Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

GEORGE WALTER SAUER
20 October 1918 — 2 January 2005

George Sauer was born in Boulder, Western Australia three weeks before the end of one of the world's great, man-made catastrophes, World War One. His parents were Joe – Julius Emil – Sauer born Stockwell 6 August1878, died 1937 and Elizabeth Jack Sauer nee Park. He was the third of four brothers (John Herman born 5 April 1911, Joseph Park born 1 January 1915, Clyde Albert born 23 March 1922); his mother died (4 June 1925) when he was six years old and he spent much time looking after his younger brother, Clyde.

On Wednesday 12 November 1930 at the North Kalgoorlie School Sports Day, George was in the team that came second in the Boys Over 10 Relay and, surprisingly, came 3rd in the Egg and Spoon Race for Boys Under 10. At the same event, Clyde came first in the Boys Under 10 Camel Race – what kind of race was that?

His childhood was spent in and around Kalgoorlie, and then in Perth. He worked in the fruit and vegetable markets in Perth, and later from 3 October 1938 until 25 November 1941 was a cleaner on the Western Australian Government Railways. His WAGR record shows that he qualified (8 February 1939) as a Fireman and records him as being the same until 2 May 1946, when he resigned. Note – he did not resume duty with the WAGR after his discharge from the AIF.

He tried to join the Royal Australian Navy, but was rejected because of a problem with his feet. On 15 December 1941 at Claremont, he enlisted in the Australian Army, and served with the 2/1 Pioneer Battalion as a platoon commander, then Assistant Adjutant, in Balikpapan in Borneo (now Kalimantan, Indonesia.)

George rarely talked about the war, at least to his family, and he never dwelled on the past, rather he focussed more on today and tomorrow. This may have been because his younger brother, to whom he was very close, had been tragically killed when an American submarine torpedoed the Japanese transport ship, the Montevideo Maru, off the northern coast of Luzon in the Philippines. The ship was carrying civilians and Australian Prisoners of War captured in Rabaul to Japan.

Perhaps it was coincidence, may be serendipity, but George came to Adelaide during World War Two for officer training at Woodside Army Camp (1 June 1943 – 3 September 1943). Following his discharge from the Army (on 6 March 1946), and his older brother Joe's discharge from the RAAF earlier that year, they both came to Adelaide in 1946. The brothers bought a grocer's shop on Unley Road (at number 211 across the road from the Cremorne Hotel — the site was until recently a Bed Bath 'N Table store). Later they moved the shop to 244 Unley Road on the corner of Hart Street – now demolished and replaced by a 7-storey apartment building. It was during this time that George met his future wife, Eulalie Ryan, when delivering groceries to her mother, Bette, in Hyde Park. Sauer Bros (sic) was a successful small business which they sold in 1959, just before the coming of the "supermarket age."

Note: it is possible that during his time at Woodside in 1943 he was in contact his cousin Marion who had moved to Adelaide (from Kalgoorlie) with her parents Ted and Mary Ellen Sauer in 1916 or 1917.

George then worked for two companies (Barossa Coop and the Kyabram Preserving Company) before going back into the retail food business in 1968 with a deli at the new Marion Shopping Centre. After selling the Marion shop, George had a hotdog and donut shop in the Rundle Arcade, under the David Jones carpark. When that business was sold, he spent time helping his business partners, Dino and Leo, with a hot food outlet at Keswick Army Barracks.

George was a regular at the dawn service held by the Mitcham RSL on Anzac Day, but it was not until his business activities wound down that he became involved with the Pioneer Battalions Association. He served, with distinction, the Association for a number of years as its Honorary Secretary. [Most of the members of the 2/1st Pioneer Battalion were from New South Wales and Western Australia, and this may have had something to do with George's non-participation in post war activities.]

For a number of years, George played golf regularly and was a member of Mount
Osmond, and then, Glenelg Golf Clubs. He also was an active member until the mid
1970s of Freemasonry and served as Master of his lodge in the late 1960s.

George Sauer had a long and productive life. He had a high work ethic, a product of his working-class background and his experiences as a child, teenager and young adult. He always put others before himself, was not given to making disparaging remarks about others. Over the last twenty years, he took great interest in, and was very proud of, his four grandchildren, Andrew, Sarah, Thomas, and Jack.

As for my sister Libby, and myself, we were very privileged to have George as our father, although we are not sure that he would have always said he was privileged to have had us as his children!

Eulalie and George were married in 1948, and Eulalie (d. 25 January 2025) deserved the greatest thanks for looking after and caring for George over that time, and particularly in the last few years, and in the last 12 months when the most insidious effects of his dementia became apparent.

Albert Einstein said:

It is every man's obligation to put back into the world more than he takes out.

George Sauer certainly put back more than he took out.

GEOFFREY SAUER

31 October 2025
E&OE