CALLAGHAN, Andrew Theodore
| Service Number: | 14259 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 28 March 1916, Sydney, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 1st Australian Wireless Squadron |
| Born: | Ballina, New South Wales, Australia, 26 March 1896 |
| Home Town: | Ballina, Ballina, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Alstonville Public School, Alstonville, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Telegraphist |
| Died: | Natural causes, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2 June 1962, aged 66 years |
| Cemetery: |
Macquarie Park Cemetery & Crematorium, North Ryde, New South Wales Buried in the Vaughan Catholic Lawn, Row 14, Grave 0038, with his wife Gladys. |
| Memorials: | Alstonville Public School Great War Roll of Honor, Ballina Municipal Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 28 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 14259, Sydney, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 May 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 14259, 1st Australian Wireless Squadron, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Morea embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 30 May 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 14259, 1st Australian Wireless Squadron, RMS Morea, Melbourne | |
| 8 Oct 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 1st Australian Wireless Squadron, Promoted from Sapper to Corporal while serving with the army as a telegraph operator in Basrah, Mesopotamia. | |
| 14 Nov 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 1st Australian Wireless Squadron, Promoted from Corporal to Sergeant while serving with the army as a telegraph operator in Basrah, Mesopotamia. | |
| 3 Jun 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sergeant, 14259, 1st Australian Wireless Squadron |
Help us honour Andrew Theodore Callaghan's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by John Edwards
Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (www.awm.gov.au) in 1917
Married Gladys Norah Bourke (b.23 Dec 1898, Perth W.A.) in North Sydney, NSW on 12 Oct 1926, and she died in NSW in 1978
They had a daughter, Shirley Margaret Callaghan on 18 Apr 1938
Andrew died in Sydney, NSW on 02 Jun 1962
Biography contributed by Catherine Flitcroft
Written and submitted by Catherine Flitcroft - (granddaughter of Andrew Callaghan!)
Andrew and his wife Gladys had three daughters:
1. Pamela Patricia Callaghan, born about 1927, died at 15 in Canberra on 23 September, 1942
2. Maureen Anne Callaghan, 2 April 1931 - 15 August, 1987
3. Shirley Margaret Callaghan, 18 April 1935 - 10 February, 2015
Before and after his WW1 service, he was employed by the Postmaster General's Dept (PMG), beginning in 1910 as a "Telegraph Messenger" in his hometown of Ballina, promoted through various positions until Postmaster. His last Postmaster appointment was at Beecroft in Sydney. Introduced by a mutual friend, Federal Member of Parliament/Minister Jack Beasley Andrew asked that Andrew be transferred from the PMG to the Prime Minister's Department to take up the role of his Private Secretary, which he began on 20 May 1940. Beasley was Minister for the critical wartime portfolios of Supply and Development/Shipping, and Defence. Andrew was his trusted right-hand man during the war years and afterwards in London and elsewhere when Beasley was eventually appointed Resident Minister in London, then Australian High Commissioner to the UK. Andrew and his family transferred to London with Beasley, where the new role of Assistant Secretary at Australia House was created for him. He was in this role nominally from December 1945, taking up the role after arrival in London in January 1946. He attended the Paris Peace Talks, but health issues related to his WW1 service caused his return to Australia in January 1947. He took leave to recover and eventually retired from the Prime Minister's Department on 11 August 1948. After his public service career, he became the representative and agent for heavy equipment and tractor manufacturers John Deere and Caterpillar in Australia. He was a keen lawn bowler and a regular at Vaucluse Bowling Club, the Sydney suburb in which he and his wife lived for the last decade or so of his life.
Some details above are sourced from Andrew's military service file and his public service staff file, both held at the National Archive of Australia in Canberra and available online in digital form.
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