Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Mark Porter (1889-1952) was born at Quorn in northern South Australia on 16 October 1889. He was one of seven siblings. Mark attended the Quorn Primary School and went onto secondary school education at Quorn before joining the South Australian Railways. His religion is recorded as Methodist. He worked in the role as fireman, an occupation he returned to after his discharge in 1919. On 3 April 1916 at the age of 26 years and 5 months he enlisted in Adelaide. After his enlistment and before embarkation overseas, he was engaged to Katherine Gertrude Glenn, or Kitty, as she was known. Kitty hailed from Terowie, 150 kilometres to the south of Quorn and also a railway centre in South Australia. Mark joined the 43rd Battalion, which had been raised in March 1916 as South Australia’s contribution to the newly formed 3rd Division. The Battalion was housed at the Morphettville Racecourse and undertook firearms practice in the sandhills between Glenelg and Henley Beach, and staged an attack against the Hindmarsh Bridge via Montefiore Hill. Mark embarked from Adelaide in June 1916, spending time in Egypt before further training in England. The 43rd Battalion saw action in France on the Western Front. According to the Australian War Memorial entry on the Battalion:

“The battalion arrived on the Western Front in late December [1916]. The 43rd Battalion spent 1917 bogged in bloody trench warfare in Flanders. In June the battalion took part in the battle of Messines and in October the Third Battle of Ypres. The battalion spent much of 1918 fighting in the Somme valley. In April they helped stop the German Spring offensive at Villers-Bretonneux. In July the battalion was part of General Monash's attack at Hamel. In August and September the battalion helped drive the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line. The 43rd joined the advance that followed the 2nd Division’s victory at Mont St Quentin...”

Mark was wounded in action on at least two occasions during 1918, but not serious enough for him not to continue to serve. Mark was discharged in May 1919 and returned to South Australia the following month. On 19 November 1919, he married Kitty at the Mount Carmel Priory at Alberton South Australia. Mark and Kitty settled in Franklin (later to be renamed Cheltenham), a suburb of Adelaide with Mark rejoining the Railways. The couple had three children. At Mark’s house a deep backyard enabled them to keep a cow for milk, with chickens and fruit trees. There are family reports that Mark’s health was affected by his wartime service, suffering the effects of mustard gas. It is likely that he may have been psychologically affected by his experiences during the War. Mark reputedly was a tough and at times brutal husband and father. He was wont to use the belt on his son and Kitty had to intervene to prevent physical punishment for minor misdemeanours. His son, Allan Mark, never spoke of his father to his grandchildren, while one of Mark’s two daughters (Betty Aileen) would recall she was frightened and at times terrified of him. Mark smoked heavily. It was recalled by his children that he could light a new cigarette on the butt of the previous one. Mark died on 10 February 1952, at the age of 62 years of lung cancer. He was laid to rest at Cheltenham cemetery.