Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert Johnson was born on 10 April 1896 in Williamstown, South Australia, and passed away on 13 March 1954 in Queensbury, South Australia, at the age of 59. He is buried at West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, in Road 5 Extension, Row C5, Site Number 22. He grew up in Williamstown, a small township in the Mount Lofty Ranges northeast of Adelaide, as the son of Robert Johnson and Alice Anna Johnson (née Worden).

Robert enlisted in World War I on 21 April 1917 at the age of 21, with the service number 3863. He worked as a blacksmith’s improver and was single at the time, affiliated with the Church of England. His next of kin was his mother, Mrs. Alice A. Johnson, of Williamstown. He embarked on the HMAT Aeneas from Melbourne on 30 October 1917, serving in the 5th Pioneer Battalion and later attached to the 48th Battalion on the Western Front in France. He returned to Australia and was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. He is commemorated on the Mount Crawford Roll of Honour and Williamstown St. Peter’s Anglican Church WWI Honour Roll.

On 13 February 1923, Robert married Mary Elizabeth Pizzo at St Joseph’s Presbytery, Kooringa, South Australia. He was 26, and Mary, the daughter of Dominic Pizzo and Julia Emma Perkins, was 25. After his military service, Robert settled in Queensbury and became part of the prominent Pizzo family of Burra. He passed away in 1954, aged 59, and was laid to rest in West Terrace Cemetery, separate from Mary, who is buried at Cheltenham Cemetery. His contributions to Australia are remembered through war records and community memorials.

Biography by Trevor Pyatt