Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Maxwell Leslie Bidstrup (1911-1992)

Maxwell Leslie Bidstrup was born on the 6th of October 1911. He was raised in the small town of Wallaroo on the Copper Coast of the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. Maxwell was the oldest of three, he had a sister named Patricia Lesley Bidstrup and a brother Brian Percival Bidstrup. He attended and completed his education at Kadina Memorial High School. His father, Clarence Leslie Bidstrup (1888-1961) owned the town chemist with his wife Kathleen Helena O’Brien (1883-1964). After he completed his schooling Maxwell assisted his father around the chemist.

When war broke out, he enlisted in Wayville on the first of June 1940 at age of 28 for the Australian infantry force (AIF), service number S213134. He was put in the 2/10th Battalion (also known as the Adelaide Rifles) , which was the first formed unit made up of entirely South Australian soldiers. He was trained at the Greta and Ingleburn barracks in New South Wales before setting sail for the middle east. The 2/10th Battalion arrived in Egypt on the 31st of December 1940 and Maxwell served in the Siege of Tobruk that took place over the early months of 1941. He was made a Lieutenant of the 2/10th Battalion on the eleventh of July 1941 as he showed extreme bravery and was called ‘inspiration to his unit’ even in the very early days of his military career. The 2/10th Battalion was withdrawn by the end of august 1941 but stayed in the middle east and trained in Palestine from September 1941 to January 1942. When he returned home, landing on Australian soil on 29th March 1942, he was put on the X-list. This means that while he’s not currently serving, he can still be called for military service at any time.
 
When the Japanese began to dominate the pacific, Australia started conscripting young men to fight in Papa New Guinea on the Kokoda trail in the Owen- Stanley ranges. While the Government was conscripting young men to fight, they were also taking experienced soldiers off the X-list and sending them to Kokoda as leaders because there first choices for this job were either fighting in Europe or Japanese prisoners of war. Unfortunately for Maxwell, who hadn’t been home for any more than a few months, being on the X-list this meant that he was not technically serving in the AIF, and he was conscripted for the 39th Battalion. He was given a new service number (SX4500) and suffered a very different war to the likes of Tobruk, while leading the ill-prepared young boys and facing the underfunded struggles of Australia’s first militia unit. While he entered the jungle a temporary Captain because of his skills he was awarded the position of Captain on the first of August 1942.

After the battle of beach heads and the Australian’s success he arrived back in in Brisbane in January 1943, the 39th Battalion was disbanded despite its triumph in Papua New Guinea. When he returned home to South Australia, he was nominated by the Governor General, Sir Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, and awarded the prestigious Military Cross for his service in Kokoda as a temporary Captain/Captain. More specifically, as the letter to the AIF wrote, “For Distinguished service and brave conduct in the southwest pacific, Bidstrup led his coy from Deniki to Pirivi where he surrounded and destroyed the enemy force. Pushing on with the remnants of his coy he set an ambush on the Oivi-Buna where his men accounted for 45-50 enemy killed and similar number wounded… this audacious thrust into the enemy undoubtedly delayed the enemy advance. His cool leadership was again an inspiration to his coy in the battles of Deniki (August 13-14/ 1942) and Isurarva (August 26-30/ 1942) and Eroa creek (September 1/ 1942). His gallant and distinguished conduct in leading his coy in attacks on the Gona mission (December 8-9/ 1942) and the village of West Gona (December 12-18, 1942) contributed largely to the capture of those enemy strong holds”- Australian AIF approval for the military cross (1943). His military Cross was mentioned in the London Gazette on the twenty-third of December 1943 and he was awarded the medal by the governor of South Australia, Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey. In this time, for his incredible service he was also promoted to the rank of Major and held that role while he served on home soil for the remained of his time in the AIF.

During his time in Kokoda, In March 1943 he contracted an awful case of malaria and was restricted to a hospital for three weeks, reportedly he still attempted to make decisions for his coy during his time of illness. In this time in the hospital, he met Evelyn Edith Blacker. She was a woman from Willunga, South Australia who had completed her nursing training in Adelaide prior to the war and then signed up for the Australian nursing force in 1942. Evelyn was the nurse who signed his record at the end of every week, assumably this is when they fell for each other despite the dire circumstances around them. When they returned home, they were married almost instantly, on 15 Mar 1943 in Ipswich, Queensland and moved to a house in Prospect, Adelaide. They both changed their military registration paperwork to make each other next of kin. They had four children (Ian Leslie Bidstrup, Helen Lesley Bidstrup, David Leslie Bidstrup and Graham Bidstrup).

On the twelfth of the June 1945, Maxwell was nominated for the 1939/45-star, African star, pacific star, defence medal, War medal and Australian service medal. While he only received the Australian service medal, he felt some injustice for his wife not getting nominated at all for her service in Papa New Guinea. For the next three months he continuously sent letters to the AIF convincing and demanding that she receive the commendations she earnt. He was successful and Evelyn was awarded the Pacific Defence Medal (nurse), Pacific star, War medal (Nurse), Australian service medal and the 1939/45-star in 1945.

Maxwell’s last day of service in the military was on the tenth of July 1945. On the twenty-sixth July 1945 he was fully Discharged from the Australian Military Forces but continued to work in the area Lines of Communication Recruiting Staff. On the twenty second of November 1985, he took part an interview with an author; Peter Brune writing about Kokoda (A Bastard of a Place). He passed away on the 4th March 1992 in Prospect, Adelaide at age 80. Evelyn lived until 2010 and passed away at age 96 in and Adelaide nursing home.

More information

There is a stone for Maxwell in the South Australian Garden of Remembrance, Pasadena, Mitcham City and his name is also on the Memorial panel at his old high school Kadina Memorial High, left side panel 8 names down on the left (5 Doswell Terrace, Kadina, Copper Coast - South Australia, Australia). There is also mention of Maxwell on the Wikipedia page for the battle of Kokoda.

Bibliography

(Service record) SX4500 MAXWELL LESILE BIDSTRUP, National Australian Archives, accessed 6 April 2023.https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=6243544&T=PDF

(Personal mention) The Battles of Kokoda (December 2022), Wikipedia, accessed 16 April 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kokoda.

(Interview) Major Maxwell Leslie Bidstrup interview (22 November 1985), Australian War Memorial, accessed 10 April 2023.

Recommendation for Award for Bidstrup, Maxwell Leslie Rank: Lieutenant (2021), National Australian Archives, accessed 26 April 2023. Recommendation for Award for Bidstrup, Maxwell Leslie Rank: Lieutenant. | The National Archives

Centennial Park (updated 2023), Centennial Park, accessed 26 April 2023. Maxwell Leslie Bidstrup - Centennial Park

Family tree for Maxwell Leslie Bidstrup / Evelyn Edith Blacker (F3495) g. 15 mar. 1943 (2023), Familieskema, accessed 26 April 2023. Familieskema for Maxwell Leslie Bidstrup / Evelyn Edith Blacker (F3495) g. 15 mar. 1943

 Checking sources.

(2/10th Battalion) 2/10th Battalion (2019), Australian War Memorial, accessed 10 April 2023. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56053

(39th Battalion) 39th Battalion (2019), Australian War Memorial, accessed 10 April 2023. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56122

Kokoda campaign (2023), Australian War Memorial, accessed 26 April 2023. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84663