History of Stockton, NSW

Is This Painting of Newcastle and Stockton By Henry Dangar?

This naïve painting of early Newcastle and Stockton as for many years been part of the City of Newcastle Art Collection. When the painting was last exhibited in 2021 it was labelled “Unknown Artist”. I was intrigued and decided to see what I could find out about the history of this work. Research identified a potentially controversial candidate – is this painting a previously unknown work of surveyor and landowner, Henry Dangar?

Provenance

In October 1956, after many years of planning and construction, the Newcastle Cultural Centre building was opened. This building was the new home for the Newcastle City Library and remains so today.  When opened, one room – the “W. J. Goold Room” was dedicated to the housing and preservation of historical material related to the Newcastle and Hunter district. He wrote a number of small local history monographs that are still used by local historians.

“Work Of A Lifetime Is Remembered.”, The Newcastle Sun. October 22, 1957.

The room was named after the man who donated the foundation collection – Wilfred James Goold. A name still familiar to anyone with an interest in the history of Newcastle. Goold was a local businessman who was also active in a number of civic organisations such as various swimming, surf, and cricket clubs, Masons, Rotary, School of the Arts and businessmen’s associations/clubs. And also, as a founder and active member of the Newcastle District Historical Society. 

The painting in question was part of the foundation collection donated by Goold[1].

This plaque is mounted in the City of Newcastle
Library Local Studies Section

On the 16th of February 1938 the Prime Minister, John Lyons opened the 150th Anniversary of Australia exhibition organised by the Newcastle and Hunter District Historical Society[2] in Newcastle. The exhibition included a variety of paintings, photographs, and objects that illustrated the history of Newcastle. As might be expected, items related to the coal industry were given prominent position – including “a piece of coal taken form the first skip that was won at the Stockton Colliery.”[3], and located next to it a picture of the rescue party from the 1896 Stockton Colliery Disaster.

Annual Report and Statement of Accounts Together
with a List of Members - 1938
, Newcastle and Hunter
District Historical Society

Other Stockton related items were also featured, including one that showed the Tweed Factory and the salt works. These landmarks were included in a painting loaned by Mrs. J. Faser, described as:

“Among the pictures on loan from Mrs. J. Fraser is one painted by Newcastle's first surveyor, of Newcastle from Cathedral Hill, showing these factories at Stockton.”[4]

An article from two years earlier gives a much more detailed description of the painting:

Among an interesting collection of early photographs, paintings and reproduced etchings in the possession of Mrs Fraser, is a picture painted in oils on a board. More than a century old, it gives a view of the tweed factory [1] and the saltworks [2] at Stockton, looking from the heights of Newcastle. The old Christ Church [3], with its precarious tower, is a prominent landmark among quaint dwellings [4], grazing cows [5], and one or two residents in the dress of the day walking along a rough winding track [6].

Pirates’ Point, so-called because escaping convicts landed there, is prominent in the picture, and old paddle steamers are depicted on the way to Morpeth [7].[5]

"View of Newcastle showing port with Cathedral in foreground
and Tweed Factory on the foreshore"
, Newcastle Region Library Picture Gallery

The article also mentions that Mrs. Fraser remembers her parents telling her about the fire that destroyed the Tweed Factory and her memories of the remains of the building after the fire.

So, who was Mrs James Fraser, and why would she have this painting, in addition to many other similar paintings and photographs of the early history and development of Newcastle?

A photograph of Annie Fleming from "Peter Fleming
C1816-1894 : Butcher, Land Owner, Councilor,
Family Man"
by Winifred Joan MacFarlane, 2007

Annie Fleming Fraser

Mrs James Fraser was born Annie Fleming in December 1846, the daughter of Peter Fleming and Mary Cameron[6]. Peter Flemming started his working life as a butcher in Scotland before he was convicted of theft and sent to Australia as a convict[7][8]. He would swim cattle over to one of the harbour islands to fatten them up, so much so that the island became known as Bullock Island (later Carrington).[9] An astute businessman, he became extremely wealthy, extending his business interests into coal mining and property. It is here that we find a tentative connection to other luminaries of the time including Henry Dangar. Fleming and Dangar, along with James Hannell were the landholders of the area that would later become Wickham.[10] Fleming erected the first house in the area, called Linwood.

 In addition to his business interests, he was actively involved in local politics, being a member of the Newcastle Borough Council. It seems likely that successful and influential businessmen such as Hannell, Dangar and Fleming moved in the same professional circles. There is some evidence of social interactions, with James Hannell, an MP at the time, giving one of the toasts at the wedding of Annie to James Fraser[11]. Annie married James Fraser, an engineer and foundryman[12] in May 1867 in a lavish wedding[13]. They also had a mutual interest in horse breeding, so much so that Peter’s eldest son Robert was the full-time stable manager.[14]

Section of map showing the land owned by Peter Fleming (red), James Hannell (blue) and Henry Dangar (green)
from Parish of Newcastle, County of Northumberland / G. Lewis, 2nd April '86,
National Library of Australia (https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-229900830/view)

Peter Fleming’s will provide evidence that he had a collection of paintings, including one of him and his wife, Mary[16].  In fact, Peter Fleming owned a building which included “Mr. Graham’s Fine Art Depot”.[17] Graham was uninsured[18], did he use some of the items he saved to pay of debts to Flemming?

 “I bequeath the furniture paintings plate and household effects…”[15]

Henry Dangar

Dangar was assigned by Gov. Brisbane to survey the Newcastle and Hunter District in 1822 and spent two years measuring and marking out land, villages, and the growing King’s Town.[19] These plans were to be used to divide the land for distribution, and to assist in future planning by the govt[20]. He was therefore intimately familiar with the Newcastle area.

Plan of the Town of Newcastle on Hunter's River, by Henry Dangar, 1823,
NSW Crown Lands Department
via Indigenising the City – Summary of Conference Paper

There are currently two works attributed to Dangar, both held by the National Library of Australia as part of the Rex Nan Kivell Collection.

The two paintings are: Corroboree or native dance at Durhambak on the banks of the upper Manning, New England, Australia, 1 (https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135518043/view) and Corroboree or native dance at Durhambak on the banks of the upper Manning, New England, Australia, 2 (http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135518202). There is no detail about how what evidence was used to attribute these paintings to Henry Dangar[21].

To my untrained eye, even considering the different materials and subjects, these paintings don’t seem to have much in common stylistically. The tone of the images seems very different as does how the figures and foliage is rendered.

The painting itself is in a naïve folk style. It doesn’t appear to be the work of a professional artist or in the style of any of the artists known to have created works of Newcastle during the same period.

Dating of the Painting

“Newcastle 140 Years Ago.” Newcastle Morning Herald
and Miners’ Advocate
, 16 July 1960.

The 1960 illustrated article assigning ownership of the painting to Goold has the following caption:

“This painting included in the W. J. Goold gift historical collection, is believed to have been painted between 1817 and 1820. It shows a view of Newcastle, the harbour entrance and Stockton. The church is the Anglican church, Christ Church, which was built in 1817. It was replaced later last century by the present cathedral. The period is established by the spire, which was demolished about 1820. The structure on the left at Stockton is the tweed factory, which was destroyed by fire.”

This quote gives the date of the painting as between 1817 – 1820. We can categorically say this is not possible. The Tweed Factory which features prominently on the Stockton foreshore, was not built until 1840[22], so that provides an earliest possible date for the painting. It also provides an end date, as the building in question was burnt down in 1851 (although it may have been added from memory). This dating aligns with that given on the 2021 exhibition label of about 1850.

This date puts creation of the painting within the lifetime of Henry Dangar, who died in 1861.

One major problem, however, is the physical dimensions of the painting. The 1938 exhibition catalogue lists the painting as being 14 inches by 18 inches or 350mm by 450mm. The Hunter Photobank catalogue entry for the painting lists it as 600mm by 850mm[23] or 23 inches by 33 inches. These measurements obviously don’t match. Could the larger measurement include the frame? Here the Library catalogue entry gives us the statement of: “1 painting : in frame 67 x 84 cm.” To me this indicates that the larger measurement does in fact include the dimensions of the frame. This could account for discrepancies in the dimensions.

It’s also worth noting that the image that appeared in the 1960’s newspaper article is cropped when compared to the more recent colour image of the painting, it’s possible that the measurements given in 1938 didn’t include parts of the image covered by the frame and/or matting.

Discussion

How did the painting transfer from the possession of Annie Fraser to Wilfred Goold? Annie Fraser died on the 31st Dec, 1938 at the age of 92.[24] This was at the end of the year of the exhibition. Is it possible that her painting wasn’t returned after the exhibition, and she died before it could be returned? Or did she or someone in her family gift it to Goold?

Conclusions

  1. The image was probably produced c.1850.
  2. Its first known owner is Mrs. Annie Fleming Fraser.
  3. Her father, Peter Fleming was a known to have a collection of pictures.
  4. The painting was known and exhibited in 1938.
  5. It is attributed to Newcastle’s first surveyor (at the time unknown).
  6. Newcastle’s first surveyor was Henry Dangar.
  7. Henry Danger and Peter Flemming were contemporaries and owned adjoining plots of land.
  8. It was given by W. J. Goold to the Newcastle City Library in 1957.

It’s impossible to say with 100% certainty that Henry Dangar was the artist, but the evidence we have is strong (stronger in fact than for those paintings held and attributed to him by the National Library of Australia).

If in fact Dangar didn’t painting the pictures, I have at least provided previously unknown information about the provenance of the painting.

References


[1] “Newcastle 140 Years Ago,” Newcastle Morning Hearld and Miners’ Advocate, July 16, 1960, 5.

[2] “NEWCASTLE EXHIBITION.,” Sydney Morning Herald, February 15, 1938, 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17431310.

[3] “SOUVENIRS OF OUR FIRST 150 YEARS,” Newcastle Sun, February 21, 1938, 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166674976.

[4] “SOUVENIRS OF OUR FIRST 150 YEARS.”

[5] “MEMORIES OF EARLY DAYS,” Newcastle Sun, May 25, 1936, 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166583818.

[6] Winifred Joan MacFarlane, Peter Fleming C1816-1894: Arrival “Hygeia” 30 September 1838, 1997.

[7] MacFarlane.

[8] Mike Scanlon, “Ex-Convict’s Meaty Tale: HISTORY,” Newcastle Herald, April 4, 2015.

[9] Scanlon, 12.

[10] Scanlon, 12.

[11] Winifred Joan MacFarlane, Peter Fleming C1816-1894 : Butcher, Land Owner, Councilor, Family Man, 2007.

[12] “MRS. A. FRASER,” Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, January 2, 1939, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135470050.

[13] MacFarlane, Peter Fleming C1816-1894: Arrival “Hygeia” 30 September 1838.

[14] Scanlon, “Ex-Convict’s Meaty Tale.”

[15] “Peter Fleming : Photographs and Paper Cuttings” (n.d.).

[16] “Peter Fleming : Photographs and Paper Cuttings.”

[17] “Great Fire at Newcastle.,” Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, December 16, 1882, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161924821.

[18] “INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.,” Queenslander, December 16, 1882, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19788355.

[19] Nancy Gray, “Henry Dangar (1796–1861),” in Australian Dictionary of Biography, 18 vols. (Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 2006), https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dangar-henry-1954.

[20] Map of the Town of Newcastle on Hunter's River, [1827-1828], [M4658A]. Living Histories, accessed 05/10/2024, https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/83545

[21] This was confirmed with the National Library of Australia via email dated 5 July 2024 (NLAref187183).

[22] “LIFE IN STOCKTON - Eleven Times Mayor ALD. TIMOTHY GRIFFITHS,” Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, March 14, 1931, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137692774.

[23] View of Newcastle Showing Port with Cathedral in Foreground and Tweed Factory on the Foreshore, 1840, oil on wood, 1840, https://newcastle-collections.ncc.nsw.gov.au/library?record=ecatalogue.54542.

[24] “Her Lifetime Spanned City’s Growth,” Newcastle Sun, January 2, 1939, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article167350100.

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Stockton Private Hospitals – St Helier Private Hospital: 1923 - 1926

Annie Elsie HOCQUARD - Staff Nurse

Annie was born on 18th August, 1886 in Ballina, NSW. Her father, John HOCQUARD was a boat captain, and her mother was Sarah Ann NEWBERRY. She attended Cooks Hill Superior Public School and then she trained as a Nurse at Newcastle Hospital, passing her exams for the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association in 1913[1]. She nominated her mother, who was living at "Au Revoir", Carlisle Street, Stockton (119 Mitchell St), NSW as her next of kin.

Annie Hocquard (in uniform) with one of her brothers, her mother
and her sister Vera (Genevieve) standing outside their house,
Au Revoir, in Carlisle Street, Stockton (119 Mitchell St)
Photo courtesy of Barrie Bertram.

She enlisted on the 29th September, 1916, joining the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) as a Staff Nurse[2]. She embarked from Sydney, NSW, on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on the 9th May, 1917 for England, where they arrived on 29th July, 1917. She was assigned to the Croydon War Hospital in August, 1917 and then moved to the 2nd Australian Auxiliary Hospital (2AAH) at Southall which specialised in the fitting of artificial limbs. While serving her she was struck down with influenza but recovered quickly and was transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospitals (3AAH) at Dartford, which specialised in the treatment of war-related nervous disorders. She was then ordered overseas in September 1918 relocating to the 3rd Australian General Hospital (3AGH) at Abbeville, France[3]. This was a tent hospital, located close to the battlefields of the Somme. She returned to Australia on the HS Karoola on 6th May 1919, her sister, Nurse Genevieve Nimmo HOCQUARD was on the same voyage. For both nurses, it was a working voyage as they accompanied 400 wounded soldiers on the transport ship[4].

By 1922 she is working as a nurse locally in Stockton[5], however, there is no mention of an associated hospital. The address in the advertisement appears to be the family home in Carlisle/Mitchell St.

“Advertising,” Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate,
February 11, 1922, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140992479.

Genevieve Nimmo HOCQUARD - Staff Nurse

Genevieve Nimmo HOCQUARD, also known as Vera, was born in 1890 in Lismore, NSW. Her father, John HOCQUARD was a boat captain, and her mother was Sarah Ann NEWBERRY. She trained as a Nurse at Maitland Hospital. She passed her exams for the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association while working there in 1916[6] and continued to work until her enlistment. She nominated her mother, who was living at Carlisle Street, Stockton, NSW as her next of kin. She is also referred to as Vera or May in some records.

She enlisted on 11 May 1917 into the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). Her embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board RMS Mooltan on 9 June 1917 headed for a stop at Egypt, and then onto Salonika. After her first year there, she was struck down with a case of dysentery, with which she was seriously ill for over a month[7]. She remained in Salonika until March 1919, having served at the 42nd, 43rd and 50th General Hospital[8] where she nursed a variety of non-Australian troops and civilians. She was then ordered to report to AIF Headquarters in London. She remained in England for only a couple of months before returning to Australia on the HS Karoola on 6th May 1919. Her sister, Nurse Annie Elsie HOCQUARD was also on the same voyage[9]. She was discharged on 28th June, 1919. On her return to Australia she was honoured at several receptions in both Maitland and Stockton.

Once back in Australia it appears she returned to Maitland, where between 1922 and 1923 she was part of a group of nurses associated with the Maitland Trained Nurses Association[10].

“Advertising,” Sydney Stock and Station Journal,
March 17, 1922, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article125383734.

St. Helier Private Hospital

"Advertising - Thanks" The Newcastle Sun
16 February 1924 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163221746.
[11]

In June 1924 St. Helier Private Hospital is advertised as operating under the auspices of Annie Elsie HOCQUARD and Genevieve Nimmo HOCQUARD[12]. The advertising for their hospital highlights their service as both trained nurses, and an as recent members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) during the First World War.

The name of the hospital appears to have been an homage to the birthplace of their father in the main city of the Channel Island of Jersey, St. Helier.

The hospital was located on the right-side of Dunbar Street, between Monmouth and Hereford streets[13]. Annie was listed as the licensee in the Register of Private Hospitals, NSW 1910-1928[14].

"Advertising – Professional Notices"
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate
 
11 June 1924 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137640022
[15]

"Family Notices" Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate
6 September 1924, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137780019 [16]

Other than a number of notices of thanks related to births, illnesses and deaths to the Hocquards and their hospital, we know very little about where the hospital operated or any events associated with it.

Advertising, The Stockton Times, 12 September 1924

“Wise’s New South Wales Post Office Directory,”
Trove
, 1925, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-613408082.

After St Hellier

In 1928 Vera was working at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney but returned to Newcastle to work with her brother, Clive who was lessee of the Newcastle Ocean Baths[17]. She married in 1942 in Sydney but returned to Newcastle, where she died in 1970.

By 1929 the hospital seems to have ceased operation, as Annie had given up her midwifery registration, which for a lying-in (maternity) hospital, would mean it was no longer able to operate. After leaving Stockton, she worked for a time in the Welfare Department of the Scott’s Store[18]. She married in 1947, living in Stockton, before moving to Wyong where she died in 1969.

 

"Advertising - St. Helier, Private Hospital." Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954) (NSW), 11 June 1924 1924, 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137640022.

Armitage, Audrey. A Golden Age of Nursing. Newcastle, N.S.W.: The Royal Newcastle Hospital Graduates' Association Book Committee, 1991.

Australian War Memorial. Awm8 Unit Embarkation Nominal Rolls, 1914-18 War. Canberra, ACT: Australian War Memorial, 1914-1918.

"Captain Hocquard: 33 Years' Service: On Land and Sea." The Newcastle Sun (Newcastle, N.S.W), 4 June 1919 1919, 1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162565805.

National Archives of Australia. B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920. Canberra, ACT: National Archives of Australia, 1914 - 1920.

"Nurses from Stockton." The Newcastle Sun (Newcastle, N.S.W), 30 Jun 1919, 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162568872.

"Proposal Approved." Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954) (NSW), 02 September 1930 1930, 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164225450.

"Stockton." Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (Newcastle, N.S.W), 25 Nov 1918, 5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137497300.

"Wise's New South Wales Post Office Directory." (1909).



[1] Audrey Armitage, A Golden Age of Nursing (Newcastle, N.S.W.: The Royal Newcastle Hospital Graduates' Association Book Committee, 1991).

[2] Austalian War Memorial, AWM8 Unit Embarkation Nominal Rolls, 1914-18 War,  (Canberra, ACT: Australian War Memorial, 1914-1918).

[3] National Archives of Australia, B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920,  (Canberra, ACT: National Archives of Australia, 1914 - 1920).

[4] "Captain Hocquard: 33 Years' Service: On Land and Sea," The Newcastle Sun (Newcastle, N.S.W), 4 June 1919 1919, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162565805.

[5] Maitland Weekly Mercury. “Advertising.” March 18, 1922. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136513594.

[6] "Nurses From Stockton," The Newcastle Sun (Newcastle, N.S.W), 30 Jun 1919, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162568872.p.6

[7] "Stockton," Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (Newcastle, N.S.W), 25 Nov 1918, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137497300.p.5

[8] National Archives of Australia, Short B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920.

[9] "Captain Hocquard: 33 Years' Service: On Land and Sea."

[10] “Advertising,” Maitland Weekly Mercury, March 18, 1922, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136513594.

[11] "Advertising - Thanks" The Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954) 16 February 1924: 2. Web. 20 Aug 2023 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163221746>.

[12] Vernon, Kaye, and Billie Jacobsen, eds. Index to the Register of Private Hospitals NSW 1910-1928 from State Records NSW (5/5857-5/5860) /, 2015.

[13] 1925 "Wise's New South Wales post office directory,"  (Sydney, NSW: Wise's Directories, 1909), p.1215. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-522689844.

[14] Kaye Vernon and Billie Jacobsen, eds., Index to the Register of Private Hospitals NSW 1910-1928 from State Records NSW (5/5857-5/5860) /, 2015, 82.

[15] "Advertising – Professional Notices" Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954) 11 June 1924: 3. Web. 20 Aug 2023 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137640022>.

[16] "Family Notices" Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954) 6 September 1924: 4. Web. 20 Aug 2023 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137780019>.

[17] 1928 'BATHS LEASED', The Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954), 18 September, p. 4. , viewed 20 Aug 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163966598

[18] "PROPOSAL APPROVED," Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954) (NSW), 02 September 1930 1930, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164225450.

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Abner Clifford John ANDERSON - 6763

Abner Clifford John ANDERSON was born in Wickham, NSW on 1900, the son of Eugene Clifford ANDERSON and Amelia May HOPKINS. He had six siblings, John Eugene ANDERSON, Millie Sarah Elizabeth ANDERSON, Jessie Maud ANDERSON, twins Aubrey ANDERSON and Wilfred David ANDERSON and finally, Ida ANDERSON. His parents are living at 4 Douglas St, Stockton at the time of his enlistment[1].

Prior to the war, he was employed at Morrison and Bearby Foundry in Carrington, NSW as an engineers’ apprentice. He was also a member of the Naval Cadets for four years[2].

He enlisted on 28 May 1917 at the age of 18 into the 17th Battalion, 20th Reinforcement, which embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A72 Beltana on 16 June 1917 and arrived at Plymouth on 25 August 1917. After being transferred to Belgium in January 1918, he saw service in France, where he was gassed on 3 Oct 1918. He was initially taken to the 58th Casualty Clearing Station and then transferred by Ambulance Train No. 148 to the 1st Australian General Hospital where he died of wounds on 18 Oct 1918 at Rouen, France. He was interred at St. Sever Cemetery Extension (Block S, Plot II, Row O, Grave No. 10), Rouen, France.

"DISTRICT CASUALTIES."
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate

9 November 1918: 7. Web. 10 Mar 2024
<http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137500233>.
 
He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is commemorated on the Stockton Soldier's Memorial, the St Paul's Church of England Roll of Honour, and Cooks Hill Superior Public School Roll of Honour. 

Links



[1] Austalian War Memorial, AWM8 Unit Embarkation Nominal Rolls, 1914-18 War, (Canberra, ACT: Australian War Memorial, 1914-1918)

[2] National Archives of Australia, "B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920."

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