Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Captain John Grono - voyages and places - Ebenezer and Milford Sound

Mitre Peak, Milford Sound New Zealand - photo JM Stewart 1987

Reading about the Grono family reunion being held in the Ebenezer Church Grounds, Coromandel Road, NSW Australia on 3rd May 2015 got me thinking about the links of this family to New Zealand.

Back on 3  May 1799 - 216 years ago - Captain John Grono and Elizabeth Grono ( nee Bristow) arrived on Australian shores  at Port Jackson , Sydney  aboard the naval store ship HMS Buffalo. With the Grono parents were two of their daughters - Elizabeth and Jane ( born aboard ship at Cape Town ). They shared the journey with 68 cattle loaded aboard at Cape Town , South Africa on the way by Captain William Raven, Captain Grono crewed on this journey  as boatswain.

Coromandel Road at Ebenezer was named for the ship Coromandel which bought eight families of free immigrants to Port Jackson in June 1802 . These families -  Davison, Hall, Howes, Johnston, Johnstone, Meins, Stubbs and Turnbull settled together at Portland Head, Ebenezer. They were joined by seven other families –  Arndell ( of First Fleeter Dr. Thomas Arndell) ; Grono ( of Captain John Grono who came in 1799 with his wife Elizabeth aboard the ship Buffalo); Bushell, Cavanough, Jacklin, Suddis and Jones.

Circular Quay in Port Jackson, Sydney - photo CRB 2013

Both ships which bought those early Ebenezer Setters, carried  the same names as  two of the ships significant to early European History on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. HMS Coromandel in 1820 - for which namesake the town of Coromandel takes its name; HMS Buffalo which was shipwrecked in 1840 at Whitianga. The early ships His Majesty's Coromandel and His Majesty's store ship Buffalo were not the same ships as came to Coromandel Peninsula.

However Captain John Grono and several family members did spend considerable time on seal fisheries of the Fiordland coasts, South Island, New Zealand.
 
Seals Halls Arm Doubtful Sounds - Photo JM Stewart early 1980's

Seal and Whale  Fisheries New Zealand

The early days of " hard graft"  in the Royal British navy for Welsh born Captain John Grono, fitted him for the Seal Fisheries  in the early 1800's. Out of Port of Sydney and up and down the coasts of  Fiordland, New Zealand - into the many Sounds on this coastline. Conditions in the open seas of this area were harsh, rugged terrain ,  the weather cold and wet, with snow in  Winter months.  Many were the shipwrecks and loss of lives.  It was nothing for the men to be away for anything up to eighteen months, sometimes even as long as three years. As in the instance of the ten  men of the brigantine sealer  Active left marooned on  Secretary Island  lying between Doubtful and Thompson Sounds.
Left with a  whaleboat, an adze, an axe, and  drawing knife the men's diet was reduced to seal meat, fern roots, fish and shellfish - these  eked out  dry provisions, salted meat and rum they were left with. The Active  gone to get supplies from Sydney  never returned, the whaleboat sprang a leak when the men attempted to leave Secretary Island . There they stayed until  arrival of Captain Grono in the sealing schooner Governor Bligh.


Halls Arm Doubtful Sound - Photo JM Stewart early 1980's

Two of the men from the Active - Alexander Books and Robert McKenzie  after rescue in 1813 later became son--in-laws of Captain Grono . Along with Captain Wiseman another son--in-law  all three  were involved with the sea and ships.
 
Captain Wiseman's marriage to Maria Grono in 1829 was short lived. Industry was shipwrecked in February 1831 at Codfish Island, Easy Harbour, Stewart Island  , with the loss of Captain Wiseman, ten men and six Maori woman . Only Chaseland, his wife and George Moss survived.
 
Stewart Island Fisheries Limited, Stewart Island ( Rakiura) Photo CRB 2012
In the early 1800s Grono was recorded as Master of the 18 ton  sloop Speedwell owned by Andrew Thompson; in 1805, the schooner Governor Bligh in 1807; Unity in 1809; Governor Bligh in 1811 ; Branch 
Towards the 1820's Grono added to his sealer's expertise that of ship builder.  Four of the ships that came out of  Grono's Hawkesbury shipyard are the brig  Elizabeth (84 tons), 1821; Industry (87 tons), 1826; the barque Bennelong -her name changed shortly after to  Australian (279 tons), 1829; and the schooner Governor Bourke (250 tons), 1833.  
Working the seal fisheries and whaling in the Southern Oceans and New Zealand Coasts led to exploration of the various bays, islands and Sounds. Often while the men were sealing, the Master would take the ship looking for more seals. Captain John Grono was attributed with naming the following during his travels:
 
Milford Haven - though to be named in 1812 by Captain John Grono, who was born near Milford Haven in Wales . The name was later changed in 1851 to Milford Sounds by John Lort Stokes Captain of the government Survey ship HMS Acheron.

Mitre Peak, Milford Track, Milford Sound - photo JM Stewart early 1980's

Thompson Sound - said to be named for the owner of the vessel Governor Bligh which Grono was Master of firstly in 1807. Governor Bligh being the vessel  from which Grono found the Active in 1813. Thompson managed Governor Bligh's farm which was next to Grono's - on the Hawkesbury River.

Elizabeth Island -   in Doubtful Sound, Named Captain John Grono(who had a sealing station in Doubtful  sound) after his  Wife Elizabeth Bristow. There is also a bay in Doubtful called Grono Bay named for the Captain who was said to have had a sealing station there. Also a mountain - Mt. Grono.

Crooked Arm, Doubtful Sound - Photo JM Stewart early 1980's
Track ,Crooked Arm, Doubtful Sound - Photo JM Stewart early 1980's

Hall Arm - in Doubtful Sound - said to be named for another of Grono's sons - in - law. George Smith Hall who married the second daughter of John and Elizabeth Grono - Frances.

Hall Arm, Doubtful Sound - Photo JM Stewart early 1980's

Halls Arm, Doubtful Sounds - Photo JM Stewart early 1980's
 Grono was attributed with also naming Caswell, Nancy, George and Bligh Sounds - also on the South West Coasts of  Fiordland, South Island.

Map courtesy McLintock, A.H. , A Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand: R.E. Owen, Government Printer, 1960

Foveaux Strait - Until 1809 it is likely the Strait was known but it was not until Grono gave the designation Foveaux to a stretch of waterway that was before unnamed.

"SHIP NEWS. Yesterday arrived from the Southward the Governor Bligh colonial vessel, Mr. Grono, master, with upwards of 10,000 fur seal skins. The 31st of January she fell in with the brig Fox at sea, with about the same complement. The Fox had lost her anchors and cables, and was very short of water, which latter want Mr. Grono relieved as far as was in his power. In a new discovered Strait which cuts off the South Cape of New Zealand from the main land, fell in about the middle of   February with the Pegasus, Captain Bunker, who had been pretty successful ; and learned from  him, that he had spoke the Antipode schooner 9   or 10 weeks before, she being then very short of provisions and upon the return to the Seal-islands to take her gangs off. In the Strait above-mentioned, which is called Foveaux Strait, the Pegasus struck on a rock but received little damage ; and   he Governor Bligh met a like accident, tho' with no material injury. The above Strait Mr. Grono describes as being from about 36 to 40 miles in width, and a very dangerous navigation from the numerous rocks,shoals, and little islands, with what it is crowded." ( The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser  12 /03/1809 P 2)

From Stewart Island looking toward the Mainland ( South Island ) NZ across Foveaux Strait - Photo CRB 2012

The barque Australian was the largest vessel built by Grono.  At the time of her launching, on 21 March 1829,  it was recorded that she was the largest ship built in the colony of New South Wales, then and  that she was owned by Messrs. Cooper, Levy and Grono. Australian was intended for the whaling trade.
In 1836 Captain Rhodes entered an agreement with Australian's owners on a whaling expedition  to New Zealand and adjacent waters. The voyages of two years was recorded in a journal by Captain William Rhodes 1836 - 1838. The voyages pursuing  the whales were extensive :

 " first of all to Banks Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand, and then to Tonga; thence to the Kermadecs and by way of the Three Kings to Lord Howe Island and back to northern New Zealand; from the Bay of Islands to New Caledonia, and, after sighting the Australian mainland, eastward again to Tonga; south from Tonga to the waters west of the Chatham Islands, and finally up the New Zealand coast, with a call for supplies near East Cape, and back to the northward before returning to Sydney.( Rhodes, W B)

There is a map of the voyage of the Australian in Rhodes Journal.

Whariwharangi Bay Abel Tasman Park top of South Island - near Cook Straits - Photo JM Stewart late 1970's
  
Captain John Grono died in 1847 and is buried in the Ebenezer Churchyard. His footsteps 216 years ago from arrival in Australia in 1799 took Grono to many places - some still not easily accessible today. A relevant part of the past both Australian and New Zealand history.

Links with Ebenezer, New South Wales, Australia  from NZ

The names -   Grono ,Mobbs and Arndell are familiar in my mother's family tree.

Maria Grono third daughter of Captain John Grono and Elizabeth Grono ( nee Bristow ) married William Mobbs son of William Mobbs and Ann Mobbs ( nee Grover ) ;Ann Tomlinson married brother of William Mobbs - Isaac Mobbs; Phoebe Tomlinson married youngest brother John Mobbs. William Mobbs snr. and Ann Mobbs started an orchard on 30 acres at Carlingford.

Esther Arndell married John Tunks in 1815 at Castlereagh, New South Wales, Australia. Esther died in 1828.

Port Jackson Entrance, Sydney, Australia - Grono would have retuned home here from voyages Photo CRB 2013 

Reference Source
  • Hall-Jones, Gerard, Ed., Handbook to the Fiordland National Park, Fiordland National Park Board, reprinted 1971
  • Hall-Jones, John. Doubtfull Harbour, Craig Printing Co. Ltd., Invercargill, 1984
  • Ingram Chas W.N. & Wheatley, P Owen, Shipwrecks New Zealand Disasters 1795 – 1936
  •  Dunedin Book Publishing Association 1936  - Active and Industry
  • McLintock, A.H. , A Descriptive Atlas of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand: R.E. Owen, Government Printer, 1960 .
  • McNab, Robert. 1909. Murihiku: A History of the South Island of New Zealand and the Islands Adjacent and Lying to the South, from 1642 to 1835. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/name-101200.html accessed 02/05/2015
  • Rhodes, W.B. n.d. The Whaling Journal of Captain W. B. Rhodes Barque Australian of Sydney 1836-1838. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-RhoWhal.html accessed 02/05/2015
           Trove Newspapers
  •  The Pioneers, The Voice of the North, Thursday 10 March 1932, page 7
  • Captain John Grono,  Windsor and Richmond Gazette , Friday 26 April 1940, page
  • SHIP NEWS. The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Sunday 12 March 1809 Page  2
  •  The Sydney Herald , Monday 18 April 1931 Page 4
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Sunday, 19 April 2015

Dubbo Goldmining Company Ltd Karangahake

Tunnel of Water Waitawheta and Dubbo Stream - photo CRB 2010

A network of tracks in the area - what is now known as the Dubbo, Crown, Mangakino, Waitawheta   tracks area - All in an area steeped in the history of Goldmining on the Ohinemuri Goldfields at Karangahake.

Back in 1885 The Dubbo Gold Mining Company Ltd  was formed with 30 shareholders. The same year as The Woodstock Gold and Silver Mining and Smelting Company (Limited) headed later by William Gorrie ( brother of Henry Thomson Gorrie ) as Chairman of Directors.

The Dubbo Gold Mining Company Limited
2. place of operations is at Karangahake, in Provincial District of Auckland, in colony of New Zealand.
3. Registered Office of Company will be situated at New Zealand Insurance Company , Auckland, in Provincial District of Auckland and Colony of New Zealand.
4. Nominal Capital of Company is twenty five thousand pounds sterling, In fifty thousand Shares of ten shillings each
5. Number of Shares subscribed for is fifty thousand, being entire number of shares in Company.
6. Number of Shares paid up is nil.
7. amount already paid up is nil.
8. name of Manager is Roderick McDonald Scott.
9. Names and addresses, and occupations of Shareholders, and number of Shares held by each at this date are as follows:-
 
 
Taken before me this seventh day of December, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five. (Signed) D.B. McDonald, Justice of the Peace. Witness to  Signature W. Boon.
 
The shareholders were typical of those forming Gold Mining Companies in those early years 1875 to 1896 - amongst them -  James McCosh Clark, a merchant who had been involved with Waiorongomai, Thomas Morrin, also involved with the Waihi Gold Mining Company Ltd, Henry Thomson Gorrie who also had interest in gold mines and gold mining shares and later years the Chairman of Directors with James Russell of Talisman Gold Mining Company ( Limited ). There were several mining agents - amongst them one Richard Spratt - who died in 1895 and who was a prominent and active member of the Mining Exchange and advisor to the London shareholders of Waihi Gold Mining Company Ltd. There were other merchants - John Chambers - formerly connected with the  Tangyes Company and who now supplied pumping and winding machinery, stamp batteries, and electric transmission of power to the Mining Industry from his warehouse in Fort Street, Auckland.

Not much happened with the Dubbo up there near the Karangahake trig. Even when there was a " mining flurry " when Talisman Consolidated Ltd under Bewick Moreing & Company did some driving.
 
All lay idle until a slump in the late 1920's drove a renewed interest in this mine and The Talisman - Dubbo Gold Mining Company Limited was formed with seven owners.

Near Trig Karangahake - photo JM Stewart about 1979 -1980s

Reference Source:
  • Downey, F. Gold Mines Of The Hauraki District, New Zealand. G.B. Loney, Government Printer . Wellington: G.B. Loney, Government Printer, 1935. Karangahake Area P199-21
  •  New Zealand Gazette 18 Mar 1886
  • Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1884 Session I, H-09 THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND (REPORT ON). http://atojs.natlib.govt.nz accessed 17/08/2013
  • Papers Past National Library NZ Page 1 Advertisements Column 4 New Zealand Herald, 8 December 1885, Page 1
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Sunday, 12 April 2015

World War 1 - They Served in Gallipoli

ANZAC Parade RSA Whangamata - Photo HM Stewart

This month marks 100 years since World War 1. Coromandel Peninsula Council ( TCDC) are planning a memorial forest to mark the loss of approximately 18500 in WW1 and honour those soldiers with a tree in their memory.
 
The first major campaign was at Gallipoli and 25 April marks the date each year we remember ANZAC Day. On 25 April 1915  troops from New Zealand, Australia Britain, and France landed at Gallipoli. This  campaign  ended with the evacuation of troops on 19 and 20 December 1915.
 
Thinking about the many events there are to mark the 100 years in 2015 is also a time to reflect on the effects and influence of WW1 upon a family and close friends.
 
My wider family and extended family as with hundreds of other families from New Zealand and Australia were touched by WW1. Typical of many families in those late 1800s early 1900s families were often large and sons and daughters marrying meant  an even wider extended family - uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins.  When war broke out a number  enlisted in those early years  of the war .  One of the first places they fought was Gallipoli.
 
Some went on to fight in other campaigns; some were wounded and on recovery were sent to other battlefields and other units; some were wounded and died later as an outcome of those wounds sustained on the battlefields of Gallipoli. Some were killed in action. After the war a number came home but some did not and it was an empty place at table and in heart for kith and kin at home. For a family never the same again.
 
 
 
The following are of my wider and extended family members who fought at Gallipoli - The ANZAC's -  'Remembered"
 
 

Family at War

 
Lieutenant. 12/6 3rd Auckland Company, Auckland Infantry Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Clerk. Son of James Buchanan Macfarlane and Edith Mary Macfarlane ( nee Durrieu).
Macfarlane was in those first onslaughts at Gallipoli ( eight days fighting at Gaba Tepe and Sari Bair )in April and May 1915, was wounded and on his return temporarily to New Zealand aboard the Willochra in an interview with the Waikato Times : -
 
"Two men in particular I would like to pay a tribute to, added Lieutenant Macfarlane." They were Privates Heald and Bickerton. After I had been lying there for half an hour, Heald came wriggling over to me. He tried to get me on his back, but no sooner had he got me on to his knees and endeavoured to lift me than he was shot dead. He must have been killed instantly. A little later Bickerton came crawling to my aid. Before he could get to me he was pinked through the arm. Nothing daunted, others of my company prepared to sacrifice their lives for me. I called out to them not to try again, and simply had to order them away," ( 16/07/1915)
 
The Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed at a small bay north of Kabatepe on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915. Their objective was to seize part of the Sari Bair range. By the beginning of May things looked bleak with many lives lost, including Officers and friends of Macfarlane.
 

Sydney Haldane Heald,  Private. 12/130   Son of Richard Arthur and Caroline Heald, of Auckland. Born at Thames, Coromandel Peninsula,  was killed in action at Gallipoli on 8 May 1915. Twelve Tree Copse (New Zealand) Memorial. He was killed in action during the gallant attempt to  rescue of Lieutenant James Blyth Macfarlane. In memory of this a street in One Tree Hill, Auckland was named Heald Road. ( NZ Herald 05/07/1915) 
Macfarlane, once recovered from the wounds returned to war to fight on other battlefields.
 
 

WW1 Sergeant.  4/509 Sapper New Zealand Engineers, Divisional Signals Company & Royal Field Artillery. Occupation at Enlistment: Banker. Oldest son of Thomas Henry Hanna and  Laura Beatrice Hanna ( nee McRae)

Hanna landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and saw action until the end of July when he was evacuated to a New Zealand military hospital in Cairo with dysentry. Hanna followed his uncle John Robert Hanna's footsteps and took a number of photographs of  the Gallipoli campaign. ( The album now in the National Army Museum)

The New Zealand Herald reporting on the importance of Quinn's Post in soldiers letters  October 1915 wrote from Hanna :-

" The character of the fighting at Quinn's 'Post is described by Sapper Hanna, who relates the incidents of two small attacks during the second week in June:—"On the first attempt, we took the section of trench we wanted at the point of the bayonet, without much loss and captured about 30 prisoners," he writes. "This was at 11 p.m., and we held it until 4 a.m. Then the Turks started with hand grenades and by 6 a.m. had bombed us out and back to our trenches through a communication trench we had constructed in the meantime. They followed this up by bombing our first trench until all overhead cover was carried away, and rendered the trench untenable. They simply showered bombs, and we were to situated that we could not effectively bomb back—the Bomb is really the only antidote for the bomb. The second attack was on a smaller scale but we fared even worse. The objective was only a small wing trench, but we failed badly, and had a fair number of casualties."(02/10/1915)


Hanna left the Divisional Signals Company and obtained a commission as Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. He was wounded in 1917.

After the war in 1921 Hanna married Phyllis Edith Macfarlane ( daughter of prominent community workers  for support of troops ( James Buchannan and Edith Mary Macfarlane )and sister of Lieutenant James Blyth Macfarlane.)


Hanna went back to banking after the war and was to eventually be  General Manager of the  National Bank of New Zealand.
Lieutenant. 1796 1st Field Ambulance, Reinforcement 4, Australian Army Pay Corps. Occupation at Enlistment : Clerk.  Son of  William Henry Tunks and Charlotte Emily Tunks ( nee Harper ) On Keith's return from the war in 1920 there was a welcome home by both the Parramatta Welcome Home  Committee and at his sister's house ( Mrs Gladys Woods) where the table decorated in Tunk's regimental colours, was shared by his family members with much celebration.
 
Tunks wrote back home regularly and sent letters, articles and photos to the local Parramatta newspaper, the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate. An extensive letter appeared in this newspaper from Weymouth:

"'The Argus' received this mail the following interesting letter from Keith Tunks, son of the late Mr. W. H. and Mrs. Tunks, of Parramatta: — 'Australian and New Zealand Base Depot, ' 'Monte Video Camp, Weymouth, 21st November, 1915. 'So much was written, and no doubt is still being written and published, of the doings in the various military encampments throughout Australia, that it may perhaps be of unusual interest to readers to learn a little in regard to the Australian and New Zealand camp here. The camp was established some six months ago for the purpose of accommo dating and the further training of soldiers of the Commonwealth Military Forces who have been invalided to England from the Dardanelles with either sickness or wounds, and are now almost fit for return to the front. Weymouth is about 330 miles distant from London on the South Coast, and in considered one of England 's finest sea-side resorts. The camp itself, however, is situated some two miles out from the township at a village known as Monte Video or Chickerell…………………………" ( 08/01/1916)

 
photo courtesy Trove Newspapers  National Library Australia
The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate Saturday 14 August 1915 Page 10

Private. 2019. 17th Infantry Battalion Australian Flying Corps. Occupation at Enlistment: Telephone Mechanic. Son of George Tunks and Henrietta Tunks  ( nee Barnett)Stanley went to Gallipoli and returned to Australia 2 March 1919. He was awarded the Star Medal, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He embarked on the ship HMAT Runic A54

 
Corporal 12/365  Auckland Infantry Battalion . Occupation at Enlistment. Occupation at Enlistment: Ironmonger. Son of William Hollis and Sarah Hollis ( nee Compston ) Born and bred in Waihi, Hollis was one of the children of one of the earliest Waihi families.
The Ohinemuri Gazette reported the contribution of officers and men from 6th Hauraki amongst them Corporal Hollis in September 1914. The Auckland Star on 15 May 1915 reported Robert Vincent Hollis of Waihi wounded.
The Hauraki Regiment provided 250 man companies for the three battalions of the Auckland Regiment during World War 1.The 6th Hauraki Company of the Auckland Battalion, was recruited in the No. 2 Area Group of the Auckland Military District, comprising the areas and towns of Coromandel, Thames, Paeroa, Morrinsville, Rotorua, Opotiki, Whakatane, Tauranga, Katikati, Waihi. 
 
 
Neville Longbourne Vickerman C Eng, FICE, FNZIE  Sapper promoted to 2nd Lieutenant 4/1013 Field Engineers. Eldest son of Alfred Herbert Vickerman and Elizabeth Charlotte Vickerman ( nee Gorrie),  son of niece of James Stewart MINST, first cousin of Hugh Vickerman DSO, OBE, MSc, MICE, MNZIE who also served in WW1 with the NZ Tunnelling Company. Neville Longbourne Vickerman attended Auckland Grammar School and Auckland University College. After the war Neville married and continued employment as Engineer with the Auckland Harbour Board. Neville Longbourne Vickerman served four years with the NZ Engineers in Gallipoli, Egypt and France in World War 1

Keith Longbourne Vickerman  Lieutenant 40694 Auckland Regiment Occupation at Enlistment Surveyors Assistant, brother of Neville Longbourne also served in WW1 and was awarded the NZ Military Cross.
All three  followed in family footsteps in the field of Surveying and Engineering.

 
Andrew George Christian Captain 1st Australian Infantry Battalion. Occupation before Enlistment : Senior Telephone Assistant, Parramatta. Husband of Minnie Laura Christian ( nee Tunks) Son of William and Mary Ann Christian. Christian was well known in the sport of cricket and friendly societies at Parramatta. He left three children aged 10 years to 20 years.
Killed in Action 01 May 1915  Gallipoli Peninsula Turkey Shrapnel Valley Cemetery.   Special Mention for Conspicuous Gallantry
John Mainer Corbett   Second Lieutenant 12/1600 Auckland Infantry Battalion, 6th (Hauraki) Company Occupation at Enlistment: Assayer & Metallurgist Waihi Grand Junction Mine. Son of Edward Mann Corbett and Mary Ann Corbett ( nee Mainer) Corbett's father Edward Mann Corbett was a mining engineer and very early settler of the Waitekauri area.
Killed in Action 08/06/1915 at Quinn's  Post  Lone Pine Memorial ANZAC Turkey
The Ohinemuri Journal reported in June 1915:
 Lieutenant J. M. Corbett, who is reported in one of the latest casualty lists as "missing at the Dardanelles, is well-known in this district, being a brother of Mr H. M. Corbett (chairman of the Ohinemuri County Council). He had previously been reported as wounded, and later as recovered. ( 16/06/1915)

 Again in January 1916 the Ohinemuri Gazette reported Corbett a Court of Inquiry pronouncing the death of Corbett. Those early days of  reporting war events often led to differing reports at times.

Second Lieutenant 12/1026 Auckland Infantry Battalion, Machine-gun Section. Occupation at Enlistment: Clerk. Son of Robert Frater and Martha Frater (nee Brown)Uncle of Marion Henderson Upton ( nee Frater )  Frater's father was land agent and stockbroker of the well-known firm Frater Bros.
 
Died of Wounds At sea HMHS Selam ex Gallipoli 30/04/1915 Lone Pine Memorial ANZAC Turkey
 
A Soldiers Letter appearing from Sergeant L. R. Darrow ( brother of F. B. Darrow, of Te Kuiti.) in the King Country Chronicle referred to the loss of good friends:-
Don Lana, from Avondale, was killed the first day. Roy Lambert, the great footballer, was a great friend of mine and a splendid chap, was also killed. Walter Grierson, from Epsom, also was killed, and Bob Frater, son of Robert Frater, an old schoolchum of mine." (  24/07/1915)
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The school was Auckland Grammar School where Frater had been regarded as a good runner. Frater also enjoyed tennis at the Eden/Epsom Tennis Club where a member. Three months after Frater died ,  Darrow , Frater's friend was also killed in action on 10 August 1915 Gallipoli Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial.
 
Captain 12/294 Auckland Infantry Regiment 6th Hauraki. Occupation at Enlistment: Teacher. Eldest son of John Alexander Algie and Agnes Algie ( nee Macmillan) Married Alice Victoria Elizabeth Algie ( nee Corlett) Algie's son Donald Colvin Algie was born in 1915. As with a number of young men prior to WW1, Colvin Stewart Algie  attended University of Auckland (as did his brother Ronald Macmillan Algie)  and is also recorded on their Roll of Honour. Colvin's father a Postmaster, saw the family at Paeroa for a time.

"Sunday 25 April "

At daybreak this morning the sound of a heavy big gun bombardment could be heard.  The business commenced.  We were now almost abreast of Gaba Tepe our landing place …"


Captain Colvin Stewart Algie kept a comprehensive  diary while in Gallipoli, giving a good account of the campaign- transcribed  excepts can be read on the Millett - Algie Connection. From Gallipoli Algie went on to other battlefields and was

Killed in Action 21 July 1916 Somme, France. Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery Armentieres

George Macfarlane Stewart Sergeant 12/256 Auckland Infantry Regiment. Occupation at Enlistment: Barrister in the firm of Bamford & Brown. Youngest son of  James Stewart and Henrietta Ferguson Stewart ( nee Macfarlane). Stewart was born in Toowoomba, Australia -  the year before his father a Banker and Senior Inspector with the National Bank Queensland and formerly Banker and Inspector with the National Bank in New Zealand  died. The family returned to Auckland New Zealand near to his uncle James Buchanan Macfarlane.

Stewart attended as did many of those who went to war Auckland Grammar School ( after secretary of the Old Boys Association for a number of years ) He went on to University of Auckland graduating with a LLB. Stewart's name is on the Roll of Honour and in a Law Society Roll of Honour WW1 and obituary.
 Stewart as with his cousin James Blyth Macfarlane and many close school friends fought at Gallipoli in those early days of the offensive 25 April 1915. Enlisting in the main Expeditionary Force he came right through the Gallipoli campaign scathless, but after the Suvla Bay incident contracted influenza and was invalided to England.

Stewart went on to other battlefields and at the Somme he died from wounds during the battle of Polygon Wood, France 30 September 1916. Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-l'Abbe, Somme, France.
 
 
 
Corporal 12/367 Auckland Infantry Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Engineer A B Price Auckland. Second son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Charles James ) Charles grew up in Cambridge in a family of nine siblings.
Died of Wounds 26 July 1915 at sea ex Gallipoli  Lone Pine Memorial Lone Pine Cemetery ANZAC Turkey

The Waikato Times reported :
" Mr and Mrs James Hally, of Cambridge, have received particulars of the doings of their son, Corporal Charles James Hally, who was killed at the Dardanelles on the 26th of last month. He was wounded on 8th May and was then sent to the hospital at Cairo. He was passed as fit for service again on 8th July and went to the Dardanelles again, being killed as above. Their other son, "Jack," has also been wounded, and is now in one of the English hospitals; and yet another son, "Colin," hopes to get away with a contingent that will depart about November next". ( 20 / 08 /1915)

Private 12/1649 Auckland Infantry Battalion 3rd Reinforcements. Third son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Jack ) John Phillip AKA Jack  grew up in Cambridge in a family of nine siblings. John Phillip Hally  joined the Duke of Cambridge Lodge 12 December 1911. Hally attended Auckland University College.
John Phillip Hally was wounded in the thigh  at Gallipoli, sent to an English Hospital and then in February 1916 home to Cambridge. Hally died at Cambridge, New Zealand  on 19 August 1929 said to be from the effects of the wound at Gallipoli.

Lieutenant  23935 New Zealand Machine Gun Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Solicitor. Fourth and youngest son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Colin )  Colin Hally attended Hamilton High School and Auckland University College.
Colin "got away with a contingent " and  was killed in action 6 April 1918 in Somme , France. He was awarded the Military Cross "For acts of gallantry in the field. He organised and led a successful raid on the enemy trenches, displaying great courage and determination throughout"

Colin's name is in a Law Society Roll of Honour WW1 and obituary.
James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis - originally from Coromandel  ) lost three sons in WW1.
 

 Family At Home and Abroad

 
 
 
Staff Nurse 22/288  New Zealand General Hospital . Annie Moody married Walter Turner  was the daughter of William Moody and Annie Cleland Moody ( nee Stewart ) On 25 January 1916 Annie Moody embarked from Wellington aboard Hospital Ship No 1 bound  on its second voyage. Moody nursed at Brockenhurst Hospital in Hampshire.
 

James Buchanan Macfarlane & Edith Mary Macfarlane ( nee Durrieu)

With two  sons and a number of nephews enlisted in the forces, these two threw themselves into Community work  Red Cross, St. Johns and the Victoria League. They fundraised for hospital ships, soldiers Red Cross parcels and other aid.

They were amongst the many who were at home minding the farms, making  Red Cross parcels, making and rolling bandages, knitting socks and hats, nursing those who retuned home and fund raising.

Reference Source:

             University of Auckland
             Law Society of New Zealand 


         Thanks also to National Army Museum for link to Photo Album of Phillip Roderick McRae  
          Hanna
 
 
 
 
 

 



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