OATES, Josiah Charles
| Service Number: | 5012 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 27 January 1916, Enlisted at Blackboy Hill, WA |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers |
| Born: | Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 1879 |
| Home Town: | Boulder, Kalgoorlie/Boulder, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Died: | Busselton, Western Australia, 2 June 1962, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: | Boulder Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 27 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper, 5012, 3rd Tunnelling Company (inc. 6th Tunnelling Company), Enlisted at Blackboy Hill, WA | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Jun 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 5012, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: '' | |
| 1 Jun 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 5012, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), HMAT Warilda, Fremantle | |
| 1 Jun 1916: | Embarked Sapper, 5012, 3rd Tunnelling Company (inc. 6th Tunnelling Company), HMAT Warilda, Fremantle | |
| 1 Jun 1916: | Involvement Sapper, 5012, 3rd Tunnelling Company (inc. 6th Tunnelling Company), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Dec 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Sapper, Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, From 6th Tunnelling Company | |
| 1 Jun 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Sapper, 5012, Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, embarked England for Fremantle on board HT Somali | |
| 22 Aug 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sapper, 5012, Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Discharged at the 5th Military District |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Carol Foster
Son of James Oates and Elizabeth Ann Oates nee Gribble of Bendigo, Victoria.
Husband of Lily Oates nee James of Oroya Street, Boulder, WA. Josiah and Lily married during 1904c in Boulder, WA.
Commenced return to Australia on 1 June 1919 aboard HT Somali disembarking on 8 July 1919
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Biography contributed by Chris Buckley
Sapper Josiah Charles Oates (Service No:5012) enlisted in the AIF on 27 January 1916 with 47th Depot Battalion, and was attached to 6 Tunnelling Coy on 1 June 1916 when he embarked with his Unit from Fremantle for Plymouth on board HMAT A69 Warilda. Sapper Oates served with the Australian Electrical, Mechanical Mining and Boring Coy on the Western Front, including seven months on the canal banks at Ypres, where he was gassed. In May 1918, in a letter he wrote home, published in the Shepparton Advertiser (Monday 27 May 1918) he says ''I got a dose of German gas early in August, and had a pretty bad time for a month or two. I am pleased to say I am fairly right again now, and able to carry on. Let us hope that this dreadful war will soon end, so that we can all return to the land we love, and to our loved ones. We will always be proud of the part that our women of Australia took in this struggle'. On 1 June 1919, Sapper Oates embarked from England for Fremantle on board HT Somali, and was attached to Australian Electrical, Mechanical Mining and Boring Coy at Discharge on 22 August 1919.
Ninth of twelve children, Josiah was born in Bendigo, Victoria in 1878 to James Oates (b1840 in Cornwall, England) and Elizabeth Ann Gribble (b1843 in Cornwall, England). James (a Mine Blacksmith in Cornwall) and Elizabeth married in 1863 in Ballarat, where they settled and raised their family and James was an Engine Driver and Miner. Elizabeth died in 1898, and James in 1907 - he was on board SS Kanowna travelling from Fremantle to Port Adelaide 'when he mysteriously disappeared' (Trove; 1907).
Josiah worked as a Miner at Whitehiils in Victoria before moving to the Western Australian Goldfields in the early 1900s - where he worked as a Machinist and Miner at Kamballie. In 1904 in Boulder, he married Lily James (b1884 in Frome, South Australia), and the couple lived in Kalgoorlie, Meekatharra and Boulder. Josiah was President of the Boulder branch of the Australian Natives Association (ANA), and Secretary and Accountant at Penian Mine in Meekatharra prior to his enlistment in the AIF. Following his Discharge in 1919, Josiah and Elizabeth moved to Abba River at Tutenup via Busselton where, under the Soldier Settlement Scheme, Josiah was a Settler/Dairy Farmer. Josiah died in 1963 and Elizabeth in 1968.
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