Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ghansar Abas Bhawoodeen (Abas Shawoodeen Chansak) (7587) was born in 1881 in Bombay, India. His occupation was a hawker. Before enlistment he had lived for nineteen years in Australia. He enlisted in Sydney on 5 August 1917. His religion was recorded as ‘Roman Catholic’ although his name and origin suggest he was a Muslim like most of the Indian hawkers in Australia. In Sydney, Ghansar embarked on 21 October 1917 via HMAT Euripides A14, and went to Sutton Veny, Bulford and Weymouth in England, and Etaples, Havre and Rouen in France. He served in the 3rd Infantry Battalion 25th Reinforcements.

The Imperial War Museum, writing on Lives of the First World War, also recorded that Pri-vate Ghansar spent some time in British hospitals. He was very ill and in July 1918 he was examined by medical officers in London and deemed medically unfit due to ‘premature se-nility’. He was returned to Australia on 13 October 1918 via HMAT Medici. and dis-charged on 1 November 1918. For his contribution in the AIF, he was issued with the 1914/1915 Star, the British Medal and the Victory Medal. In a letter from the Military Forc-es of the Commonwealth (Base records, Victoria) on 11 November 1921 he asked for the British War Medal to be sent to him before his return to India. In 1926, Ghansar returned to India and passed away in the same year.

From the book:

Dzavid Haveric, 'A History of Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution’, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, 2024