Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John was the son of John William O’TOOLE & Margaret DONOHUE and was born on the 17th of June 1881 in Blyth, SA.

His parents were married on the 10th of June 1877 in the Catholic Church, Pinkerton Plains, SA.

His father was the son of Dennis O’TOOLE & Mary Doris TAGGERT and was born on the 21st of February 1847 in Adelaide, SA.

His mother was the daughter of John DONOHUE (DONOUGHOE) and Christina GRAHAM and was born on the 27th of May 1852 in Saddleworth, SA.

John was the 3rd child born into the family of 6 children; 2 boys, 4 girls.

His father was employed as a ganger with the South Australian Railways and the O’Toole family moved quite often following his father’s employment.

The O’Toole family had moved to Blyth in 1880 and then to Cook Plains and by 1884 they had moved to Mt Barker and John’s 3 younger sisters were all born in Mt Barker.

Not long after this move they move to Bugle Ranges and John and his siblings attended the Bugle Ranges School in 1888.

Their next move was to Grunthal (Verdun) and they attended the Grunthal Primary School.

In the early 1900’s the family then went to Hawker, but John stayed in Mt Barker as after completing his schooling John gained employment as a Printing apprentice and completed his Printing Trade in 1903 and became a Compositer and was employed by the Mount Barker “Courier” in the printing departments.

His mother died on the 20th of October 1912 in Whyte-Yarcowie and they brought her back to Mt Barker by rail and buried her in the Mt Barker Catholic Cemetery.

At the time John was living at Murray Bridge in 1912.

In January 1913, prior to his departure from Murray Bridge a number of John’s friends tendered him a farewell evening and presented him with a handsome travelling bag that was suitably inscribed.

At the age of 33, John enlisted into the AIF on the 12th of September 1914 in Morphettville and was allotted the service number 1315 and was posted to the newly raised 16th Battalion, H Company.

After some training he entrained to Broadmeadow in Victoria for further training.

On the morning of the 22nd of December they entrained to Port Melbourne at 7am and they embarked on board HMAT A40 Ceramic at 2:30pm on the very same day.

John served in Gallipoli where he caught Tuberculosis and was invalided back to Australia from Portland on the 7th of November 1915 on board HMAT Runic, disembarking in Adelaide on the 18th of December and admitted into the 7th Australian General Hospital in Keswick.

He was transferred to Kalyra Sanatorium 2 days later. This was a home for people suffering from tuberculosis.

John was discharged from the AIF, medically unfit, on the 3rd of May 1916 and gave his address as the Eagle Hotel in Hindley Street when he received a pension.

His father died on the 21st of February 1918 in Ambleside (Hahndorf).

John then went up north for the benefit of his health, but the malady from which he was suffering proved incurable.

His was greatly impaired as a result of his experiences when on active service.

John died on the 1st of September 1918 and was buried 2 days later in the West Terrace Cemetery; Catholic Western Ground, Row N, Plot 16.

On the 29th of June 2022 John was recognised with a Commonwealth War Grave as his death was contributed to the war.

Military

At the age of 33, John enlisted into the AIF on the 12th of September 1914 in Morphettville and was allotted the service number 1315 and was posted to the newly raised 16th Battalion, H Company.

He listed his father of Salisbury, as his next of kin.

They trained in drill and musketry training and on the 19th of November they entrained for Broadmeadows, VIC for further training.

On the 17th of December they held a Ceremonial March through Melbourne and by the 20th of December continuos rain and bad weather saw them several inches in mud at their camp.

On the morning of the 22nd of December they entrained to Port Melbourne at 7am and they embarked on board HMAT A40 Ceramic at 2:30pm on the very same day.

Christmas Day was spent in the Great Australian Bight, near South Australia, and they arrived in King Georges Sound at daylight on the 27th.

They sailed after a few days and arrived at Aden at 3pm on the 20th of January and they anchored in the harbour. Pte Harold Glen Robinson had died from Pleurisy and Measles a few hours before they anchored and the Band and F Company accompanied his remains ashore and they buried him in the Maala Cemetery.

John had also developed a very bad cold and persistent cough on the journey from Australia.

At 4pm the following day they proceeded on their voyage and arrived in Seuz at 6:30am on the 27th of January. After 2 days here they continued on, entered the canal and arrived at Port Said at 5:30pm on the 30th. They then moved out and anchored off of Port Said the following morning and by 4pm they proceeded on their voyage.

They reached Alexandria the following morning, but didn’t disembark until the 3rd of February.

They were then entrained to Cairo at 3:30am the following morning and then onto Zeitoun where they detrained and marched into Aerodrome Camp in Heliopolis at 5:30pm.

Two days later the companies were reorganised to form just 4 companies and John and H Company were combined with E and became C Company.

Training in the desert was hard and John was soon covered from head to foot with the whitish dust of the desert; in the corners of his eyes cakes of mud had formed; down his cheeks were furrows where the perspiration had trickled all day. The strong, gusty wind blew constantly and the sand and dust made things unpleasant. It required physique and determination to plod onward in face of the swirling clouds of dust.

Training continued here until early April when they were to embark on HT Commodore for Port Mudros, Lemnos Island and then onto Gallipoli.

John was not well at the time and his Battalion sailed with out him and they landed on the Gallipoli shores on the evening of the 25th of April.

John arrived in Gallipoli at the end of May and was taken on strength with his Battalion on the 31st.

By the time he had rejoined his Battalion that had already fought in the front line at Quinn's Post, Pope’s Hill and a position that was later called the Bloody Angle.

They had fought hard and dug in but bodies of the dead lay thickly between these respective positions.

The 16th Battalion had suffered very high casualties at the Bloody Angle. Entering the action with 17 officers and 620 men, they had lost eight officers and 330 men. The battalion's dead remained unburied until after the war, when their remains were recovered by the Graves Registration Unit and buried in the newly established Quinn's Post cemetery nearby.

They spent June in Reserve Gully in and out of the front line and the trenches.

Throughout this time John’s persistent cough had worsened and he was now coughing up blood and suffering from shortness of breath, so on the 3rd of July he was admitted into the ANZAC Casualty Clearing Station.

He was soon diagnosed with Haemoptysis; he was described as wasted away and looked very Anaemic.

The following day John was transferred to the Hospital Ship Gascon before being transferred to a Fleet Sweeper the following day and taken to Mudros and admitted into the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital.

On the 18th of July he was transferred to Tigne Military Hospital in Malta suffering from Pleurisy and then 10 days later he was transferred to St. George’s Hospital.

On the 5th of August he was transferred to St. David’s Hospital, which was a tented hospital for 1,000 beds, constructed near St Andrew's barracks, close to St Paul's Hutments and All Saints Convalescent Camp.

John embarked for England on the 21st of August on board the Hospital Ship Grantully Castle.

He was admitted into King George Hospital in London and by the end of the week had been diagnosed with Tuberculosis.

He was transferred to Pine Wood Sanatorium in Wokingham on the 20th of September.

Pinewood Sanatorium was opened in 1901 as the London Open Air Sanatorium by the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. It was situated in a pine forest near Wokingham in Berkshire. Pine trees were believed to be beneficial for sufferers of tuberculosis.

John was invalided back to Australia from Portland on the 7th of November 1915 on board HMAT Runic, disembarking in Adelaide on the 18th of December and admitted into the 7th Australian General Hospital in Keswick.

He was transferred to Kalyra Sanatorium 2 days later. This was a home for people suffering from tuberculosis.

John was discharged from the AIF, medically unfit, on the 3rd of May 1916.