Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Jack Condon was born John Charles Condon, 21 April 1894 to John and Mary Ann Condon nee Bowe. He was their third child. There has some confusion about Jack's place of birth due largely to the fact that his birthplace had a name change at a later date. His Service record only states that he was born in Charleston, Queensland. This has invariably led to some records stating he was born in Charlston, South Australia or Charlestown, South Burnett Region, Queensland. Charleston, Queensland, located on the Etheridge goldfields, had it's name changed to Forsayth in 1910, hence Jack was born in the town now known as Forsayth. Jack's death certificate, filled out by his father, states he was born in Charlestown, (not spelt "Charleston"), Etheridge. A notice in the Cairns Post newspaper, announcing his death, states he was a native of Charlston, Etheridge. With all the confusion, one can only be pleased the town changed it's name to 'Forsayth'.

Some soldiers put their age up to enlist, but for some reason, Jack put his age down. Queensland Government Birth, Death and Marriage records list his birthdate as 21 April 1894, however, when he enlisted on 01 April 1916, he stated his age was 20 years and one month. Admittedly, I was never the best at maths, but I figure he was actually 21 years 11 months when he enlisted. I attribute this to his mother dying when he was 11. She would have been the family keeper of birth dates, so Jack could only guess how old he was when asked.

Some time after Jack's birth, the family moved to the nearby town of Mungana, where Jack grew up. Both towns were wild mining towns in their time so it would have been a tough life, definitely by today's standards.

Jack's grandparents, Patrick and Dora Condon, along with 6 of their children, arrived in Australia from County Cork, Ireland on board the "Rajasthan" in 1862. Jack's father, John, was one of the children. The family were one of the first pioneering families of the Townsville district, having taken up 214 acres of land to establish a dairy farm and a hotel. John and his older brother, William (Bill), became carriers to supplement the family income. The Townsville suburb of Condon, was named after Bill after he bought land there. It was probably around that time, that John and his wife moved to Charlston.

Having been born and bred on the Etheridge goldfields, I don't know that Jack saw any larger towns until he enlisted in Cairns on April Fool's Day, 1916. It was not the most auspicious of days to enlist as just 13 months later, Jack died of bomb wounds to his neck, arm and leg. His grieving father, pioneer, and tough man of the land, wrote to Base records to establish how long the time was between Jack being wounded and his death. As a loving parent myself, I know it would bring me some small measure of consolation to know my child did not suffer long. It appears Jack died the same day. He is buried in France, a more sophisticated part of the world than the wild mining towns of his youth.

Reference:
Queensland Birth Certificate, 1894/C/4314
Queensland Death Certificate, 1922/F/1766
Service Records, B2355 3275662
Cairns Post (newspaper), 18 May 1917, p. 4
Families of Townsville, https://issuu.com/townsville_city_council/docs/2016_families_of_townsville_publication, published 2016.