Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sydney William Francis Hall

(10 April 1920 – 22 June 1993)

Sergeant, S34433 – Australian Military Forces (WW2)

Early Life

Sydney William Francis Hall was born on 10 April 1920 at Quorn, South Australia, the eldest son of Ernest Hall (1868–1943) and Rosanna Mabel Semmens (1887–1957). He grew up in the Flinders Ranges, in a family of two boys – his younger brother was Alfred Ellis Hall (1922–2001). The Hall family was well-known in Quorn, with Ernest employed locally and later remembered as a respected townsman.

Military Service

On 4 March 1941, at age 20, Sydney enlisted in the Australian Military Forces at Quorn.

Service Number: S34433
Unit(s): Australian Army Service Corps (AASC), later 105 (Adelaide) Military Hospital.
Role: Clerical and administrative support, recorded as a "G.P.A. Clerk."
Rank: Rose steadily through the ranks, being promoted to Sergeant by 1944.

He spent the war years posted within Australia, supporting medical and administrative operations from Quorn, Adelaide, and occasionally in the Northern Territory. His service file notes 1,613 days of full-time duty, including time with hospital units, vital to the health and organisation of the forces.

Discharged: 26 September 1946, as Sergeant, 105 Australian Military Hospital.
Honours: Awarded the War Badge for his service.
Memorials: His name appears on the Quorn and District World War II Roll of Honour.

Marriages and Family

Sydney's personal life was complex, with three marriages over his lifetime.

Hillery Maude Woods (1926–2014)

Married during the war years (she appears as his next of kin by 1945).
Lived at Queen Street, Peterborough.
Marriage dissolved on 16 April 1951 (Supreme Court of SA; cause desertion).
Hillery later remarried twice, lastly to Colin James Taylor, with whom she had a large family.
No children are known from her marriage with Sydney.
Norah Coyne (later Lukasik) (1921–2006)

Born in Galway, Ireland, Norah first married Tadeusz Lukasik in London in 1947 and emigrated to Adelaide on the Strathmore in 1954.
After being widowed in 1971, she married Sydney in South Australia.
Norah died in 2006 and was buried at Stirling District Cemetery. Her headstone records her as "Norah Hall (née Coyne), dearly missed by her three sons and families." These sons were from her first marriage to Tadeusz Lukasik, making Sydney their stepfather.
Mabel Jean Robbins (1919–1992)

Born at Chicago (Kilburn), SA, Mabel first married Lionel Collin Smith in 1937.
Later she married Sydney, and by the 1980s they lived together at 10 Liza Road, Happy Valley.
Mabel died on 30 January 1992 at Flinders Medical Centre, aged 72, and was cremated at Centennial Park.
Sydney was listed as her spouse in her Advertiser death notice.

Later Life and Death

After his discharge, Sydney worked as a clerk and storekeeper, including a posting at the Weapons Research Establishment, Woomera in the 1950s. He later lived at Happy Valley in Adelaide's southern suburbs.

Death: 22 June 1993, at his residence, 10 Liza Road, Happy Valley, aged 73.
Cremation: Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, SA.
His Advertiser notices (28–29 June 1993) confirm his age, residence, and multiple family connections.

Legacy

Sydney is remembered as one of Quorn's sons who served in World War II, supporting the Army's medical and administrative backbone throughout the conflict. Though his personal life was marked by several marriages and blended family ties, his roots remained firmly in the Flinders Ranges. He is honoured on the Quorn WW2 Honour Roll and commemorated alongside his family in Quorn and Adelaide.

Biography by Trevor Pyatt 2/10/2025