Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Ballarat & District in the Great War

Cpl Sydney John (Dick) HUSTWAITE

Ballarat is home to the only national monument outside the nation’s capital of Canberra. Located on the edge of the Botanical Gardens, the Australian Ex-Prisoner of War Memorial stretches for 130-metres and bears the names of over 36,000 servicemen and women etched into sombre black granite panels. As with all lists of names, behind each is a story – a story that is both unique and vivid in its details. Dick Hustwaite was one of those Ballarat and district men who, during the Great War, spent a significant period as a “guest” of the enemy.

Sydney John Hustwaite was born at Ballarat East on 9 September 1894. His ancestry was incredibly interesting and rich. He was the eldest son of John Francis Hustwaite, who came from Leang Swamp at Edenhope, and Lavinia Maude Lee Soon, the Ballarat-born granddaughter of a Chinese storekeeper from Canton Province. The couple had ten children in total, but lost two in infancy. (It is worth noting that the surname was often spelled Hustwayte, which appears to have an old English origin).

When Dick (as he was always to be known) was a boy the Hustwaite family lived in Dodd Street, near the Red Lion Hotel in Ballarat East, of which Lavinia’s father had once been licensee. He grew up with a proud knowledge that he was descended from a family of certified carpenters from England who, after settling in Australia, were responsible for building homes in the north of South Australia during the early years of settlement. He also maintained strong ties to the Chinese community through both relatives, friends and neighbours.

Dick received his education at the Golden Point State School. By the time he had completed his schooling, the family had moved to a house in the first block of York Street. From there he joined his father working as a miner at the Llanberris No1 goldmine.
Given that the Hustwaites followed the Wesleyan Methodist faith, it seems likely, given the proximity, that they attended the Barkly Street Church and Sunday School.

During the years leading up to Dick enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force, the family moved a further two times – to Main Road and then to Bagge Street in Golden Point – always within the close-knit community that maintained strong connections to the Red Lion Hotel. Dick was particularly close to William and Sarah Mong and their son, Albert.

When he was 16, Dick joined the 70th Infantry Senior Cadets. He spent 12-months in their ranks before graduating to the senior unit of the Ballarat Regiment under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel William Bolton. During his time with this highly regarded military unit, Dick earned the reputation for being a ‘crack shot’ with the Lee Enfield .303.

In March 1914, Dick received a transfer from D Company of the 70th to the 58th Infantry (Essendon Rifles). It is not known what prompted Dick’s removal to Melbourne as there was no further record of his time there.

The beginning of the war saw an immediate influx of eligible volunteers to join the AIF. Given his age, Dick was unable to enlist without his parent’s consent. When he did join up at Ballarat on 8 July 1915, he was still two-months short of his 21st birthday, however there was no sign of parental permission; perhaps the authorities were willing to waive the requirement at this point. His younger mate, Harry Borlase Clark, who enlisted at the same time was certainly required to provide proof that his parents agreed to him joining the AIF.

Doctor A. B. Campbell, who was responsible for conducting the medical examinations that day, noted that Dick was 5-feet 8-inches tall (the Hustwaite clan were noted for being reasonably tall), and he weighed 144-pounds. His dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair could easily have been influenced by his Chinese forebears. He was to cut a strikingly handsome figure in his new khaki uniform.

Within just a few days of enlisting, Dick had joined other volunteers at the Flemington Camp, where he was posted to C Company for training. A month later, on 10 August, the company transferred to the Geelong camp.

On 17 September, Dick finally received his unit allocation, being assigned to the 11th reinforcements for the 14th Infantry Battalion – the famed “Jacka’s Mob”. The men embarked from Melbourne on 11 October onboard HMAT Nestor.

Once again, Dick was amongst a large section of AIF volunteers who arrived in the war zone before the end of 1915, but too late to join their units at Gallipoli. He was to be kept in training on the deserts surrounding Cairo for over three months before, on 4 March 1916, he joined the 14th Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir.

After six months in Egypt, Dick and his fellow members of the 14th Battalion finally began preparations for the transfer to the Western Front at the end of May 1916. They boarded the transport Transylvania at Alexandria on 1 June, casting off at 10am the following day. The sea was calm throughout the voyage, and the men spent their days tending to numerous tasks, including practice at alarm stations, church parade and ship’s inspection. The Transylvania finally berthed at Marseilles on 7 June.

Writing to his parents, Dick was able to convey many of his experiences up to that time…

'…We had a beautiful trip. The sea was as calm as a pond, and we were in sight of land most of the way. The train journey from Marseilles to our destination was most interesting. The country is very hilly. In the valleys and on the slopes are masses of fruit trees and grapevines; the whole place is just a garden. I don't wonder at the Frenchmen boasting about their beautiful France. I think it is the prettiest place I ever saw. No wonder the Germans are so anxious to get hold of a bit of it.

We are billeted in barns, with any amount of straw, and it's very comfortable I can tell you. Any amount of mud and slush about here, but it doesn't take long to get used to it all. It has rained a good deal since we landed; it reminds me very much of dear old Ballarat. We felt the cold very much after coming off the desert, but it is a welcome change. I suppose we will soon get used to the climate. I'm hanged if I could ever get used to Egypt, with its heat and sand. My pal was always sewing buttons on while there; he vowed that the intense heat made the buttons red hot and thus burned the cotton through.

Out yonder I can hear the big guns booming; it sounds like a battery working. We have not been in action yet; expect to go into it any day now.
We are only allowed one field envelope weekly, so won't be able to write to all my friends. Remember me to them all, also to Mr Barrett and the rest of the Homing Club…'

Dick Hustwaite was to experience his first full-scale battle at Pozieres. The 14th moved from the trenches at Bois-Grenier in the far north of France to the Somme battlefields at the end of July. They entered the line near Mouquet Farm on 6 August. Many who experienced the shelling of Pozieres and surrounds described it as being like ‘the lid left off Hell.’ It was not something Dick was ever likely to forget.
The remainder of 1916 was spent in and out of the trenches, and, as the year came to a close, the men found out just how bitterly cold and miserable a European winter could be.

Nevertheless, Dick was still able to send a cablegram to his mother conveying “Seasons Greetings” to their families and friends on behalf of Harry Clark and himself for Christmas 1916.

Having proved his reliability, Dick was appointed to the rank of lance-corporal on 12 February 1917. This was quickly followed by promotion to corporal on 14 March after Leslie Ridge received his sergeant’s stripe.
Now largely forgotten by the greater majority of Australians, Bullecourt was, at the time, spoken of up and down the country. On 11 April 1917, the AIF attacked the Hindenburg Line outposts near the small French village. From the outset the operation was beset with problems – no doubt, most of the men involved would have seen it as a proper “balls up.” Despite the failures, they fought with their usual bravado and dash. However, the casualties were very high. The 14th Battalion, fighting in the Reincourt sector, was particularly hard-hit, suffering 136 deaths and a significant number of men taken prisoner when the German regiments counterattacked. At the end of the first day many were unaccounted for, including Dick Hustwaite.

William Henry Fergeus, from Maryborough, was able to provide the following information to the Red Cross regarding Dick’s fate,

‘…On April 11th at Bullecourt I saw him in the German line, which we had captured, with two wounds in his leg, but still fighting vigorously endeavouring to hold the trench from which we were ultimately driven out again. His No. had 4 figures and began with 33. He belonged to the 11th Reinf. and came from Ballarat. We called him Dick…’

Ballarat’s Frank Davis [KIA 27 September 1917], writing to his sister Theresa, expressed concerns for the safety of his mates, Dick Hustwaite and Reg Reid.
'…I suppose you will have heard long before this the very bad news about my old mates, Dick Hustwaite and Reg Reid, who are both missing. It will be the two hardest letters I have ever written when I write to their parents.
Poor old Dick was one of the gamest soldiers that ever stood. He was wounded twice in the leg early in the fight, and I was with him when he bandaged it up. He was hit twice between the knee and groin. I tried to get him to evacuate but he would not go. I saw him about half an hour before we quitted the trench, and he told me his leg was pretty stiff, so he said he would go down to the dugout where the wounded were and have a rest. He got only as far as the dugout when the Huns counter-attacked, so he came limping back and got hold of one of the guns and stood to. He was corporal of the machine gunners, and that was the last I saw of him.

No one seems to have seen anything of Reg Reid after we entered the Boches' first trench. It was a very hard fight, and we lost a lot of men.

As for myself, the nearest Fritz got to knocking me was to hit me with a piece of shell, which went through my clothes and just caught me on the shoulder…'

By the time this letter arrived in Ballarat, news had been received that both Dick and Reg were prisoners of war. The passage of time (nearly two months) before his parents received official word that Dick was safe must have seemed interminable. This was exacerbated by a secondary report (sent on 22 June) that Dick was also wounded. The lack of detailed information must have been exhausting for John and Lavinia Hustwaite and the extended family.

In being wounded, Dick was probably fortunate in being spared the humiliating march of Allied prisoners through the streets of Lille and the torturous 10-day incarceration in Fort MacDonald. Those who were subjected to this apparent retaliation by the Germans were never to forget the nightmare of being locked in the dark dungeons of the old fort, with no food or water, being unable to lie down, and not knowing if they would be left there to die. Instead, Dick was admitted to the Reserve Lazarett Berg Kaserne (Mountain Barracks Hospital) on 18 April. He had suffered a machine gun bullet wound to his left thigh, and another bullet had grazed his left side.

From there he was able to send a postcard to the British Red Cross on 22 April. ‘…I am wounded, I would also be very grateful if you notify my people of 4 Bagge St, Ballarat East, Victoria. I have met some Australian chaps here, who have been here sometime and was advised to write to you…’

After recovering from his wounds, Dick was transferred to the Münster Gefangenenlager in West Germany, from where he was able to write a short letter to his mother.

‘…I am pleased to say my wounds are just about better. I have been discharged from the hospital, and am now in a convalescent camp, so I ought to consider myself lucky that my wounds were no worse. I still have a bullet in my thigh, but it doesn’t trouble me much, so I might as well leave it there to bring home as a souvenir of Bullecourt. Remember me to all friends…’

As time passed, Dick was able to further allay his family’s fears, although his letters often seemed tinged with homesickness…

'…I do not want you to worry over me; I am as well as I could wish to be, thanks to the Red Cross; they are the best friends the prisoners have. Their kindness and the way they look after our affairs are unequalled. If our parcels come regularly we have all we want to live on, and everything is of the best, I can assure you. If there is anything we want done for us in England all we have to do is to write to the Red Cross and we can rest assured that it is alright. Give them all the support you can, and I shall be greatly pleased.
We chaps here are always joking about our different States. The Sydney chaps say, 'What about our beautiful Harbour?' We Victorians cannot stand that, and have to say something about our beautiful spots. I boast about our beautiful Sturt Street and South Street Competitions, and a few other things; I can generally manage to shut them up. I found a photo of Sturt Street in an old book: I showed it to them, and convinced them it was a lovely street.

Remember me to Mr Barrett, Mr Borch, and all other members of the Ballarat Homing Club…'

On hearing that one of Dick’s 14th Battalion comrades had been repatriated home from Germany in early 1918, Irene Hustwaite travelled to Melbourne to visit the boy. He was able to give her extra information on how her brother was coping as a POW.

‘…Last Monday I went down to Melbourne to see a soldier who was badly wounded and taken prisoner with Dick. This soldier, whose name is Frank Neal, was with Dick for nine months, and last January was exchanged on account of his wounds. He reached Australia a month ago, and we had a letter from him soon after he landed. He told me a lot about Dick, and he said they all had a bad time when they first landed in Hunland. The people grabbed the buttons and rising suns off their coats, and it was ten weeks before the Red Cross could get food and clothes to them; but after that conditions improved greatly, and when he left there, things were not too bad at all.

He said that Dick's wounds were quite all right, flesh wounds, no bones broken, and he was in perfect health, and was one of the biggest men in camp there. Being an NCO, he didn't have to work, and played cards most of the time. He also said that Dick was 'some' cook, and used to make pies and decorate them with kangaroos made of dough, much to the amusement of his Australian comrades…’

Irene Hustwaite also received the following letter from her brother, which once again underscored the importance of the Red Cross in caring for the prisoners.

'…I am receiving grocery, bread, and clothing parcels from the Red Cross Society, and we can live well on them I assure you. Give the Red Cross all the support you can, for I am sure that everything that passes through their hands is well disposed of…

I am receiving parcels of bread and groceries every week; also had a complete outfit of underclothing from the Red Cross, with clothing, great coat, uniform, etc. The Red Cross are the best friends the prisoners have. If there is anything we want done for us all we have to do is to write to the Red Cross, and we can rest assured it is done. Their kindness and the way they look after us is unequalled anywhere…'
With the end of the war, the logistical issue of repatriating prisoners began. Dick Hustwaite landed at Hull in the north of England on 11 December 1918. Two days later he arrived in London. He was immediately granted leave until the 15 January 1919, at which time he reported to the No1 Command Depot at Sutton Veny.

Fortunately, Dick was able to return quickly to Australia – he boarded the transport Ascanius on 9 February to begin the voyage home. In many ways it must have been a sad trip; so many of his comrades had not survived the war, including his mate, Harry Clark, who had died of wounds on 7 October 1918. Whilst he was still a POW in Germany, Dick’s family arranged for a special death notice to be placed in the Ballarat Courier in memory of his ‘dear pal.’
‘Until the day breaks and the shadows flee…’
Dick arrived back in Ballarat on Thursday 3 April, where he was greeted by an enthusiastic welcome from family and friends at his parent’s home in Golden Point. A reporter from the Ballarat Star was also in attendance; he was tasked with asking Dick about his experiences as a prisoner of the Germans.

‘…With regard to his treatment whilst a prisoner of war Corporal Hustwaite preferred to say nothing beyond the fact that the reports which have already been published with regard to the German atrocities were absolutely true. During 1917, and the early part of 1918, the Germans were very certain of victory, and used to tell the prisoners that the Allies were beaten, but the actual state of affairs was known through English, papers, which were smuggled in. When the tide turned in favour of the Allies the Germans exhibited marked anxiety to fraternise with the prisoners of war. There was great rejoicing amongst the prisoners of war when it became known that the armistice had been signed. Ten days later Corporal Hustwaite and other prisoners left Germany…’

After being formally discharged from the AIF on 26 May 1919, Dick set about adjusting to life as a returned soldier. He initially moved to a property in Wilson Street, Ballarat East, where he tried his hand at raising poultry.
In 1922, he moved briefly to Doveton Street in Castlemaine, where he worked as an engine cleaner with the Victorian Railways.
Whilst he was in Castlemaine, Dick met local girl, Hazel Ivy Conn. The pair quickly became an item and when Dick returned to Ballarat, it was with his new wife.

They set up home together at 22 James Street, a modest single-fronted house in Ballarat East. Their first son, Neil was born on 19 August 1923; a second son, Stuart Campbell, arrived on 8 January 1927. By this time, the family had moved to a handsome property at 65 Humffray Street (later renumbered 509); this would be their home for nearly 40 years.
Through the ensuing years, Dick continued to work with the Victorian Railways. He watched as his eldest son joined the Royal Australian Navy to serve as an Able Seaman onboard HMAS Lonsdale. He then saw both sons marry, and go on to build successful careers – Neil as an accountant and Stuart as a rigger, with a background in carpentry. He and Hazel were then blessed with the arrival of six grandsons and one granddaughter.

Dick Hustwaite died quietly at home on 18 September 1961. He was buried in the Ballarat New Cemetery.
Hazel outlived her husband by over 30-years, dying at Ballarat on 2 April 1993. She was 94-years-old.
So, when next you chance to visit the Australian Ex-Prisoner of War Memorial – or any Great War memorial for that matter, pause and remember that behind each name is a story. They really are all so much more than just names on a wall.