PETTIT, Stanley Phillip
| Service Number: | 62852 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 8 June 1918, Ship recalled owing to end of hostilities |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 1st to 3rd (WA) and (TAS) Reinforcements |
| Born: | Albany, Western Australia, 1898 |
| Home Town: | Busselton, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Grocers Assistant |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 26 September 1961, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Busselton Cenotaph Victoria Square, Busselton Rotary Park of Remembrance Memorial Walk, Busselton Volunteer Fire Brigade |
World War 1 Service
| 8 Jun 1918: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 62852, 1st to 3rd (WA) and (TAS) Reinforcements, Ship recalled owing to end of hostilities | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Oct 1918: | Involvement Private, 62852, 1st to 3rd (WA) and (TAS) Reinforcements, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Boonah embarkation_ship_number: A36 public_note: '' | |
| 29 Oct 1918: | Embarked Private, 62852, 1st to 3rd (WA) and (TAS) Reinforcements, HMAT Boonah, Fremantle |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Joy Dalgleish
Stanley was on the HMAT Boonah.
She was the last Australian troop ship to leave Australia in World War 1. Carrying about 1200 AIF soldiers, she arrived in Durban, South Africa just three days after the armistice was signed, and on hearing the news, made arrangements to promptly return home. Before her departure however, local stevedores from the Spanish 'flu stricken city infected soldiers who were billeted in crowded conditions throughout the ship. By the time the Boonah had arrived back at Fremantle in December 1918, more than 300 cases (nearly 25% on board) had been reported and Commonwealth immigration authorities initially refused to allow the soldiers to disembark, knowing of the global pandemic which was under way, but which had until then spared Western Australia. Volunteer Nurses and the sick soldiers were taken to Woodman Point Quarantine Station to try and contain the outbreak and treat the sick. A total of twenty-seven soldiers and four nurses at Woodman Point, WA, died of influenza during the crisis.
The ship anchored in Gage Roads of Fremantle and after some delays, approval was granted for nearly 300 of the sickest soldiers to be moved ashore to the Quarantine Station at Woodman Point, south of Fremantle. Three of the men died on the first day at the station and it took three days for 337 men to be brought ashore. The situation continued to deteriorate further with more dying and more than 20 nursing and medical staff becoming infected. By 20 December, Woodman Point was housing over 600 soldiers.
A total of twenty-seven soldiers and four nurses at Woodman Point died of influenza during the crisis and are buried at the Woodman Point quarantine station, later to be interred at Karrakatta Cemetery