Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

JAMES Oscar Rowland 6347 LCPL
23rd Battalion
1884-1954

Oscar was the fourth son of eight children born to James James and his wife Rachel. He was born on the family farm Myrtle Glen at Boho south. He and his siblings would have been educated at the Boho South State School. It is assumed that he worked on the farm until he enlisted on 16 October 1916 at the age of 28. A month later he embarked on HMAT Hororata bound for Plymouth, arriving on 29 January 1917. He trained at the 6th Training Battalion until April when he was taken on strenght of the 23rd Battalion in France.

The 23rd Battalion had been raised in Victoria in March 1915. As part of the 6th Brigade it landed at Anzac Cove and fought at Lone Pine.  After the evacuation of Gallipoli it was sent to the Western Front, Armentieres sector so this is where Oscar would have joined it in April, 1917. In September Oscar spent three days in hospital suffering from diarrhoea; the following month he was wounded in action with a bullet wound to the right leg. This happened at Poelcappelle, about five miles north east of Ypres. He was sent to the 2nd Canadian Hospital and then to Suffolk Hospital in England. When discharged, he was granted leave followed by training at Sutton Veny to prepare him for service with the 23rd Battalion.  The following September he was promoted to the rank of LCPL, where he was attached to the Australian Records Section until returning to his unit.

During leave in April/May 1919 he married English girl Margaret Godfrey. On 17 May the same year the couple left England for Australia aboard SS Katoomba. It was reported in the Violet Town Sentinel on 10 October 1919 that there was a ‘very pleasant function at Boho on Friday night last, the occasion being a welcome home and presentation to CPL Oscar James and Mrs James.  The chair was occupied by Mr Walker in a capable manner.  The only drawback was that the building was not large enough to accommodate the large number attending. The presentation was made by Mr W Dowd, in appropriate terms, of a gold medal to CPL James and an afternoon tea service to Mrs James. In addition to the chairman and Mr Dowd, words of welcome and appreciation were spoken by Mr Watkins. CPL James responded suitably on behalf of Mrs James and himself . . .’

Oscar and Margaret started their married life in Boho South on a soldier settler’s block just up the road from Oscar’s parents.  When his brother Bert took over that farm they moved up the road to another farm opposite the Boho South church. Their eldest child, Phil was born in 1920; two years latera daughter Joan was born. Oscar had been studying to enable him to undertake ministry work. In 192 after a successful application for a job as minister or home missionary in Tasmania the soldier settler’s block at Boho was sold, allowing Oscar freedom to continue his missionary work. By this time they had moved to Forth where another daughter Irene was born, then to Wilmot on the way to Cradle Mountain. After five years in Tasmania they moved back to the mainland to Leeton, NSW where Oscar’s brother Jim had a rice farm. They built a temporary accommodation where, in 1932, Marion was born. Eventually they bought their own farm and stayed in Leeton for 17 years. Their final move was back to Boho south where they leased land from the Crocker family at Spion Kop where they built a house.

Oscar died in 1954 at the Heidelberg Reparation Hospital and is buried in the Violet Town Cemetery. 

Service Medals:    British War Medal        Victory Medal

Memorials: Main Honour Board, Memorial Hall, Violet Town
                    Strathbogie Monument
                    Strathbogie Honour Roll
                    Violet Town Certificate.

Tree no 31 was planted in 1917 by Mr Watson,

In 2013 a Ceratonia siliqua - Carob Tree - was planted by his son Philip Godfrey James