George Ernest REDBURG MID

REDBURG, George Ernest

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 19 August 1914
Last Rank: Major
Last Unit: 10th Infantry Battalion
Born: Adelaide, South Australia, 8 October 1881
Home Town: Norwood (SA), South Australia
Schooling: Norwood Public School
Occupation: Salesman
Died: Lockleys, City of West Torrens, South Australia, 27 July 1951, aged 69 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia
Interment Date: 28/07/1951, Interment Location: General AA/Path I/Grave 690. Also his (DVA) Official Commemoration - Memorial Location: Wall 13/Row G; AT the South Australian Garden of Remembrance (within Centennial Park Cemetery) 760 Goodwood Rd - Pasadena, South Australia.
Memorials: Norwood Primary School Honour Board, SA Caledonian Society Soldiers Memorial WW1 Honour Board
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World War 1 Service

19 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Officer
20 Oct 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: ''
20 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Adelaide
15 Jan 1915: Involvement Captain, 10th Infantry Battalion, George and his crew started training in Mena, Egypt.
25 Apr 1915: Involvement Captain, 10th Infantry Battalion, Landed at historic Gallipoli battle and was shot through both legs during battle.
20 Feb 1916: Promoted Major, 10th Infantry Battalion, George got promoted to Major.
28 Feb 1917: Discharged Major, 10th Infantry Battalion, George left the war due to illness.

Help us honour George Ernest Redburg's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Saint Ignatius' College

By Ted Davies

George Ernest Redburg was born on the 8th of October 1881 to parents George and Helen Redburg. George was born in Adelaide and grew up and lived there his whole life. His father worked as an artisan for the South Australian Water Conservation Department. George grew up in Norwood and lived on 107 Beulah Road, he was also educated at Norwood High School. George was always involved in some form of military even before the war when he was a part of the South Australian Scottish Corps. It was when global training became mandatory with the military his regiment was shut down and George was moved to the 79th Infantry (Torrens) on the 1st of July 1912 with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. George was a salesman at a furniture company before the war broke out. George ranked up several times and reached the role of captain and maintained that role until the breakout of the Great War. George Redburg was 5 foot 9 tall and weighed 112 pounds.

At the outbreak of the war George was one of the first men to be picked for the 10th Infantry Battalion by Lieutenant-Colonel S P Weir. He was appointed as captain of the unit on the 19th of August 1914. George embarked on the HMAT A11 Ascanius on the 20th of October 1914. This ship was filled with all of his battalion and landed in Mena, Egypt in January 1915. This was where George and his battalion trained for war for roughly a month. George then boarded the Ionian ship which would make the historic landing upon Gallipoli’s shores.

George was a part of the historic landing at Gallipoli on the 25th of April in 1915. George was in the frontline and attacked the shores with great vigor but within 10 minutes of the battle George had been shot through the back of both legs and was forced to evacuate. George then proceeded to England where he was healed at the Hospital of Manchester. George then eventually returned back to his battalion on 8th of December 1915 and then travelled with them to France on the Saxonia. On the same day he was also promoted to the rank of Major.

While in France George participated in the following battles: Fleurbaix, Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Gueudecourt, and Flers operations. He also prepared the operation order for the attack on Mouquet Farm. During these periods George was temporarily promoted to lieutenant colonel to fill the absence of his superiors. On the 23rd of December 1916 George was forced to evacuate the war due to serious illness. After leaving the battalion George travelled to England where he was admitted into the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth and then resigned his his commission with the army on the 28th of February 1917.

After the war George found a job with the British Ministry of Munitions and was found working in several areas throughout Scotland. It was in Scotland that George met his wife Anne Lindsay Chrisholm. In 1918 George and his wife returned back to South Australia with hopes of raising a family and then settling down. In February 1919 George went back into the Public Service of South Australia and became a Clerk. George and his wife had a child by the name of Nancy Barbara Murray Redburg, born on the 14th of August 1919. George and his wife ended up settling down in the Glenelg area with two children.

Throughout George’s life he was called upon to show the ANZAC spirit several times and was a role model of the spirit. To have ANZAC spirit means to be able to be brave, to show courage in the face of adversity, to push through the pain and to battle through any mental or physical barriers. George was an advocate of the ANZAC spirit throughout the war. In George’s first battle of his life, within 10 minutes he was shot through both legs and had to be rescued. It would’ve been easy for George to stop or to give up but he didn’t. George pushed through the pain and within 8 months was back out fighting for his beloved country. George typified all of the ANZAC spirits just through this act alone. George also showed ANZAC spirit in the fact that he, several times throughout the war, was ranked up. This shows that he never rested on his laurels and was always pushing for more out of himself and that he was happy to take on leadership. Overall George was very brave and strong and was a true ANZAC.

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Biography

Extract from “The Fighting 10th”, Adelaide, Webb & Son, 1936 by C.B.L. Lock; kindly supplied courtesy of the 10th Bn AIF Association Committee, April 2015. 

Born 8 October 1881 at Adelaide, South Australia.

Son of the late George Augustus Redburg, who for many years was employed as a well-boring artisan by the South Australian Water Conservation Department.

He was educated at the Norwood Public School, and in 1909 commenced his military career as a Private in the South Australian Scottish Corps, in which he subsequently held the non-commissioned ranks of Corporal and Sergeant.

He received his first commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the same regiment on 3 July 1911, and on the disbandment of the Scottish Rifles, consequent upon the introduction of universal military training, he was transferred with same rank on 1 July 1912 to the 79th (Torrens) Infantry.

He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 31 January 1913 and to Captain on 1 February 1914.  He held this commission at the outbreak of the Great War, and was also officiating as Adjutant of his regiment.

At the time of joining the AIF, he was employed as a Manager of the manufacturing department of Foy & Gibson Proprietary Ltd.  

He was one of the first Company Commanders selected by Lieutenant-Colonel S P Weir for the 10th Battalion, and was appointed to Captain in the 10th at Morphettville on 19 August 1914.

He was posted to the command of F Company and embarked with the original Battalion on HMAT A11 Ascanius on 20 October 1914.

At Mena, Egypt, in January 1915, when his company merged with the original A Company and became the new A Company, he was appointed 2nd in Command of same.

He accompanied the 10th on the Ionian to the Dardanelles, and landed with his company from the destroyer Foxhound at the historic landing at Anzac on 25 April 1915, and that day, about 5pm, was shot through both legs and forced to evacuate.

He proceeded to England, where he was admitted to the Whitworth Street Hospital at Manchester.

He subsequently returned to the Dardanelles, and rejoined the 10th Battalion on the island of Lemnos on 8 December 1915.

He subsequently accompanied the Battalion on the Seeang Bee to Egypt, and at Gebel Habieta, on 20 February 1916, was promoted to the rank of Major.

On 1 March 1916, he was appointed 2nd in Command of the Battalion, and in this capacity accompanied the 10th to France on the Saxonia.

He participated in the Fleurbaix, Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Gueudecourt, and Flers operations and prepared the operation order for the attack on Mouquet Farm.

On 23 August 1916, upon Lieutenant-Colonel S P Weir being appointed Acting-Brigadier, he temporarily commanded the 10th Battalion, with the rank of temporary Lieutenant-Colonel.

He retained the Command of the Battalion until 23 December 1916, when through illness he was forced to evacuate. During the period he was C.O. of the Battalion he was twice relieved to he Command, in the first instance by Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel J S Denton, and in the second by Major F G Giles.

Finally leaving the Battalion, he proceeded to England, where he was admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth, and upon gaining convalescence resigned his commission in the AIF on 28 February 1917.

He subsequently accepted employment with the British Ministry of Munitions, and was engaged at various works in the north and east of Scotland.

Whilst on furlough he married into a Scottish family, and returned to South Australia with his wife on the Gluny Castle in October 1918.

He married Annie Lindsay Chisholm.

On 14 August 1919 in Murray Bridge, South Australia they had a daughter Nancy Barbara Murray Redburg..

Returning to civil life, he was gazetted a Captain in the 2nd/32nd Infantry on 1 October 1918, and placed on Reserve of Officers with same rank on 1 January 1920 and promoted to rank of Major, Reserve of Officers, as and from 1 October 1920.

On 21 February 1919, he entered the Public Service of South Australia, and was appointed Clerk at the Pompoota Training Farm, and subsequently was promoted to Clerk-In-Charge, and in this capacity supervised the clerical work and accounts of training farm, and also prepared pay-sheets, received revenue, and supervised work of storekeeper.

He was subsequently transferred to the Jervois area, but resigned this position on 8 August 1923.

He then came to Adelaide, and on 20 August 1923, became an employee of John Martin & Co. Ltd and in 1935 had obtained the position of Floor Superintendent.

For services in France he was Mentioned In Despatches (MID), vide London Gazette  on 2 January 1917.

He had two children, and in 1935 was residing at Henley Beach Road, Brooklyn Park.

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