Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arthur Hawkins – from the Silver Plated Sawyer by Dayle Shafer.
Arthur, the ninth child of Alfred and Caroline Hawkins, was born at Uralla in October 1890. The year Arthur was born also saw his father play a part in the discovery of Catherine O’ Neill, a child who had gone missing from her parents’ home at Salisbury Station twenty-seven years earlier.
Arthur, like his brothers and sister, grew up at St Helena, near Wollun. When the family moved to Armidale in 1909, so did he.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Arthur was working as a miner and living at Ben Venue in Armidale. His younger brother, Roy, had enlisted in the Army on 23 August 1915. Less than one month later, Arthur also enlisted. He joined on 20 September, eight days before his older brother, Ernest, enlisted. Arthur was attached to the same battalion as his brother, Ernest, the 18th Battalion. They both sailed from Sydney aboard the HMAS Runic on 20 January 2016, bound for Alexandria in Egypt. After further training in Egypt, Arthur left for France, arriving at 2nd Australian Division based at Etaples on 4 April 1916.
By 1 June, Arthur was fighting the Germans on the battlefields of France. Less than two months later he was wounded in action. On 27 July, he sustained wounds to both thighs. The following day, he was transferred from a field hospital in France to England for treatment. Arthur spent several months in England being treated for his wounds. By September 1916 he had been released from hospital and was sent to the No. 2 Command Depot or the No. 1 Command Depot at Perham Downs.
On 6 January 1917, Arthur found himself in hospital again. This time he was admitted to hospital suffering from mumps. By 26 January he had recovered and was transferred back to Perham Downs.
After a month at the Command Depot at Perham Downs, Arthur was once again sent to France to re-join his battalion. He left England on 28 February and was only back with his battalion for a month when he became ill once again. On 31 July he was admitted to hospital, this time suffering from trench fever. He remained in France for the next two weeks and, when his condition did not improve, he was once again sent to England for treatment.
On 14 August 1917, Arthur was admitted to the University War Hospital at Southampton. On 14 September he was discharged from the hospital and transferred to the depot at Hardcott. Two weeks later, Arthur went AWOL from Hardcott and returned sixteen days later on 13 October 1917. A divisional court martial was held on 29 October, at which Arthur pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to thirty-one days’ detention. On 23 November his sentence was shortened by five days due to good conduct.
It appears that although Arthur had served his detention, he had still not fully recovered from his illness. On 2 December 1917, he was classified as being temporarily unfit for general service but fit for training. This was altered on 16 December to ‘physically fit but in need of hardening’.
Finally, on 4 January 1918, Arthur was sent overseas to Harve in France and on 10 January he re-joined his battalion in Belgium. By April that year, Arthur and his battalion had returned to fighting in France. It was on 9 April that he was wounded in action for a second time. On this occasion he had sustained a severe gunshot wound to his left thigh which resulted in the leg having to be amputated.
Arthur was then transferred to England, where he was admitted to the General Hospital at Portsmouth on 16 April 1918. After four months in hospital at Portsmouth, he was transferred to the 2nd Australian Hospital in Southall.
On 6 May 1919, Arthur was discharged from hospital in Southall so he could return to Australia. Aboard the Karoola, Arthur finally arrived in Australia on 29 June 1919. He was officially discharged medically unfit from the Army on 2 May 1920.
That same year, Arthur married Bertha Grace Pumfrey at Guildford. He and Bertha lived in Roseberry Road Guildford and Arthur worked as a Motor Body Trimmer. There were no children from that marriage and it appears that around 1928 the marriage broken down. By 1930, Arthur was living alone at Guildford. He continued to live there until 1934 when he moved to Woy Woy.
In 1934 Arthur remarried. He and Emily Victoria Munday were married at Gosford. He’d met Emily when he was still living in Sydney. Emily lived in Patten Avenue Merrylands prior to marrying Arthur. They settled in Brick Wharf Road, Woy Woy where they lived until 1941. Arthur continued to work as a Motor Trimmer.
Between the years 1942 and 1968 it is not known where Arthur and Emily lived. During these years, Arthur retired. In 1968 they moved back to Sydney to live, and resided at 5 Furlough House, Albert Street, Narrabeen.
In the early years of 1971, Arthur suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. He passed away at Concord Repatriation Hospital on 30 June 1971. He was cremated on 2 July 1971 at Northern Suburbs Crematorium. His second wife, Emily, lived for a further eleven years after his death. She died on 18 June 1982 near Dapto.