Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Bill was born on 23 June 1895 at Moonta (SA) to John Trezise and Jane Trezise (nee Berriman).  There were 12 children in the family (3 from a previous marriage), 6 boys and 6 girls.  His father came from Cornwall (UK) as a young man and travelled throughout SA before settling at Moonta and working as a butcher and attributer in the mines.  The family then moved to Butler in 1904 with 8 of their 12 children and took up a lease of 3115 acres. In 1910 the family moved from the farm into Tumby Bay.

Bill started school in Moonta, prior to the family moving. There was no school in Butler so he went to work as a charcoal burner and farm labourer in the Butler area; an employ that he retained until enlistment

Bill enlisted in the Army in Port Lincoln on 27 October 1917. At the time he gave his occupation as labourer and his address as Tumby Bay. He was then sent to Mitcham for processing and assigned to 2nd Depot Battalion on that date for training before being transferred to Base Light Horse on 21 November 1917 to complete his training and then posted to 34th Reinforcements/9th Light Horse Regiment (9th L H Regt) on 4 January 1918.

On 30 April 1918 he embarked aboard HMAT "Port Darwin" at Sydney bound for Suez, where he disembarked on 5 June 1918 and was sent to the Reinforcements Camp at Moascar (Egypt). He marched out to 3rd Light Horse Training Regiment at Moascar ten days later for further training, before being taken on strength by his unit on 12 August 1918.

His unit then took part in the capture of Jenin on 20 -21 September 1918 and Sasa on 29 September 1918, both of which hastened the surrender of the Turks, which occurred on 31 October 1918.

While waiting to embark for Australia, the 9th L H Regt were called back to operational duty to quell the Egyptian revolt that erupted in Mar 1919; order was restored in a little over a month.

Bill, with his Regiment, embarked at Kantara (Egypt) aboard HT "Shropshire" on 10 July 1919 for return to Australia, disembarking in Adelaide on 10 August 1919. He took his discharge in Adelaide the next day and returned to Tumby Bay. On 20 June 1923 he married Margaret Helen Butterfield at the Catholic Church in Port Lincoln: as an aside, Bill also changed his religion from Methodist to Roman Catholic at this time.

He resumed working on farms in the Tumby area and then commenced moving further afield into the station country around “Wildeloo” for work. Remember this was the lead up to the Great Depression and employment was difficult to come by. Despite the difficulty they raised a family of 2 girls: The 2 daughters, Elaine Agnes and Margaret Anne (Peggy) married 2 brothers, Ross and Lawrence (Butch) Fitzgerald.

After the commencement of WW2, Bill again enlisted in the Army; his date of enlistment was 5 June 1942 at Port Lincoln. The next day he was called up for fulltime duty and marched out from No.9 Post at Port Lincoln to Headquarters, Volunteer Defence Corps at Torrens, where he remained for a day before being posted to Guerrilla School at Kensington. After successfully completing the training he was posted to Kangaroo Island Guard on 12 June 1942.

6 weeks later he was transferred back to Port Lincoln Guard (No. 9 Post).  It was also at this time that he moved his family from Tumby Bay to Cummins. On 3 November 1942 he was granted 14 days Leave Without Pay, returning to his unit on 17 November 1942 in preparation for transfer back to Kangaroo Island at the beginning of 1943. On 14 March 1943 he was again transferred, this time to No. 4 Post at Cape Jervois. After 5 months at Cape Jervois he applied for discharge to return to his family. This was granted on 13 August 1943 when he was discharged "at own request". He then moved his family to Adelaide and took employ in the Wool Stores at Port Adelaide.

Bill died on 15 November 1965 at Daw Park and is buried at Centennial Park Cemetery, Derrick Gardens Section, in Adelaide.