All the documents are written in copperplate handwriting by the same person. Even the signatures are written by the same person...not my grandfather. We have wondered if it was because many volunteers would have been illiterate? In Papua New Guinea in the early 1960s I witnessed labour recruitment for plantations where illiterate natives touched a pen and the recruiting person wrote their name. Was that what it was?
Click image to enlarge
On reflection I came to the conclusion that the original documents are kept in the National Archives in Canberra and the documents given to the servicemen were copies.....hand written by a scribe in copperplate in a time before photocopiers were even thought of.
My grandfather and his brothers returned to Australia at a time when it was thought the war was over and re-enlisted when it flared up again. It must have been very exciting stuff, or living in country Australia at the time must have been extremely boring.
Grandfather and his brothers were in a unit called Kitcheners Fighting Scouts. I am sorry I didn't talk to him more about his experiences in S.A..
Harry 'Breaker' Morant was recruited from South Australia and along with another Australian was executed for taking part in the murder of a couple of Boers and a German priest who had witnessed the killings. At the time and even today, it is felt that 'The Breaker' and his mate were executed to placate the Germans who were thinking of joining the war on the side of the Boers. Recent attempts to clear their names have failed.
4 comments:
So very interesting.....:-)Hugs
I HAD a close look with the magnifying glass, Kev, at your Granddad's "place of birth".
I must say I expected the hand writing to be more 'copper plate' than it actually was!
Nevertheless I made out the place of birth as Majorca, in central Victoria. That's not far from gold mining town Maryborough. Majorca is where my maternal grandmother's family had a farm in the 1880s and 1890s.
No giant, either, the Granddad. Five feet, five and half-inches makes him somewhat of a little tacker.
A rover or a permanent forward pocket player in Aussie Rules terms.
And we always thought that our big, bronzed Anzacs were weeded out hy the vagaries of WW1 on the battlefields of Europe.
A great bit of family history Kev. Paul.
Kev, Your grandfather was 20 years 6 months, My grandson's age, when he signed up. How frightening, I see for religion he wrote Wesleyan, Methodist I suppose, Unusual that he had a tat, i suppose people have been getting tattoos for years, Interesting document, Perfect handwriting, Should frame it, Hope Helen gets a job soon.
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