Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Erminigildo (John or Jack GUASCOYNE) GUASCONI
Born: 13 January 1870 Shepherds Flat, Victoria
Died: 26 July 1949 Dubbo, New South Wales
Occupation: Labourer
Never Married

Eldest of three children born to Giovanni GUASCONI and Mary HARRISON nee REILLY.

Most likely attended Shepherds Flat State School 1212.

Somewhere around the age of fourteen to sixteen moved away from home and spent most of his life working for Howard EDMONSTONE & family.

It is unclear how he met up with Howard EDMONSTONE. It is possible that they met while still at Shepherds Flat as Howard came from Creswick some 37 kilometres away. It is also possible that he worked for Howard on “Springvale”, a farm near the NSW, Victoria border and when this farm was sold was asked to move up to work on the new farm, “Willow Belah” near Dubbo sometime around 1893.

In 1908, July 25 in the Dubbo Despatch, Gildo, as he was known, is one of 347 applicants bidding for one of 18 blocks made for offer as part of the Closer Settlement Scheme in the Narromine, Bundemar and Derribong area.

Gildo used to ‘Dummy’ for people. If someone was interested in a block, for a price Gildo would apply on their behalf. If successful, he had to hold the land for a certain period before he would pass it on to the person he bid on behalf of.

At one stage Gildo got the itch for gold and went off to try his hand at the Cowra gold fields. He would have picked up some knowledge of gold mining from possibly helping his father mine the goldfields at Shepherds Flat.

Gildo met a young girl at Cowra, Georgie McCADDY (McCADDIE) but unfortunately nothing came of it. Georgie was quite a bit younger than he.

Gildo worked as a farm labourer until he enlisted into the Army (AIF) 12 July 1916 at the age of 40 (his enlisted name was John GUASCOYNE). His surname was possibly changed due to the ethnic tensions the outbreak of war in 1914 created, which, despite a British and Italian alliance and Swiss neutrality, was evident due to the initial triple alliance of Italy and Turkey with Germany.

On the 20th October 1916 Gildo was given a farewell with a gathering of a large number of friends hosted at Mr. H Kilby’s property ‘Grangeburn”. In a speech given, it was said that Gildo had been a resident of the district for 26 years and is highly esteemed by all who have had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. He was given a chamois leather vest, a set of military brushes and a silver matchbox.

Departing Australia 25 October 1916 on HMAT A11 Ascanius, he fought in WW1 in France with the 20th Battalion, 17th Reinforcements, as part of the larger 5th Infantry Brigade. He was wounded twice in the same year. The first was a gunshot wound to the left shoulder in May 1917 at Bullecourt and the second was another gunshot wound, this time to the left leg in September 1917 at the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge. Surviving both of these skirmishes he returned to Australia in 1919.

The HMAT A11 Ascanius weighed 10,048 tons with an average cruise speed of 13 knots or 24.07 kmph. It was built in 1910 by Workman Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast. It was owned by the Ocean SS Co Ltd, Liverpool, and leased by the Commonwealth from 1914 until 30 July 1917. Between 19 Apr and 12 May 1915 she was converted at Cockatoo Island Dockyard to transport 1,820 troops and 12 horses. She completed nine transport voyages from Australia. After the war she serviced the refrigerated meat trade between Australia and Liverpool, before being used again as a troopship during WW2. She was torpedoed on 30 Jul 1944 by U-621 while a member of Convoy EBC-54, in the English Channel south of Portsmouth while on its way to the Normandy beaches where it was to act as a depot ship. Despite being damaged, she was able to make it to port for repairs. After WW2, the Ascanius carried Jewish emigrants from Marseilles to Haifa and was sold in 1949 to Italy and renamed San Giovannino. The plan had been to carry emigrants from Italy to Australia, but she had to be laid up due to her age and was broken up at La Spezia in July 1952.

There were reports from the local men returning from war of Gildo’s kindness, helping other soldiers with their gear on long marches etc. There were few vehicles and certainly none for the foot soldiers. No official reports of this, just word of mouth.

On his return Gildo continued to work for the Howard EDMONSTONE and his family. He moved between the three farms “Willow Belah”, “Allawah”, and “Kameruka” run by Howard’s three boys Robert, Thomas and William. His later years were spent on “Allawah” with Thomas and his family.

He was offered a parcel of land by the war office for his services. This was somewhere north of Longreach in north Queensland. He and the three Edmonstone brothers ventured out to inspect his lot but declined the offer as it was a baron land full of prickly pear.

Gildo lost three middle fingers on his left hand after an accident with a chaff cutter and also had his big toe run over by a wagon, which in one of his letters he wrote home during the war in France, complained that it ached in the snow.
On his return from the war be brought home a kilt, which he would wear on the occasion of France’s day in Dubbo. On one year he was the flag bearer at the lead of the parade.

French boys primarily wore kilts in the mid-19th century. It is unclear when the style first appeared in France. Presumably it would have been the 1850s. Men may have worn kilts earlier, but as a children's outfit it probably was due to Queen Victoria's inspiration in the 1840s.

The Irish also wore kilts dating back to the 16th century. There are depictions of many figures wearing garments with heavily pleated skirts. These are not modern kilts, but leines, which by this time had evolved into wrap around shirts with wide, hanging sleeves and elaborately pleated skirt. (Erminigilo’s mother was Irish).

Gildo died in the Dubbo Base Hospital from Senility and Chronic Myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) at the age of 79. He is buried in the Presbyterian cemetery, Dubbo.