Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas was born in the rural town of Bundamba, Queensland, on the 16th May 1921. He was the youngest child of Henrietta Anne and James Keegan. He had older siblings, Vera May, James Patrick and Eileen Martha. James Snr initially worked as a labourer for the City Council of Bundamba.
The family lived in a small cottage at Bergin’s Hill, Bundamba, a suburb of Ipswich on the Bremer River. Thomas was just four when their three-bedroom cottage burnt down during the early hours of January ’26, with the fire possibly starting in the kitchen. (Unfortunately, following an argument James Snr had chosen to camp in the local quarry over the previous week so was not present to help.) The family moved from one state to another as James Snr sought labouring work ‘following the plough’.
The family moved to live in Clare Street, Portland with the children attending the Alberton School, where Thomas gained his Qualifying Certificate. However, his parents’ relationship continued to be extremely strained with Henrietta taking James to Court for failing to provide adequate financial support for her and the children. At that stage Thomas was 6, Vera 11, James 9. Henrietta had consequently set up a boarding house and taken in sewing to generate some income to support her family. However, she gave up this safety-net of an income at James’ Snr’s request but the 30/- he then provided was insufficient to support their children. Subsequently three of the four, including Tom, were placed in the Largs St Jospeh’s Orphanage in 1928. The oldest daughter, Vera stayed with her mother. (At a tumultuous trial Henrietta shared that in 20 years of marriage the family had lived in forty different houses.)
Post school, Thomas worked as a pipe fitter for Connolly and Tonks Limited at Alberton. He then worked as a motor driver with Bunning Repairs.
19-year-old Thomas initially served with the Militia as S38021 in the25th Garrison Battalion in September ‘41. Initially he gave his mother, Henrietta’s address in Fitzroy, Melbourne as his next of kin but later added his SA based father, James.
Thomas enlisted two years after his older brother, James who enlisted on the 1st June ’40 as SX7755 in the 2/48th Battalion. James served in the Middle East after arriving in December ’41. He became one of the Rats of Tobruk. Both brothers had similar records in terms of non-attendance at Parade, being confined to barracks and forfeiting pay for being AWL. Thomas’s 26-year-old sister, Eileen (a dressmaker and designer) also enlisted on the 28th September ’42 in the W.A.A.F. as 107155 working as an Equipment Assistant, eventually becoming a Corporal and being discharged on the 17th October ’45.
While serving at the Loveday Garrison, Thomas faced Court at Renmark in January ’42, charged with drunkenness and was fined 10/- with 13/6 costs. In the same Court he was also charged with using indecent language in the Renmark Hotel Gardens while with a group of other Loveday soldiers. Despite being warned, several hours later he continued with his poor language for which he was inevitably fined 20/- with 7/6 costs. In default, 60 hours to be served concurrently with the previous sentence. He was then imprisoned for four days and forfeited 4 days of his regular pay. Thomas then served a fortnight of detention before transferring to the Army, enlisting from Barmera in July ’42 as SX22174. Later in ‘45 he added his father who by then was living at South Terrace with Henrietta. Thomas had a ‘colourful’ service with numerous fines and detentions for being AWL and disobeying commands while at Watsonia.
Thomas concluded his army time with service in the 2/43rd in New Guinea and Borneo where he contracted malaria and later an extremely high temperature (Pyrexia of Unknown Origin). Several AWL charges were accrued as was a charge of failing to obey an order, again causing Thomas to part with his pay. He was eventually discharged on the 21st March ’46.)

Life after the war was challenging for Thomas, and his wife. He headed to Naracoorte in ‘51 as a plasterer and initially lived in a guest house where his wife worked. Following an argument, Thomas, his wife and four-month-old daughter, Patricia occupied a premise on Sandstone Avenue which had been condemned by the local Board of Health because of cracks in the wall, rising damp and floors in a bad condition. No other accommodation was available. Thomas had renovated the rooms, which meant that his Court fine was minimal; £2 1/ in all. He was allowed seven days in which to pay, and default was fixed at seven days' imprisonment.

In October the following year, Thomas was again before the Courts for twice using indecent language at the Repatriation General Hospital, Springbank. Admitting his guilt, he was sentenced to a month's imprisonment.

Aged 44 Thomas died on the 1st August ’66. His service is remembered in the South Australian Garden of Remembrance at Centennial Park Cemetery; Wall 20 Row D 2/43rd
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion