Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Dick Caplick was born on 17th August 1893 in Canungra, Queensland. His parents were both born in Germany and came to Australia to escape the kaiser. Dick first went to school in Coomera. The family moved from Coomera to the Maroochy River, then to Yandina & eventually to Eumundi in about 1901. Dick's father bought property in Eumundi near the cemetery in about 1901 at the cost of half a crown per acre. The land was rich with timber. Dick's father bought some horses and worked carting timber from the saw mill to farms to build farm houses.
Dick left school at the age of twelve and started working doing fencing jobs around the district. He then started working doing timber felling in the Doonan area. In 1916 he did basic training as a machine gunner in Seymor, Victoria. He trained with the Seventh Machine Gun Company. He enlisted 8th May 1917 Brisbane, Queensland, after training in Victoria he went by train to Sydney, and then from Sydney to England where he then trained at Salisbury Plains. He left England 1st January 1918 to go to Belgium as part of the war effort. It was Dick's Battalion that helped capture the German army tank "Mephisto". in July 1918, which now stands in the Queensland Museum, at Brisbane. During the war Dick was also wounded in France on 3rd October 1918 and was transported back to a hospital in Birmingham, England.Dick Caplick died 4th November 1987 and was living in Eumundi at the time. He is still known as one of the pioneers of the Eumundi timber industry. There is a park in the main street of Eumundi now called the "Dick Caplick Park" in memory of him.