Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

James Caincross was born about 1877. Of Aboriginal descent, a labourer and fisherman, Jimmie was single and living at Woody Point when he enlisted in 1917 at age 40. He served with the 25th Battalion in France where he received a gunshot wound to the head in August 1918. After being hospitalized in England he returned to Australia on the Orsova where he was discharged in March 1919 receiving a war gratuity payment of £52/4/-. Calling himself Jimmie Cooterman he appears to have made a living as a fisherman moving from place to place along the coast. He died 19 September 1945.

Private James (Cooterman) Cairncross, 25th Infantry Battalion. Jimmy COOTERMAN was born at Myora Mission on North Stradbroke Island in 1887. He volunteered to serve in the first AIF under his 'adoptive' name of CAIRNCROSS in May 1917.
Jimmy trained for several months at Rifle Range Camp, Enoggera before embarking from Sydney on board the troopship Miltiades early August with the 10th Reinforcements for the 47th Infantry Battalion.
Jimmy arrived in England eight weeks later and underwent further training at the Codford Army Camp in Wiltshire before embarking for France in January 1918. When they arrived at the staging camp, he was reassigned to the 25th Infantry Battalion and joined them in the field where they were in reserve at Kortepyp, Belgium.
The 25th Battalion were engaged in a major operation on 10 August 1918 at Vauvillers, east of Amiens, where they came under heavy machine gun and rife fire. Jimmy was wounded in the face during this operation. He was evacuated to England where he was admitted to the Endell Street Military Hospital, central London.
The war came to an end while Jimmy was convalescing in England and he was on board one of the first ships returning the sick and wounded home to Australia in January 1919.
He returned to his life in Queensland, settling at Sandgate, where he established himself as a fisherman. Later he moved to North Arm, on the Sunshine Coast where he resided until his death in 1945.

"Jimmy Cooterman was known by his Aboriginal name of Jungi. Uncle Jungi was born at Myora Mission on North Stradbroke Island [Minjerribah]. When he outgrew the mission school, a doctor named Cairncross took him to live at his home on the mainland. At the outbreak of World War 1, he enlisted under an assumed name of James Cairncross for though his skin was rather fair he was ineligible for military service as a native ward. He served overseas in the 25th Battalion in France. In 1917, the 25th Battalion was part of the 2nd Division's first wave at the battle of Menin Road in Belgium. Victory here was followed up with the capture of Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October. The 25th reprised its role from Menin Road, in what was its last large-scale offensive action for the year. Uncle Jungi was wounded twice in France during that year of 1917. After the war Uncle Jungi settled at Sandgate and from there operated as a fisherman owning his own boat and gear and also some property. He eventually sold off all his assets and went to live at North Arm near Nambour until he died. He was buried with military honours at Woombye soldier's cemetery. His descendants are still closely associated with their traditional lands on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island and still continue to live on country."
Information supplied by family member, Sandra Delaney.

Birth name said to be Cooterman