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Twin brother of Clarence John MARA.  

THE MARA BROTHERS of JAMESTOWN

 Caught up in the wave of patriotic fever that swept the country, five of the six sons of Joseph and Sarah Mara enlisted between August 1914 and August 1915 to fight in World War I. They were Robert Spencer Mara, Walter Henry Mara, Ernest Clifton Mara, and twins Clarence John and John Clarence Mara. Their eldest brother, Joseph Albert Alfred Mara (known as Alfred) had already enlisted as a private in the Fourth Battalion Australian Commonwealth Horse, South Australian Unit for the Boer War. He survived that war but disappeared on the ship returning to Australia. Of the remaining five Mara boys only two returned from WWI.

There were twelve children altogether in Joseph’s and Sarah’s family, six girls and six boys, all born in the Jamestown District. Joseph’s father, Michael Mara had applied in 1837 in Castlepollard, Ireland for a free passage as an emigrant labourer to Adelaide for himself, his wife Elizabeth Robinson. They arrived in Adelaide on the 24^th June 1838 on the 3 masted barque Eden to a colony that was already on the verge of bankruptcy as the result of a land speculation boom. They were forced to live in destitution at Islington, where they stayed until the early 1850’s. Joseph and the rest of his siblings were born there but as the economic situation in the new colony slowly improved and more land was surveyed, Michael was able to move his wife and family of now 8 or 9 children, to the North of the State, finally settling in Belalie in the late 1850’s where he took up farming. Belalie was a small settlement on the Belalie River which now runs through the centre of Jamestown. Jamestown itself was not created, a little further down on the Belalie River, until 1871.

As they grew up Joseph and his brother Henry found work on the surrounding large holdings in the district, eventually being employed on the huge Canowie Station between Jamestown and Hallet. In its heyday the Station housed up to a hundred single labourers and many more cottages for men with families. There was a post office, school, and cemetery as well as the main homestead.

Henry married Margery Read in July 1873 and five years later in May 1878 Joseph married her sister Sarah. The sisters were from Clare and their parents, Robert and Elizabeth were both Welsh and had immigrated arriving in Adelaide in 1856 on the ship Nabob.

Joseph was employed as a teamster on Canowie and he and Sarah, lived in a cottage on the Station. Six of their twelve children were born there, including Spencer, Walter and Ernest. Henry, his brother and Henry’s wife Margery, also lived on the Station. The sisters Margery and Sarah each had a set of twin boys within two years of each other. Henry and Margery called their boys Stanley Edgar and Edgar Stanley and Joseph and Sarah called theirs John Clarence and Clarence John. Joseph’s family moved back into Jamestown around 1900 but Joseph died in 1911 so in 1914 Sarah was a widow depending on her sons for support. The boys were all single and named their mother as next of kin at the time of their enlistment.

Spencer joined the 3^rd Battalion as a machine gunner on the 27^th August 1914. He fought in Egypt, France and Belgium as was promoted to Sergeant. He died of Bronchial Pneumonia in a war hospital in France on 30^th December 1916 at the age of 32.

Walter enlisted on the 5^th September 1914 in the 12^th Battalion but died in Gallipoli on 9^th June 1915 aged 26. Tragically he shot himself in the field. There was a Court of Inquiry in which his comrades said he had been overcome with ‘melancholy’. Probably the family back home never knew what had really happened. Myrtle, 17 years old and the youngest in the family, was living with her widowed mother Sarah and wrote many letters to the War Office asking why her mother was not receiving Walter’s pension even though they had been told he was dead. The family had not been informed of the circumstances of his death or of the pending Court of Inquiry. Finally the War Office deemed Walter had died in action and Sarah was therefore entitled to his pension but this has only become known since the War records have become available through the open access of the National Archives.

The twin brothers Clarence John enlisted on the 3^rd March 1915 and John Clarence on 12^th April 1915 when they were 18 years old. They were both in the 10^th Infantry. After enlisting on the 10^th August 1915 Ernest, their elder brother, also served in the 10^th Battalion. He and Clarence were both captured at Pozieres in the 22^nd August 1916 and imprisoned by the Germans until 1918. However they were sent different POW camps and not reunited until 1919.

Sadly the day after his brothers were captured, on the 23^rd August 1915 John Clarence was killed in action France, near Mouquet Farm. He was only 19 years old.

The cousins Edgar Stanley and Stanley Edgar went into the Field Ambulance service and were both discharged wounded (gassed) in action. Edgar (Ted) was awarded a Military Medal for bravery in action.

The War office could not cope with the enlistment of so many ‘Mara’ boys all from the Jamestown District. There were dreadful mix ups with the names, especially the twin brothers and their service records. Those that had been captured were reported dead and then missing in action. It must have been very hard for the family not to know who was dead or alive. Although only a young girl, Myrtle wrote continuously to the War Office and the Red Cross trying to sort out what was happening to her brothers. Her letters are all filed with the war records of her brothers and these letters together with the boys’ letters back home make a very poignant story.

By the end of World War 1 only two of the six sons of Joseph and Sarah were alive. The Jamestown community recognized this amazing contribution made by the family by a memorial inscription on the beautiful stain glass window in the Anglican Church and inscriptions on the Arch of Remembrance in the public gardens. There were many newspaper articles in the local papers about the boys at the time and many of the boys’ letters back home were published in the Press. The Mara brothers are still remembered now in Jamestown.

John Clarence Mara enlisted with his identical twin Clarence John in April 1915 aged 21 years. A plasterer from Jamestown, Private Mara was 5 foot 4, approximately 60kg with blue eyes and dark hair. The Mara twins were from a family of 12.

Private John Clarence Mara (2267) served at Gallipoli with the 10th Battalion from September to December 1915 and would have been a part of the ANZAC’s evacuation from the area.  He proceeded to France and the Western Front where his brothers, Clarence John and Ernest also joined the 10th Battalion.  The Battalion’s first major action in France was at Pozieres, where the AIF lost as many men over a few weeks as it did over 8 months on Gallipoli.

Private John Clarence Mara was Killed in Action near Pozieres on 23 August 1916. On the previous day his brothers, Clarence and Ernest were captured by the Germans. They were sent to different Prisoner Of War camps and weren’t reunited until 1919.  The following account from Colonel SP Weir – Commanding Officer describes the action of the 10th Battalion at the time:

On the 19th August 1916 the 10th Battalion relieved the 3rd Battalion on the Front Line between Pozieres and Mouqet Farm.  On the night of 20/21 the men dug and joined trenches run out on the previous night. They were hampered by heavy enemy shelling.  At 1800 an attack on the enemy was launched.  Owing to heavy casualties we went forward in 2 waves instead of 4.  There was no element of surprise in the attack and the enemy’s machine gunners fired through our barrage.  Before launching the attack the Battalion sustained over 120 casualties from shellfire, and immediately after the attack casualties were heavy and rapid. Only one officer reached the final objective and he was wounded — the remaining 7 were killed or wounded within a few minutes.
Shortly after 2000 … our left Company was “in the air” — The enemy was getting behind them — it had no touch on either flank and was enfiladed from both flanks. The survivors fell back to the new line of trenches and the last remaining platoon was sent to their assistance …  The line was held from 2100 on night of 21st August until we handed it over to the 21st Battalion on the night of August 22/23rd..

From the evidence available, it may be fair to say the Mara boys were of free spirit.  Both John Clarence and Clarence John were Absent With Out Leave at different times for up to 4 consecutive days.  Early in August 1916 Clarence John was charged with ‘Conduct to the Prejudice of Good Order and Military Discipline’ for:

1. Being improperly disposed

2. Using insubordinate language to his superior officer

3. Using obscene language ….. and

4. Resisting military police whose duty it was to have him in charge. 

The War Office and the Red Cross struggled with the reversed names of the ‘Mara’ boys and there were dreadful mix-ups with the service records.  Many an office clerk would have been left scratching his head while attempting to sort correspondence and records. At one stage there were no official records (even from the pay office) for John Clarence.  Their sister, Myrtle, wrote continuously to the authorities in a determined attempt to sort the whereabouts and status of her brothers.

Of the 6 Mara lads, the eldest brother served in the Boer War. At the end of that war he wrote of his intention to live in Canada and was never heard from again.  The remaining 5 sons enrolled in World War 1 and only 2 returned. John Clarence was Killed In Action at Pozieres, Spencer Robert (a machine gunner) died of pneumonia in a field hospital and Walter tragically shot himself in the field in Gallipoli after being overcome with melancholy. 

We are unsure of Private Mara’s connection to our town.  Perhaps he journeyed across the gulf regularly and worked in the area, making friends with the locals.  Private John Clarence Mara has no known grave, he is remembered at the memorial at Villers Bretonneux and on the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour. His name is also on the cenotaphs in Cowell and Jamestown. 

Reference List

Australian War Memorial

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51450

Unit Diary 10th Infantry Battalion August 1916 (War Diary Intelligence Summary).

Virtual War Memorial Australia

National Archives of Australia

https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/319540

The Mara Brothers of Jamestown

https://placesofpride.awm.gov.au/memorials/197726/remembering-mara-brothers

Mara Brothers