John Henry Thomas ( Jack) Drayton was born in August 1888 in Williamstown, Victoria to parents John Alfred (1858-1917) and Martha Crockford ( 1870-1929). He was the 3rd eldest of 6 children, having 4 sisters and one brother William Edward Drayton who also served in WW1 but at the time was living in Subiaco with his wife and not in the family home in Gerald St.

In 1910 Jack was living in Gerald St with his parents and working as a grocer.

In June 1912 he appeared in Court with 4 other young men arrested on suspicion of a burglary stealing a safe from a local chinese restaurant. Jack was imprisoned for two months with hard labour.

Jack enlisted on the 8th September 1914 as a Private with the 8th Battalion .He had previously been working as a labourer.

He left Australia to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces at Gallipoli in April 1915. After Gallipoli he returned to Alexandria and was sent to the field in France in March 1916. He spent one week in hospital in the field hosptital with laringytis in June 1918 .

He was given special leave due from 1914 and returned to Australia on the 14th October 1918.

He married Maud Clara Barrett in 1919 in Richmond Victoria and they had 4 boys and two girls.

When WW2 broke out Jack joined the Army again as did his sons Alfred Henry ( 1919-1984) and Leslie John Drayton (1922-2001).

Jack died in Canberra on the 2nd January 1957 and is buried at Woden Cemetery , Phillip, Canberra.

Albert Henry Cuming Freeborn was born in 1864 in Milbrook, Hampshire England to parents John Issac Freeborn (1839-1884) and Emily Jane Cuming ( 1838-). He had 2 siblings George Frederick Freeborn ( 1867-) and Isobel Julia Kate ( 1870-1918).

His father was a merchant seaman and died at sea on 12 September 1884 .

In 1903 he married Alice Jessie Knapp (1862-1954). She appears to have been married previously to Henry Charles Browne in Victoria in 1891 and they had a son who died in their first year of life.

In 1905 Albert was living in Perth; his mother and sister had stayed in England. In 1905 he was working as a boarding house keeper In 1910 he was a storekeeper in Colin St West Perth and in 1912 he was working as a hotel employee.

In 1915 his son Rupert Grafton Freeborn was born in Beverley Western Australia on 22nd January.

In March 1917 Albert enlisted in WW1. He was 45 and working as a night porter. By this time he was living at 17 Gerald St with his wife.

As a Private he joined the Rifle Reinforcements, then the 26/11th Battalion before leaving Fremantle on the HMAT Borda to England. He went to Dorrington to join the 3rd Training Battalion in October 1917.

He stayed in England moving to duty with the Pioneer training Battalion in April 1918.

He returned to Australia in December the same year, sick with senility and debility. He was discharged in January 1920.

On 8th August 1925 Albert died leaving everything to Alice and after her death to his adopted son Rupert George Castle Freeborn (later changed by deed poll to Rupert Grafton Freeborn) and step daughter Dorothea Gladys Albertha Simon.

In 1929 Alice moved away from Gerald St, moving to Victoria Park.

Rupert enlisted in WW2 as a masseur and chiropracter. He and his wife Gwendoline later lived at 28 Norfolk St North Perth.

Albert was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth Western Australia.

John was born in Brunswick, Melbourne, Victoria in 1878. It is very hard to find any early history of his life but he was married in 1903 to Maggie Mitchell.

He enlisted in the Army first in May 1915 SN 2502 but was struck off for desertion by October 1915 and was absent for nearly 2 years.

In May 1917 he was tried and convicted for deserting the H.M.Service and confined in Perth on 29 May.

In June 1917 he was reinstated with SN 4016 in the 22nd Depot. He was absent again and a warrant issued in July 1917.

In December 1917 he left Australia on HMAT A60 to England.

Arriving for training at Codford he dislocated his shoulder In February and was admitted to hospital.

In April 1918 he was taken on strength in the field and not long after was shot in the arm and the leg and admitted to the war hospital in Rouen then transferred to Bath England.

He rejoined his battalion on 21 October 1918.

In March 1919 he was sent back to England for early return to England for non military employment.

He returned to Australia in May 1919.

He moved into the country as a farmer at Toodyay, then to Nungarin and Mukinbudin where he took on the responsibility of Chairman of the Road Boards. He pressed for better arrangements for post war settlers into the area.

He successfully stood for Labour in the Mount Marshall elections in January in 1930. He was appointed to the newly created seat at Mount Marshall (near Bencubbin).

He died at the Kununoppin hospital on the 22 August 1935 from acute diabetes.

He was buried at the Nungarin Cemetery.

In 1935 after his death his wife wrote to the Army asking if he had left a will prior to leaving to fight. The Army forwarded the details to her.

On 22 August 1944 Maggie put a notice in the West Australian “gone from my sight but not from my heart“.