DAU, Walter Albert Edward
| Service Number: | 6790 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 November 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | Australian Grave Services |
| Born: | Wandong, Victoria, 27 May 1889 |
| Home Town: | Balaclava, Port Phillip, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Motor Driver |
| Died: | Natural causes, Charters Towers, Queensland, 28 February 1974, aged 84 years |
| Cemetery: |
Charters Towers Cemetery, Qld |
| Memorials: | Wandong War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 1 Nov 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6790, 37th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Mar 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 21st Infantry Battalion | |
| 11 May 1917: | Involvement Private, 6790, 23rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 11 May 1917: | Embarked Private, 6790, 23rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Melbourne | |
| 2 Nov 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, Australian Machine Gun Corps | |
| 24 Jan 1919: | Transferred AIF WW1, Driver, 2nd Motor Transport Company | |
| 22 May 1919: | Transferred AIF WW1, Driver, 4th Motor Transport Company | |
| 18 Nov 1919: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, Australian Grave Services | |
| 1 Sep 1922: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 6790, Australian Grave Services, SS Medic, England for return to Australia - arriving 20 October 1922. | |
| 19 Dec 1922: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 6790, Australian Grave Services |
Help us honour Walter Albert Edward Dau's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Michael Silver
German immigrant Joachim Dau married Martha Rye, a Geelong lass, in 1865 and they raised a family of seventeen children - first at Somerton and later at Wandong, Victoria. One son, Frederick (under surname Dow), served with the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles during the Boer War and was killed in action in South Africa in 1901 whilst three others - Charles and Walter, served in World War 1 and Arthur served in both World Wars. Charles died of wounds in 1918.
Walter Albert Edward Dau (1889-1974), born at Wandong, enlisted at Altona on 1 November 1916, aged 27. A motor driver, he gave his address as Balaclava, the home of his widowed mother. He gave his religion as Methodist. He was posted to a medical company, then 6th Reinforcements, 37th Battalion, before being allocated to the 19th/21st Battalion Reinforcements, Private No. 6790, 6th Infantry Brigade at Royal Park. He embarked aboard the Ascanius on 11 May 1917 and arrived at Devonport in England on 20 July.
Walter was first posted to the 6th Training Battalion at Rolleston, but on 7 August he was admitted to hospital at Fargo for nine days, with synovitis. On 26 October 1917 he travelled to Codford for testing as a Signaller, then on 31 October, he transferred from the 21st Battalion to the Machine Gun Corps Details at Grantham.
On 20 January 1918 Walter was admitted sick to hospital at Grantham and was not discharged until 4 April. After further training, he finally left for France on 28 November 1918, by which time the war was already over, the Armistice having been signed on 11 November.
He joined the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion at Camiers on 1 December. On 24 January 1919, however, he transferred to the 2nd Australian Motor Transport Company and was appointed as a Driver. He served with that unit until 22 May when he joined the 4th Australian Motor Transport Company.
On 1 September 1919 he was found guilty at a court martial of ‘conveying food, the property of civilians in a motor lorry without authority’ and forfeited 42 days’ pay. On 18 November 1919 he was detached from the 4th Australian Motor Transport Company to the Monumental Graves Services Section and served with that unit in France until he embarked for Australia aboard the Medic on 1 September 1922.
Walter finally arrived home on 22 October 1922 after more than five years overseas. His family believe he was one of the last Australian soldiers to return to Australia after World War 1 and he is said to have brought back chains which now surround the Mont St Quentin display at the Australian War Memorial.
Walter was discharged from the AIF at Sydney on 19 December 1922. He worked as a driver in Melbourne for a few years, then as a labourer in Gippsland, before moving to New South Wales in the late 1940s and finally to Queensland in the 1950s. He died at Charters Towers on 28 February 1974 aged 84.
Source: http://www.westgarthtown.org.au/ww1/families/winter.html
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