Joseph Roy GARDNER

GARDNER , Joseph Roy

Service Number: 489
Enlisted: 24 August 1914, Broadmeadows, Victoria
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 7th Infantry Battalion
Born: Creswick, Victoria, Australia, 30 June 1894
Home Town: Costerfield, Greater Bendigo, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Winch driver
Died: Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 25 April 1915, aged 20 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Costerfield Great European War Roll of Honor, Costerfield Memorial To Their Fallen Roll of Honor WWI, Creswick Honor Roll, Creswick School Pictorial Roll of Honour, North Creswick State School No 2041 Honor Roll
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World War 1 Service

24 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 489, 7th Infantry Battalion, Broadmeadows, Victoria
19 Oct 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 489, 7th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: ''
19 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 489, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne
25 Apr 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 489, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli

Help us honour Joseph Roy Gardner 's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

His 19 year old younger brother, GARDNER, Pte. William George, 982. 24th Bn. Australian Inf. Died of wounds inflicted at Pozieres 30th July, 1916. 

Biography

Embarkation Roll (www.awm.gov.au) has incorrectly spelled Surname GARDINER

"COSTERFIELD SOLDIER KILLED. PRIVATE J. R. GARDNER.

We regret to report the loss of one of our young soldiers, Private J. R. Gardner, who was killed in action about the 3rd of May, in the historic landing of our Australian troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula. He was (says a Costerfield correspondent) the second son of Mr and Mrs. Joseph Gardner, and one of the first in this district to volunteer. He was in the 7th Battalion and, being a very good shot, was acting as a sniper. The sad news was very gently broken to the bereaved family by the Rev. Henry Wallace, and immediately the Big Mine, Minerva, and the State School flags fluttered at half-mast. Roy, as the deceased soldier was familiarly called, was a great favorite in the district. He was a young man of gentle manner, quiet and reserved in speech, a loyal, brave citizen soldier, and a most loving and devoted son and brother. He, by industry and faithful service, won the esteem of his employers and the confidence of the workmen at the Costerfield mine. He had successfully passed all examinations and held a first class engine driver's certificate, and at the call of his country left to fight her enemies, and gave his life for others.

The townspeople profoundly sympathise with his father and mother. The former, when he received the sad news, quietly said "Well, Roy has died for a great cause." Very touching reference to the young soldier's glorious end was made by Mr J. Armstrong at the Sunday night service at the Methodist Church. Deceased had been a Sunday School scholar and a regular attendant of his church. The letters he had sent home are very interesting and descriptive, and are now cherished by his parents. They show that he was loyal to his King and his country, and faithful to his mates, and they speak of his deep, sincere love for his parents and his faith in God. We, the writer concludes, look not on him as dead; he has the larger life; he followed Him of whom it was said "He saved others, Himself He could not save,"

A second son, "Willie," is also on his way to the front, and will no doubt be one of our best soldiers. Relative to the sad event our Costerfield correspondent writes as follows: "The war and all its horrors was keenly brought to bear with intensity on the residents of Costerfield on Saturday, when Mr and Mrs Gardner were acquainted with the sad intelligence that their second son, Private J. R. (Roy) Gardner, who was well and favorably known in our midst from boyhood, had been killed in action at the Dardanelles on the 3rd ult. Additional sadness is lent to the awful tidings when the long lapse of time since the happening is considered; for although anxious about his safety, the family hoped that long silence was not ominous, and they continued to send correspondence to their brave boy. Private Gardner would have-celebrated his 21st birthday on the 30th ult., so it can well be imagined what a sad blow the loss of such a fine son would be to his parents under any circumstances; but they have the combined consolation and honor of knowing that he gave his life for his country, and in the words of Tennyson "How can man die better than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God's." He was also the very first of the local boys to enlist, which fact also makes it all the more tragically-sad that he was almost the first to fall. He left a good position, that of enginedriver at the Big Mine, to follow his country's call. Flags have been at half-mast in the township ever since the news was received, and very general, heartfelt sympathy is extended to the bereaved family." - from the McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser 17 Jun 1915 (nla.gov.au)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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