Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

August Lubomirski was born at Goombungee on 1st September 1885. He was one of six children born to Gottlieb and Anna Lubomirski who had migrated separately from Germany and Prussia. The couple had married in Australia and settled at Goombungee. August attended Goombungee School and then went into an apprenticeship with a local carpenter, Mr Meisenhelter. An article in the Toowoomba Chronicle also stated that August had qualified as an ambulance bearer having passed the exam at Oakey. There was a substantial German community on the Darling Downs which had, up until the declaration of war in August 1914, enjoyed an easy relationship with its neighbours. The publication of the Bryce Report (Committee on Alleged German Outrages in Belgium) and the sinking of the liner “Lusitania” shifted public opinion throughout the British Empire and the United States from opposition to the Kaiser and German militarism, to outright distrust and abhorrence of any person or thing that was of German origin. The Australian government put a considerable effort into anti-German propaganda and monitoring the activities of “enemy aliens,” primarily for political reasons.

The Lutheran Church was a particular target and Australian government policy was to remove community leaders from German communities in order to “keep German Australians in check.” The Pastor of the Lutheran Church at Goombungee, Frederich Gustav Fischer, was interned for a time at the Enoggera Internment Camp; even though he was born in Australia and was therefore a British subject; as were his parents.

In 1916, The Australian Government was under a deal of pressure from Britain to introduce conscription as a way of ensuring a steady flow of reinforcements after the losses incurred in the Somme campaign. The Hughes government opted for a plebiscite (as opposed to a referendum since conscription was not a constitutional question) which was to be conducted later in the year. In readiness for the passage of the plebiscite, and under provisions of amendments to the Defence Act and War Precautions Act, single men aged 18 to 35 were required to report to local training camps known colloquially as “Proclamation Camps” for assessment and training.

When August presented himself to the Darling Downs Recruiting Depot in Toowoomba on 3rd April 1917, he advised the recruiters that he had been in the proclamation camp at Newtown in Toowoomba but was discharged to the reserve when the conscription plebiscite was defeated and the proclamation was rescinded. August also had in his possession a memo from the Commander of the 1st Military District (Queensland) stating that the local Confidential Committee; a group of five prominent citizens who had the task of determining if a potential enlistee was a suitable person, had approved August’s enlistment.

He stated his occupation as carpenter and age as 31 years. August named his eldest sister, Bertha, as his next of kin, even though both of his parents were still living at Goombungee. August had also changed his religion from Lutheran to Congregational. Armed with his enlistment papers, August took the train from Toowoomba to Brisbane and then on to Enoggera Camp where he was placed in a depot battalion.

Recruiting for the AIF had become serious as enlistments failed to keep pace with attrition due to death, wounding or disease. Most enlistments in 1917 were destined for the infantry battalions on the western front where shortages were most acute. It is therefore unusual that August was allocated to a Light Horse Regiment. Perhaps there was still an element of distrust due to August’s “German-ness” and it was thought safer to send his to a conflict zone where there were fewer Germans. A few weeks after August enlisted, his good friend William Coleman from Maidenwell also enlisted. It is possible that both men had conspired to enlist together but circumstances forced William to delay his enlistment. William was also drafted into the 29th reinforcements of the 5th Light Horse.

August and William were granted pre-embarkation home leave on 7th June. Each man stated he would take a train to Toowoomba and then another train to Goombungee. They also asked for time to travel to Maidenwell on the slopes of the Bunya Mountains by horse, a two day journey, so that arrangements could be made regarding livestock and for someone to rent a selection which possibly both men shared in partnership. August and William returned to camp on 17th June.

The Light Horse reinforcements boarded the “Kyarra” in Sydney on 3rd September and landed at Suez on 19th October before proceeding by train to the Light Horse Remounts Depot at Moascar on the bank of the Suez Canal. There was not a great need for Light Horse reinforcements during the next six months and August and William remained in Egypt.

The Australian Light Horse brigades in the Middle East were part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and throughout 1916 and early 1917 were engaged in beating back a Turkish force that had marched across the Sinai desert. Eventually, the Turks and their German advisors had withdrawn to a heavily defended line which stretched from Gaza to the railway town of Beersheba in Palestine. The EEF attempted for several months to break through at Gaza before the well documented attack by the Light Horse at Beersheba on 31st October 1917 provided the breakthrough that allowed the Ottoman forces to be rolled back and opened the door to Jerusalem, which was captured by the EEF by Christmas 1917.

While these events were unfolding, August and William remained in camp in Egypt. They were finally despatched to their unit on 10th April 1918. The 5th Light Horse were at that time preparing to advance along the valley of the Jordan River and had crossed the Jordan by pontoon bridge to the east of Jericho. The Light Horse engaged with the Turkish defenders throughout May 1918 before being withdrawn to a bivouac camp for further training in June.

In July, the 5th Light Horse re-entered the line on the east bank of the Jordan. On 28th July, while holding the line at Wadi Auja, the regiment came under attack from heavy shelling by Ottoman and German artillery which resulted in two troopers being killed and four wounded. One of the two killed was August Lubomirski. He was buried by his comrades and the position was noted but as the battle ebbed and flowed, the burial site was lost.

August’s sister, Bertha, signed for her brother’s personal belongings which included a watch in a leather case and strap popular with men who worked on the land, a fountain pen and a money belt. No grave was ever located and August is commemorated on the memorial tablets of the Jerusalem War Cemetery. William Coleman, although wounded in August 1918, survived the war and returned to farming at Maidenwell.