WARDLEY, George
| Service Number: | 48 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 8th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Ormond, Victoria, Australia, 19 January 1895 |
| Home Town: | Hopetoun, Yarriambiack, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Station master with Victorian Railways |
| Died: | Various ailments caused by war service. Was wounded in France, Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 9 July 1966, aged 71 years |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 48, 8th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 48, 8th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Benalla, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Peter Wardley
George Wardley was born in 1895 in Ormond, Victoria to John Wardley who was an Engineer with the Victorian Railways and Amelia Hardegen who had been a dressmaker in Majorca, an old mining town near Maryborough, Victoria.
George started his working career with the Victorian Railways, following in the footsteps of his father. When they called for volunteers, at the outbreak of war, he was working in Melbourne at Spencer Street Station, this enabled him to apply immediately, and he was always proud of the fact that he was the 48th able bodied man to volunteer to join the Australian Army to fight in World War 1.
He was an ANZAC and was among those brave, young men who fought to hold the ground against the enemy at Gallipoli.
He later fought in France where he was gassed and wounded in the ankle, he was repatriated to an army hospital in England, where he remained until the war ended.
On his return to Australia after the war he returned to work with the Victorian railways. In 1920 he married Lucy Moira Anning at Kyneton and in 1921 they were blessed with their first child Alfred John. However, their happiness was short lived and Alfred died shortly before his first birthday in Ararat. Their second son, William Lesley, arrived just over a year later he was born at home in Ulupna Grove, Ormond on the 31st October 1923.
Being employed with the Railways entailed frequent moves for the young Wardley family and shortly after William’s birth they moved to Beulah, a small town near Swan Hill in North Western Victoria. This area was developing into quite a wheat growing centre and the railways were essential to keep the grain flowing to the cities.
George was to be the assistant stationmaster. He must have stood out as an honest, hard working individual and after studying with the railways, on a special course they had for returned servicemen, and several promotions later, he became the youngest person ever appointed as a stationmaster in Victoria.
About 1925 they moved to a station at Creighton, then onto Hopetoun where young William started school. However, George was acting as a fill in stationmaster at this time and shortly after the family moved to Branxholme, a whistle stop near Hamilton, then onto Pirron Yallock , another small centre near Colac. Around 1930 they returned to Hopetoun and there they settled for the next few years.