Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Early Life

William Russell Goodwin Colman (known as Russell and as "Joe") was born on the 10th Of April 1897 at Woodville, South Australia, the only child of William Edward Colman and Alice Louisa Waters. He was baptised at St. Margaret's, Woodville, SA on the 29th May 1897. Tragically, Alice passed away on the 15th October 1899 aged 27 years and 4 months. Joe’s father was a clerk in the accounts branch of the Post Office. William Snr had played A Grade Cricket for North Adelaide and an uncle Robert William Waters played with Port Adelaide.

Schooling

Joe was at the Pulteney Street School in 1910 when he passed his Primary Examinations and he was awarded a scholarship to attend St Peter’s College, Adelaide.

While at St Peter’s, Joe passed his Junior Examinations in December 1911 and Senior Examinations in December 1912 and five subjects in the Higher Public Examinations in December 1913. Joe was awarded a government bursary in December 1913.

Joe played both football and cricket for St Peter’s College. He was a member of the Inter-collegiate Football team who played Prince Alfred College in July 1913. He played cricket for St Peter’s in the SACA B Grade competition in the 1913/14 season and was a member of the Inter-collegiate Cricket team who defeated PAC in December 1913.

In 1914 Joe was a member of the committee which organised the St Peter’s College Sports and the Inter-collegiate Sports. He represented St Peter’s at Inter-collegiate football (Vice-Captain), lawn tennis and cricket (Captain). In the St Peter’s School Magazine (1914) Joe’s critique as a footballer was as follows: (see document).

Joe played SACA B Grade cricket for St Peters in the first half of the 1914/15 cricket season. In one match against Adelaide in December 1914 he made 47 runs and took 4 for 37.

He was third on the General Honours List in the Higher Public Examinations and was awarded the Angas Engineering exhibition and a government bursary in December 1914. In March 1915 he passed Senior English Literature.

Pre War University

Joe commenced studying at Adelaide University in 1915 but did not complete any subjects that year as he enlisted for WWI in July 1915, aged 18 years and 3 months.

Pre War University Sport

Cricket

Joe played B Grade Cricket for Adelaide University in the second half of the 1914/15 season. In the last match of the season in April, he was the team’s highest scorer and the grade’s third highest scorer for an individual innings, scoring 56 not out.

Football

Joe was a back for Adelaide University A grade in the 1915 season. Due to the high proportion of Amateur League players enlisting, the 1915 season was curtailed and finished in August 1915. As Joe had not left for the front he was able to play in the semi-final which University lost to Semaphore Central.

Rowing

Joe was also a member of the Adelaide University Boat Club as he was listed on the Oarsmen’s roll of honour in August 1915.

World War I

Joe signed his attestation papers on the 26th July 1915 but is officially considered to have enlisted on the 2nd of August 1915 (SN 2552). He had his father’s permission to enlist. Joe was 5’7” tall, weighed 154 lbs and had a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair.

Joe embarked from Adelaide as an Acting Sergeant on the HMAT “Benalla” on the 27th October 1915. They dropped anchor at Port Tewfik in Egypt near Suez on 20th November 1915, where they conducted further training, re-organised and paused as the AIF extracted from Gallipoli and returned to Egypt.

Joe spent most of January 1916 at the No 2 General Hospital AIF, Ghezirch, Egypt with paralysis of the right side of the face. On the 28th March 1916 he was reverted to a Corporal for failing to obey orders and in April 1916 he reverted to the rank of Private at Estaples, France.

On the 29th June 1916 Joe was wounded in action while in France and was taken to the No 3 Stat. Hospital , Bologne, France and then on the HS ‘Jan Breydel’ for England. He has received a gunshot wound to the face and in England he was at Edmonton Military Hospital England. He was discharged from hospital on furlough on the 31st August 1916.

On the 20th September 1916 Joe was with the 7th Training Btn. He contracted the mumps in November 1916 and was at the Parkhurst Hospital then the Fargo Hospital before rejoining the 7th Training Btn. at Rollestone.

On the 4th February 1917 Joe proceeded overseas to France and he was made a Lance Corporal on the 15th March 1917 then a Corporal on the 16th July 1917. On the 1st August 1917 Joe was transferred to the Officer Training Corps and was promoted to 2nd lieutenant on the 9th November 1917. On the 14th December 1917 Joe proceeded overseas to France and he was in Belgium by the 19th December 1917. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 23rd April 1918, a day later he was wounded in action but remained on duty.

During fighting near Villers Bretonneux on the 8th July 1918 (known as the ‘Peaceful Penetration’), “In broad daylight he led his men across the open, entered the enemy lines, and captured some 800 yards of trench, together with 20 prisoners, inflicting considerable losses on the enemy. The success of the operation was due to his courage and initiative.”

As a result on the 31st July 1918 Joe was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.”

From the 20th July to 2nd August 1918 Joe was at the Army Rest Camp and on the 24th August 1918 proceeded to England on leave. From 26th October to 9th November 1918 he was in Paris on leave. On the 26th January 1919, Joe embarked to England for RTA (return to Australia) he was demobilised on the 13th February 1919.

On the 28th February 1919 Joe returned to Australia on the ‘Anchises’ and disembarked at Adelaide on the 16th April 1919.

In November 2013 the book ‘There and Back with a Dinkum’ (Paperback ISBN: 9781925003604) by W.R.G. Colman, edited by Claire Woods and Paul Skrebels was published. In the persona of his narrator, John Carlton, Colman journeys from schoolboy cricket captain in Adelaide to infantry officer on the Western Front, where he is twice wounded and awarded the Military Cross for gallantry. A thoughtful and intelligent writer, he tells what it means to be a civilian in a soldier's world.

Post War University

On his return to Australia Joe returned to studying engineering at Adelaide University and at the School of Mines.

In July 1919 before a crowd of 35,000 Joe represented the 27th Battalion in a football match against the 10th Battalion.

In March 1920 he competed in the mixed doubles handicap at the South Australian Open Tennis Championships in Adelaide.

At the School of Mines he passed such subjects as Assaying I and Machine Designs. In May 1921 Joe was awarded a bursary from the Mining and Metallurgical Bursaries Fund. In December 1921 he completed the necessary examination to gain a fellowship diploma from the Department of Mining and in December 1922, he completed the necessary practical work he was awarded the Fellowship Diploma. He completed the practical work at Broken Hill.

He gained his Bachelor of Engineering in December 1922.

Post War University Sport

Football

Joe may have played some B Grade matched for Adelaide University in 1920. He played Intervarsity football for Adelaide University in 1921 and was awarded a Blue for football in 1921.

Cricket

Joe played A Grade cricket for Adelaide University in the 1919/20 to 1921/22 seasons. In December 1921 Joe played Intervarsity cricket for Adelaide University. He scored 18 runs in the first innings of the match. He was awarded a Blue for Cricket in 1922 making him a Double Blue.

Career & Family Life

On the 7th January 1922, Joe married Mary Winifred Dick, the daughter of John Dick at the Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide. They had a son who was born in late 1923 or early 1924 (Grahame Russell) and a second son born on the 20th August 1926 (Geoffrey William).

Joe and Mary lived at Broken Hill. Joe was awarded his Victory Medal at the Anzac Commemorations at Broken Hill in 1922. He joined the RSL Cricket team then in September 1923 the St Peter’s Cricket Club at Broken Hill. Joe represented the Barrier District Cricket League in a match against the Gawler Association at Gawler, SA in April 1924, East Torrens in Broken Hill in January 1925 and the SA Association in March 1926. In late September or early October 1926 the family left Broken Hill.

On the 5th October 1926 Joe departed Brisbane onboard the ‘Marella’ bound for Singapore. In a letter to the secretary of the Barrier District Cricket League in January 1927 Joe stated that he was in good health and settling down in his new surroundings.

Joe was working at Pungah, Siam (Thailand). It is unclear when the family joined him but it appears that Joe later moved to a position in the Federal Malay States (FMS, Malaysia). In 1929, Mary and the two boys (aged 6 and 2) returned to Australia from Singapore. They arrived in Fremantle, WA on the 15th July 1929.

Their country of residence and their intended future country of residence were both recorded as FMS so the trip appears to have been a holiday.

The family may have moved to Tasmania as early as November 1930, however the first definite record from the newspapers of Joe’s residence in Tasmania is in June 1931 when he is listed as playing golf at the St Helens Golf Club.

Joe was manager of the Siamese Tin Syndicate Ltd (the largest and most complete alluvial tin mining operation in Tasmania). In September 1932 he captained the employees of the Siamese Tin Syndicate Ltd in a cricket match against the St Helens team.

In about 1933 Joe’s father moved to St Helens, Tasmania. In August 1934 Joe and Mary were among the delegates of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy who visited the Mt Lyall Company mines at Queenstown, Tasmania. Joe was a keen Tennis player. Joe competed in the annual Hobart summer tournament in January 1935 and he won the St Helens Tennis Association (Mens) championship in 1935.

In April 1935 Joe and Mary were in Adelaide. They were given a farewell luncheon by members of the 27th Battalion before their departure to London to attend the King’s Jubilee celebrations. They returned to Australia via Southampton, England onboard the ‘Hobson Bay’ which departed on 11th September 1935 and arrived at Freemantle, WW on the 16th October 1935.

In March 1936 Joe was appointed a member of the Licensing Court for Portland, Tasmania.

On the 3rd of September 1936, Joe’s father passed away, aged 70. He was buried at the Carr Villa Cemetery.

From February 1937 to February 1938 Joe was the President of the Portland sub-branch of the RSSILA (RSL) at St Helens. In May 1937 Joe was in Adelaide for the 22nd anniversary of the embarkation of the 27th Battalion.

Joe and Mary’s two sons attended Hutchins School, a boarding school in Hobart. Both Grahame and Geoffrey were good sportsmen and scholars. Grahame won the Senior Newcastle Scholarship in 1936, he played tennis, was a cadet and a member of the school cricket premiership side. In 1940 he was Dux of the School and won a scholarship. Geoffrey was the School Tennis Captain in 1941.

Joe was again President of the Portland RSL in 1939 and he gave an address at the Anzac commemorations that year. During WWII Joe continued in his role at manager of the Siamese Tin Syndicate Ltd. He was still playing golf at the St Helens Golf Club and had been appointed a Justice of the Peace. From March 1940, Joe was Chairman of the St Helens branch of the Red Cross Comfort s Fund.

Joe and Mary’s elder son, Grahame, attended Melbourne University, Victoria. He played cricket for the University and was awarded a Half Blue in April 1946. On gaining his MB BS he was appointed a resident at Prince Henry’s Hospital in March 1946. He married Lesley Patricia Briant, the daughter of Mr and Mrs L P Briant, 113 Warrigal Rd, Surry Hills, Victoria. After completing his residency Grahame commenced a practice at Surry Hills in September 1917. Grahame and Lesley had a son, William Russell, born 24 June 1947 and another son (probably John Campbell Colman) born on the 11th January 1949.

In April 1946 the St Helens Golf Club was revived after a three year recess due to WWII and Joe was elected President of the Club. He was still the President in 1954.

Joe and Mary’s younger son, Geoffrey, attended the University of Tasmania from 1946, where he studied law. In 1947 he was Captain of the University’s Intervarsity Football team. He was admitted to the Bar in Tasmania in 1948. Geoffrey became engaged to Ella Dawn Greuber, New Town, in January 1949. Geoffrey was an associate to the Chief Justice of Tasmania (Sir James Morris). The couple moved to Melbourne and Geoffrey was admitted to the Victorian Bar in May 1950.

On the 2nd September 1954 Geoffrey and Ella had a son (probably Christopher Russell Colman) at Moss Giles Hospital, Surry Hills, Victoria.

By 1958 Joe and Mary had moved to Victoria and were living at 1 Acacia Street, Camberwell, Vic.

Tragically for family, Grahame Russell Colman passed away in 1964, aged 40.

Death

William Russell Goodwin Colman passed away on the 15th January 1966, aged 68 years.

In 1977 Mary was living at 1/2 William Street, Ringwood, Vic.

Geoffrey William Colman became a QC, he passed away in the year ending 30 June 2009.

Author EE (Beth) Filmer

For the complete profile including photographs, newspaper articles, documents and sources prepared for the AUFC/AUCC WWI Memorial Project please see the document attached.

The details provided are taken from the book "Stealth Raiders - a few daring men in 1918" written by Lucas Jordan, published 2017, refer to page 264 and also to page 301 to gain details of the many mentions of this soldier. Prior to the war he was a mining engineering student of Adelaide SA. He enlisted 2nd Aug 1915 aged 18 years. He served with the 27th Infantry Battalion, earning the Military Medal during the service, and earning a promotion to Lieutenant. He survived the war, departing the UK for home 28th Feb 1919.

Lieutenant William Russell Goodwin Colman

(During fighting near Villers Bretonneux 27 July 1918 – “Peaceful Penetration” offensive patrolling)

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. In broad daylight he led his men across the open, entered the enemy lines, and captured some 800 yards of trench, together with 20 prisoners, inflicting considerable losses on the enemy. The success of the operation was due to his courage and initiative.

Service record