Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The life of Walter Charles Smith was researched by my father, Philip Walter Smith. I am Phil's son. Philip was one of Walter's two sons - himself and his older brother, Donald who served in WW2. Walter and his wife Edith - herself a war widow - had married in Middlesex in 1919 prior to his return to Australia.
Walter came from Wandiligong in N.E. Victoria. His father, Thomas was a town blacksmith. Thomas had emigrated to Australia in 1862 with his wife, Frances from Co. Durham in the U.K. and settled in Wandiligong, then a vibrant gold-mining town. After Thomas's death in 1902 Walter lived with his mother to support her in her older age. His siblings had by them all left home. This was the reason Walter had enlisted in 1916 and not before; he was torn between doing his duty to his country and to his mother. He did his best with both. His mother died in 1918 while Walter was away.
In 2017 Philip published 'The Blacksmith's Family'. This is an account of 3 generations of the Smith family. It includes Walter's generation. The book has what is by far the most detailed record of Walter's life including his life before, during and after the War, in Wandiligong and then in Footscray where he and Frances had gone in 1922, essentially to find work.
Walter was a very fine man. Though I never met him - he died if a heart attack in July of 1952 - Phillip had nothing but the most loving memories of his father who had raised him after Frances' premature death in 1935 of cancer. 'The Dedication of Phil's book is as follows: "This book is dedicated with love and gratitude to my father WALTER CHARLES SMITH Everything I have, anything I am, I owe to him". I do not think that I finer Dedication has ever been written. The ISBN number of 'The Blacksmith's Family' is 978-0-646-96142-2. The book can be found at the National Library of Australia and in Melbourne's State Library. It is also held by the Genealogical Society of Victoria.

Submitted 24 November 2020 by colin smith