DAWES, Walter
| Service Number: | 4093 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 22nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 29 July 1893 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Carpenter |
| Died: | Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia, 9 July 1964, aged 70 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Drouin Public Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 7 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 4093, 22nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 4093, 22nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Cora Jones
Wally was the son of Alfred Thomas Dawes and Frances Mary Ann Morgan.
Walter (Wally) Dawes, a carpenter, of Iona, Victoria, Australia, enlisted at Warragul on the 20th of December 1915, and was later re-examined in Melbourne on the 18th January 1916. His service number was 4093. He was allocated to the 10/22 Reinforcements at Broadmeadows and embarked from Australia on 7 March 1916, however the name of the ship he left on is not recorded in his service record. I have found the ships name on the Australian War Memorial Website recorded as the HMAT Wiltshire. He travelled to Moascar, Egypt, where he was taken on strength from the 10/22 reinforcements to the 5th Cyclists Corp at Ferry Post.
In October 1916 the II Anzac cyclists, less their bikes were sent to the trenches to fight. They worked with two companies on the line and the third in the support line. They worked on a 4 day rotating roster, 4 days in the trenches, and 4 days on the support line. After a month in the frontline the Cyclists were relieved by another battalion and they returned to Bac St Maur to collect their bicycles and returned to billets just outside of Doulieu.
Cyclists were often sent to other units and from 17 November 1916 to 29 May 1917, Wally was one of 25 Cyclists who was seconded to the Town Major of Armentieres as a fire brigade detail. During this time, on the 11th January 1917, Wally was treated for a septic hand.
From the 14th of June for three weeks the cyclists were engaged in more cable burying tasks and were occasionally subjected to enemy fire. On the 22nd of June 1917, Wally was hospitalised due to gas. It appears he may have been sent back to England as the service record seems to read Belgravia for his place of hospitalisation. He returned to the Cyclists Battalion on 11 July 1917.
On 30th July 1917 Wally went on leave, returning on 15 August 1917. On 17 November 1918 Wally was detached to the 133 AT Coy until 15 January 1918.
On the 16th of January 1918 Wally transferred from 22 Corps Cycle Battalion to the Australian Corp Cycle Battalion. He remained with that unit for the remainder of the war.
Wally was demobilised and left England on board the Mahai and returned to Australia in June 1919. He was classed as TPE at discharge.
Like so many of the soldiers who have returned home from war over the years, Wally was changed by his experiences and seems to have had little or no contact with his family following his return to Australia. It is now known that he spent some time in Newry, near Maffra where he probably continued working as a carpenter, as he had before the war. He then moved on to Canberra sometime in the late 1920's or early 1930's. He was living at the Capital Hill Camp in Canberra in 1932. This camp was a tent camp set up to house labourers and tradesmen who were working in Canberra at that time. He later moved to a guest house in Canberra where he spent about 20 years.
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