Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Published Biography

Australian Dictionary of Biography
Jenny Mills, 'Stoate, Theodore Norman (Bill) (1895–1979)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stoate-theodore-norman-bill-11775/text21061, published first in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 18 November 2017.

Additional Biography

As the biography above and the obituary at the end of this document give many details of Bill’s life and work, the profile below will mainly add some details of Bill’s early life, time at Adelaide University plus relevant newspaper articles and photographs.

Early Life

Theodore Norman Stoate (Bill) was born on the 13th of January 1895 the son of Alfred Thorne Stoate and Bessie Haskins, at Stepney, Adelaide. He was baptised at All Souls', St. Peters, SA on the 4th of April 1895. His siblings were Reginald Thorne (1888), Amy Lilian (1888) and Veda (1897). Bill’s father was a draper.

Schooling

Bill attended North Adelaide Public School where he passed his Primary Examinations in 1908. He then attended St Peter’s College, Adelaide in 1909 and 1910, passing his Junior Examinations in 1909 and Senior Examinations in 1910. He spent two years in the Junior Naval Cadets and two years in the Senior Cadets.

University

Bill commenced studying toward a Bachelor of Science in forestry at Adelaide University in 1912. He suspended his studies in December 1915 to enlist in WWI.

University Sport

Football
Bill played football for Adelaide University in the B Grade in both 1914 and 1915. He was a member of the B Grade team, which won the Adelaide Students’ Association Premiership in 1914. In 1915 Bill also played some games for the A grade in the Amateur League.

In late July 1915 Bill kicked 17 goals from 17 shots playing for the ‘Varsity B’s. (Still an AUFC all grades record - equal with Tony "The Ox" Ravesi in the 1960s)

World War I

Bill enlisted on the 7th of January 1916 (SN 11110) and listed his mother Bessie Stoate of Prospect Road, Prospect, as his next-of-kin. He was a month short of 21 years, 5’ 9½“, 148 lbs, with a fair complexion, hazel eyes and fair hair. He enlisted as a Private but by the 16th of March 1916, he was a Driver in the No 4 Coy Div Train. He embarked onboard the HMAT A19 Afric on the 9th of June 1916 and arrived at Southampton on the 24th of July 1916. He joined No 4 Officer Cadet Battalion at Oxford and was appointed a Second Lieutenant on the 9th of March 1917.

On the 14th of March 1917, Bill proceeded overseas to Etaples, France from Tidsworth, UK and was taken on the strength of the 9th Infantry Brigade. ‘On the night of the 31st of March 1917, in company with 2nd Lieut. S.G.B. Wigginton and Sergt. D. Short, he entered the enemy trenches and remained 20 minutes during which time German literature was placed in conspicuous position.’ The G.O.C. 9th Inf Bde congratulated Bill by having the quoted “Laudatory” placed on his service record.

On the 2nd of June 1917 Bill was wounded but remained on duty. On the night of the 2nd of June 1917 Bill was wounded (gassed), however he remained on duty until the 22nd of June 1917. He was sent back to England on the 6th of July 1917. In the cable reporting that Bill was wounded he is noted as being with the 35th Battalion (late 25th Army Service Corps). He had myalgia, mild. On 25th of June 1917 he was appointed a Lieutenant.

Bill, having been declared medically unfit for further active service was repatriated back to Australia on the 10th of September 1917 onboard the HMAT A38 Ulysses and arrived on 9th of November 1917. Bill was placed on the Reserve of Officers and granted a half-pension of £2 per fortnight from 1st of January 1918 for six months.

Career and Family Life

Bill returned to his studies at Adelaide University in 1918 and graduated B.Sc. (Forestry) in December 1918. He then joined the New South Wales Forestry Department, staying there until 1922 when he was ‘lent’ to the Western Australian department for six months.

Bill remained in WA and on the 7th of July 1924, at St Mary's Church of England, Busselton, he married Marion Frances Josephine Brockman. The couple lived at 13 Regent Street, Mt Lawley and had two sons, Hugh Thorne Stoate (b 22nd of February 1927) and John Thorne Stoate (b May 1930). Tragically Bill’s wife passed away on the 9th of June 1930 at Perth, WA aged just 33 years.

In June 1930 Bill was awarded the Russell Grimwade scholarship. He travelled to Melbourne on the Western Express on the 23rd of August 1930 but was back in Adelaide before the 31st of August when he left on the ‘Esperance Bay” for Perth (4th Sep) and then for London. He studied at the Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford, UK and was to travel in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Mediterranean ports. Bill’s two young sons would have remained in Australia with extended family as they were not on the passenger list of the “Ionic’ for Bill’s returned to Australia in December 1931.

In April 1933, Bill was living at 13 Regent Street, Mt Lawley and was driving a De Soto car. He became acting State Conservator of Forests in December 1933 when Mr. S. L. Kessell left for Sydney on loan to the NSW Government.

Bill completed a thesis on pine establishment experimentation in Western Australia and was awarded his Master of Science from Adelaide University in December 1934. He was acting Conservator of Forests again in 1936 when Mr. S. L. Kessell was on loan again, this time to New Zealand for two months. By 1937, Bill was living at Busselton, WA and was driving a Pontiac.

Bill enlisted as a Private (SN W82137) at Bunbury, WA on the 16th of June 1942. His WWII record was not open to the public at the time the document was written. His 15-year-old son, Hugh Stoate, was listed as his next-of-kin.

Bill's WWII record is now available at
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=5873470
He served with the Volunteer Defence Corps within Australia.

In January 1944 Bill was elected president of the Institute of Foresters of Australia and in January 1946, he was appointed Conservator of Forests for WA.

Bill was selected to represent WA at the fifth British Empire Forest Conference in England in June 1947.

In 1949, a series of articles about forestry were written by Bill and published in the ‘Western Mail’ and later that year he hosted the interstate forestry conference in Perth.

In May 1951, Bill gave evidence before Geoffrey J. Rodger, the Royal Commissioner on Western Australian Forests and Timber and a fellow Adelaide University graduate in forestry.

In September 1952 Bill hosted and international forestry conference in WA with delegates coming from 18 countries to study the WA eucalypt.

Bill was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science from Adelaide University in April 1953. In October 1953 he was succeeded as Conservator of Forests by A.C. Harris, B.Sc.

Bill became an international forestry consultant. Between 1963 and 1971, he held a series of research positions at the College of Forestry, University of Washington, Seattle, United States of America.

Sadly, Bill’s elder son Hugh passed away on the 6th of May 1966, aged only 39 years.

Death

Theodore Norman Stoate died at Busselton (Western Australia) on 12th of April 1979, in his eighty-fifth year.

An was published in Australian Forestry 1979 Vol. 42 No 2, pp. 61–62. (see document).

Author EE (Beth) Filmer

For the complete profile including photographs, newspaper articles, documents and sources prepared for the AUFC/AUCC WWI Memorial Project (in the period 2015-2019) please see the document attached.