Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Herbert Henry Cottrell, known as Bert, was born 2 Oct 1915 at Birmingham, Warwickshire, England the child of Herbert & Florence Cottrell.
When Bert was 6 years old his parents emigrated from England to Australia, arriving in Sydney, New South Wales on 13 March 1922 aboard the "Ceramic" to be near his mother's parents and siblings and, for quite a time, they lived in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia before moving to and settling in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia. Two more sons for the Cottrell family born in Australia. John Alan, known as Jack in 1923 in Annandale, NSW and Donald abt. 1930.
The funeral notice for Anne Elizabeth Stokes, Bert’s Grandmother, in the Sydney Morning Herald of 19 June 1932 refers to Mrs Cottrell of Wentworthville.
I think the family moved to the South Burnett in 1934/5 as Jack was enrolled in Primary Correspondence School Admission Register that in Feb 1935 and Donald the following year.
Bert joined the 2/14th Light Horseman Regiment at Toowoomba on 21 Nov 1936 giving his address as c/- L Crittenden, Glencliffe. His father was listed as his next of kin, also living at Glencliffe. Bert served until 1939 in the Light Horseman Regiment with his NOK changing at some time to his mother and her address was Bell St, Kumbia, Queensland. A photo taken in 1939 of the Kumbia Light Horse Group was posted into the Kinga~All FB Group in Oct 2021 by Gayle Carroll and includes Bert Cottrell.
In Apr 1940 Bert reenlisted in the Light Horseman Regiment at Beaudesert but by 22 Jun 1940 he was enlisted in the 2nd/25th Infantry Battalion at Maryborough - QX10553.
His brother Jack Cottrell enlisted in the Australian Navy in 1941 – just 17 years of age. His mother, Florence Cottrell, owned the Store in Kumbia during the war years and was responsible for sharing rations of petrol in the district. Apparently there was some discontent when people could not get their supplies early! Must have been a difficult time for everyone.
Three months after enlisting Bert married Hilda Mary Barbeler. Hilda caught the service bus from Kingaroy to Brisbane and they were married at was then called the Catholic Crypt at South Brisbane.
Per the AWM website the 2nd/25th Infantry Battalion trained in Grovely and Darwin before embarking Sydney for the Middle East in Apr 1941 on board the Queen Mary with the 20th Brigade to Palestine via India, transhipping to the Rohna at Bombay. The 2/25 served in Egypt and were part of the invasion of Syria and Lebanon.
The 2/15th moved to Gabel El Gira on 27 March and then Barce. German forces had landed at Tripoli and were advancing east. It was involved in the withdrawal of British forces to Tobruk, referred to as the "Benghazi handicap". The withdrawal cost the battalion heavily: the commanding officer, second in command, and 154 men were captured at El Gazala. One being Charles Mitchell who is on the Wooroolin WW11 Honour Board.
The battalion returned to Australia in Feb 1942 where they trained until sent to Port Moresby to reinforce the battered Australian units on the Kokoda Trail. The 2/25 served in various battles in New Guinea and Borneo (details on the AWM website) prior to its final operation of the war at Balikpapan in Borneo.
The army records for Bert Cottrell are not yet available on the NAA website. His daughter confirmed that Bert served in both Syria & New Guinea.
There are 5 men on the Wooroolin WW11 Honour board that also served in the 2nd/25th Infantry Battalion - Roy Quail QX12794, Col Grayson QX47712, Charlie Mitchell QX3368 (POW), Les Pedersen QX21196 and Mervyn Chapman QX13853. I wonder if they ever met during their service!
Bert’s son, Wayne, was born in Nov 1941 whilst Bert was serving in Lebanon/Egypt. Bert was discharged on 15 Nov 1944 and returned to the South Burnett. His son Wayne was enrolled at Coolabunia School on 7 Feb 1949 and by 1954 the family had moved to the Memerambi area where Wayne and Mary were enrolled at School and 2 years later young Phillip.
Much sadness for the Cottrell family in 1962 as Hilda died and was buried at Taabinga Cemetery. Bert sold his farm at Memerambi and moved to Short St Wooroolin not long after.
Bert was very involved in the Wooroolin Community and the RSL Sports Days. He was also involved with the Wooroolin Scouts/Cubs together with his daughter. Bert made a donation of five pounds two shillings and one pence towards the cost of commencing the Wooroolin Scouting group in 1965 per the story about the Wooroolin Scouting group in the W100 booklet. I remember lots of fun with his daughter Mary in the Wooroolin Rural Youth and it was wonderful catching up with her at the recent Rural Youth gathering at the Grand hotel.
The Cottrell family moved to Kingaroy about 1971 where Bert continued working as a Truck Driver. Bert died in Feb 1976 and joined his wife at Taabinga Cemetery.
Bert is remembered on the Kumbia WW11 Honour Board which is located in Kumbia Memorial School of Arts.
Lest We forget