Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Great Grandfather's name was Magnus Leon Liljeqvist, born 22/5/1853 in Sweden. Died (America?). His wife was Augusta Wilhemina Liljeqvist (nee Alin), born 3/3/1858 in Sweden. Died 22/12/1941 in Sweden.

Among a number of other children they had a son named Bror Olaf Liljeqvist, born 22/12/1889 (Sweden or Boston USA). This man died at Barmera on 29/11/1951.

Bror Olaf jumped ship at Port Adelaide on 19/4/1912 and subsequently changed his name to Thomas Oscar Miller. He married Ellen Maud Edwards, born 1/7/1894 - died - 9/7/1972. They had a number of children, (eleven in total)My mother was the youngest.of 11children.this is the story of how my grand father came to Australia.

Thomas Oscar Miller (nee Liljequist/Liljeqvist) was born to Swedish parents in Boston, Massachusetts

It has been difficult to trace Thomas’s family because he jumped ship and assumed a new name. Most of the information that I have has come from copies of official documents, photographs, personal possessions and shared stories. In the book, Ship Deserters Reported at Adelaide 1912-1913, records show that Thomas Oscar Liljeqvist disembarked from the S.S. Port Hunter (a merchant navy vessel), which had arrived from London and was berthed in Port Adelaide on the April 19, 1912. Thomas Oscar's Application for Certificate of Naturalization (No. 21465) dated at Port Adelaide on December 7, 1914, states that he arrived in Australia on the April 18, 1912. A Statutory Declaration signed the same day states that Thomas's occupation was a labourer and it is believed that he worked on the railway bridge that crossed over the Port Road between Grand Junction Road and the Port Road intersection and Port Adelaide itself. It is not clear when he changed his name to Miller but when he married Maud Ellen Edwards on October 22, 1913, he signed the Marriage Certificate as Thomas Oscar Miller. My sister has in her possession a cookbook that was sent by Thomas’s mother in Sweden to his wife Maud in 1914.

Thomas Oscar, official number 374A, was a Staff Sergeant in the First A.I.F. He served in the First Machine Gun Battalion and was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal for service in England, France, Gallipoli and the Middle East. When he joined the army he was described as being 26-years and four-months of age, 5' 10 and 1/4" in height, weighing 158lbs with a fresh complexion, light-blue eyes and fair hair. Distinctive marks included a lady's head on his right forearm and a bunch of flowers on his left forearm. At the time of his enlistment Thomas and Ellen Maud were living with their two children Albert John and Thomas Alan at Emily Street, Sandwell, South Australia. When he embarked from Australia on September 19, 1916, his third child, daughter Marjorie Ellen Ruth was only 23 days old.