admitted to the 14th General Hospital at Abbassia, Egypt.

He suffered a severe dislocation injury to his left elbow which, according to the medical report “may interfere with his future efficiency as a soldier“.

In the middle of 1918, he was transferred to the cable section to be Driver. In April 1919 he was admitted to hospital again at Abbassia with Catarrhal Jaundice (infectious).

He was returned to Australia in June 1919 as temporarily unfit for general service and also for home service.

In 1920 the Samuels (Stanley’s sister) had moved away from Clarence St, and Stanley is listed as being a farmer at Narrogin, West Australia.

In 1932 he married Margaret Ann Davis (1909-1987) in Bunbury and the continued farming in the area. They had one son.

Stanley died on the 23rd April 1955 in Wellington, WA and was buried in the Harvey Cemetery.

Richard John Elliott was born in Swansea, Wales on the 11th August 1878 to Parents John Elliott (1852-1910) and Mary Merrifield Mitchell (1852-1930). Richard was the fourth eldest of 15 siblings born between 1874 and 1897. The family moved to Perth, Australia around 1885.

In 1907 Richard married Mary Ellen Keating (1874-1962) and they had two sons: Francis Mitchell Elliott (1909-1972) and Raymond Richard Elliott (1911-2009).

The family was living at 54 Clarence St in 1910.

Richard worked as a labourer and joined the forces on the 9th January 1917.

He sailed out of Fremantle at the end of January arriving in Devonport two months later. He joined the 51st Battalion for training at Codford, England.

He left for France in July 1917, but in September was returned and admitted to the Birmingham War Hospital with influenza.

From January 1918, he readmitted a few times with influenzas and pyrexia until in November 1918 when he was promoted as Temporary Corporal on Permanent Cadre of Training No 2 C at Tidworth England.

He returned to Australia in May 1919 and was discharged two months later. He returned to live in Clarence St with his wife and two sons.

He died on the 12th September 1922. He is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery.

Photo courtesy of Ancestry.

Private George Henry Brown was born in Perth on 19th November 1893 to parents Thomas Brown (1867-1932) and Charlotte Mary (nee Biddle) (1873-1942). He was the eldest of nine siblings, but the only one to enlist in WWI. However, he had four brothers who were to enlist in WWII.

He enlisted in January 1916 with the 44th Battalion and after training, proceeded to Southampton in November the same year.

He was sent to France and, after a period in hospital sick, he was sent back to the field. He was wounded in action in August 1917, sent to England on the HS Panama, and admitted to hospital in Dartford with a severe gunshot wound to his thorax and right hand.

At the end of May 1918, he returned to France with the Australian Infantry Base Depot and re-joined his unit in the field.

Five months later he returned to hospital with influenza and was returned to England with severe influenza and bronchial pneumonia. He was discharged from hospital at the end of December and sent to No 1 Convalescent Depot until March 1919.

He returned to Australia on the HT Delta and was discharged from the Army in August 1919.

On the 27th October 1919 he married Frances Ellen McLean (1893-1993). They had four children born between 1920 and 1928.

George returned to work at the Railways and in 1925 the family moved out of the area.

He died on the 28th July 1949 from carcinoma of the lung. He is buried in the Western Australian Garden of Remembrance Karrakatta Cemetery.

After his parents died, his brothers Thomas Wilfred Brown and Ronald Victor Brown (WWII Wx34015 ) continued to live at 65 Clarence St until the 1960’s.

Photo courtesy of VWMA.

Private Alexander Dixon was born in Inch near Gorey Ireland on the 6th September 1895 to parents William Dixon (1865-1935) and Grace Anne Dixon nee Hempenstall (1875-1965).

Alexander was the second eldest child of 14, and one of four sons. The family came from Ireland in 1913, settling in Clarence St by 1914, but moving away to Bayswater in 1916.

Alexander enlisted with the 16th Infantry Battalion at Blackboy Hill on the 8th September 1914. He sailed from Melbourne on A40 Ceramic on the 22nd December 1914.

He was killed in action in the field on the 26th or 29th April 1915.

In the records there is discrepancy on the dates. The National Army Archives and the Red Cross report from a soldier who saw him die differ. Alexander’s mother followed up this in correspondence with the Army but to no change in outcome with the Army formalising the date of death as the 29th April.

If the date of the Red Cross is correct, Alexander died on the second day of operations in the Dardanelles Gallipoli. The Australians landed at Anzac Cove on the 25th April 1915.

There is No Known Grave, “Known Unto God” and he is remembered on memorials at Lone Pine and the Australian Commonwealth War Graves.

Photo courtesy of VWMA.