COGHLAN, Ernest Joseph
| Service Number: | 37782 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 March 1917, Brisbane, Qld. |
| Last Rank: | Bombardier |
| Last Unit: | Field Artillery Brigades |
| Born: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 23 August 1891 |
| Home Town: | Albion, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Commercial Traveller |
| Died: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 24 May 1962, aged 70 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane, Qld MONUMENTAL-3-8-84 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Mar 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Gunner, 37782, Field Artillery Brigades, Brisbane, Qld. | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Nov 1917: | Involvement Gunner, 37782, Field Artillery Brigades, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Sydney embarkation_ship_number: A15 public_note: '' | |
| 5 Nov 1917: | Embarked Gunner, 37782, Field Artillery Brigades, HMAT Port Sydney, Sydney | |
| 24 Oct 1918: | Transferred AIF WW1, Bombardier, Field Artillery Brigades, Admitted to Reading War Hospital (Influenza). | |
| 12 Mar 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, 37782, Field Artillery Brigades, Returned to Australia 2 January 1919 & Discharged 12th March 1919. |
Help us honour Ernest Joseph Coghlan's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Dennis Coghlan, Stoneleigh Street, Albion, Brisbane, Queensland
Biography contributed
Coghlan's pre-war civilian occupation was as a Commercial Traveller.
In 1915 at his first attempt at enlistment Coghlan declared that he had 10 months previous 'Home Service' military experience, however as evidenced by the A.I.F. document pictured Coghlan was rejected on the grounds of 'deficient chest development & Heart'.
He managed to enlist in the 1/A.I.F. on the 23rd March 1917. He was photographed prior to departure and the picture published on page 24 of the Queenslander Pictorial, supplement to The Queenslander, 2 June, 1917.
He served in France until he contracted Influenza in 1918 and being hospitalised and eventually returned to Australia and discharged in 1919.
After the war he took a Soldier settlement at Beerburrum in Queensland that was a failure and was proven to be very disappointing for all the ex-servicemen involved.
In March 1925, The Daily Standard was scathing in its criticism of Beerburrum’s shortcomings. The article said land had been difficult to clear and crops failed, and not even grass for horse feed was able to thrive there. Continuing its condemnation of the government allocating this land to returned men, it said ‘30,000 acres were despised for generations until some agricultural genius suddenly discovered that its sandy ridges were suitable for growing pineapples … [land that had been] left severely alone by land grabbers of the past’. In spite of a 1924 confidential report that said Beerburrum had ‘very little prospect of … ever proving even a moderate success’, Queensland Premier William McCormack dismissed these reports by saying they were simply campaigns to discredit the government during electioneering. At Beerburrum as at many other soldier settlements men were frustrated, angry and depressed that their hopes for a better future post-war were ruined. Whether Edward Coghlan’s plea to the press had any positive response is unlikely, but his words evoke the tensions and despair of failure. Coghlan said that of the 550 farms at Beerburrum, 370 men had already failed and forfeited. He said their experiences of soldier settlement had "forced them to their knees".
The street profile of Stoneleigh Street, Albion, Queensland (4010) where Coghlan first lived is that it's an old street in an old part of Brisbane. There are 16 townhouses, 54 houses and 17 others. Nearest railway station; Albion. Coghlans original home may still be there.
Sources: "Promises and Pineapples": Post-First World War Soldier Settlement at Beerburrum, Queensland, 1916-1929. Murray Johnson: Australian Journal of Politics and History, 2005
academia.edu/61264409/Honour_denied_a_study_of_soldier_settlement_in_Queensland_1916_1929
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