Ernest CANK

Badge Number: 3966, Sub Branch: Payneham
3966

CANK, Ernest

Service Number: 3950
Enlisted: 2 July 1915, Keswick, South Australia
Last Rank: Corporal
Last Unit: 13th Machine Gun Company
Born: Grinshill, Shropshire, England, 1883
Home Town: Wallaroo, Copper Coast, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Teacher
Died: Natural causes, Adelaide, South Australia, 8 October 1968
Cemetery: Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia
West, Rose Bed W11, Position 059
Memorials: Payneham RSL Honour Board, South Australian Education Department Roll of Honour, Wallaroo St Mary The Virgin Anglican Church Memorial Certificate, Wallaroo WW1 Roll of Honour
Show Relationships

Biography contributed by John Edwards

"Lyrical Clergyman

MR. Ernest Cank, of Netherby, who retired from the headmastership of Payneham School last June, came here from England in 1912. When he and Mrs. Cank spent a year in England they stayed with his old friend the Rev. E. A. Godson at Swanage, Dorset, for a few days. Since their return they have sent him food parcels. He burst into verse when the last one arrived recently: —

ODE TO A CHRISTMAS CAKE

Just greet the news with a Tum-Tum-Tum.

Now beat the cymbal, bang the drum.

Hurrah! Hurrah! The cake HAS COME!!

The cake is here! In very good time.

That's the subject of my rhyme.

Our thanks to you will never end,

Ernest, my old and much loved friend.

We owe you a lot, you bet your life!

To you, and also your charming wife.

The cake is here, we've put it away

Not to be opened till Christmas Day.

We know what it is from the shape of the tin,

And neat tidy cover it's all packed in.

We know full well — we say it with zest —

It's certain to be a cake of the best.

Rich and alluring, all digestions to suit,

Delicious in flavor and wholesome to eat,

A cake so good, it couldn't be beat.

So thanks to you both, and Australia too,

For this lovely present, owed entirely to you." - from the Adelaide Chronicle 06 Jan 1949 (nla.gov.au)

Read more...