Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Completed by Investigator College

Garnet Nelson Cameron was born on the 5th of August 1891 in a small town, Quorn, in South Australia. He was the twelfth of fourteen children born to his father, Robert Cameron, and mother, Sarah Ann Harrold[1]. Later, Garnet moved to the coastal town of Victor Harbor in South Australia. He worked as storekeeper, fruiterer and confectioner in a local confectionary store[2]. Garnet married Ruby Haines on the 17th of April 1913 in Clare, South Australia. They had four children during their thirty-one-year marriage, before Ruby passed away on the 7th of December 1944. Garnet served in the military on three separate occasions.  His first stint of service was in the 16th Light Horse regiment where he served for three years.  During World War I he served for a four-year period in the 3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion, and he also served in World War II[3].

Garnet Nelson Cameron began his service in World War I when he enlisted on the 28th of February 1916, in Adelaide, South Australia into the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) where he was assigned to the 3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion with the rank of private. At the time of enlistment, he was only 24 years and 6 months old. He completed his medical examination in Adelaide successfully on the 14th of February 1916 and was considered fit for active service [4].  His enlistment record shows that he had previously served in the 16th Light Horse Regiment for a three-year period [5]. From Adelaide, he travelled to Melbourne where he completed some basic training.  He was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 12th of May 1916 before his embarkation on the HMAT A62 Wandilla on the 6th of June 1916 from Melbourne, Australia to Plymouth, England where he would serve for the next two and a half years.

Garnet Cameron was assigned to the 3rd Pioneer Battalion when he enlisted in 1916.  Pioneer battalions were located at the very forefront of the battle area as they had both infinitary and engineering skills. They’re role was to develop and enhance protection against the enemies on the forefront, digging trenches and constructing infrastructure to support troops with mobility, weapons, ammunition and rations and to transport casualties from the battle area to hospitals and medical stations. Except for their skills in engineering and construction, the men serving in the pioneer battalions were frequently required to fight as infinitary.[6]

The HMAT A62 Wandilla was built in 1912 in Adelaide, South Australia for the original purpose of being a Hospital Ship.  On the 18th of May 1915 she was converted into a troop carrier to transport troops from Australia to Europe.  She was later sent to Liverpool where she was repurposed to her original state of being a hospital ship.  She served in the Mediterranean and on both sides of Africa during World War I.  Once again, she was converted to a troop carrier to bring the troops back to Australia.  After she completed her service in World War I, the HMAT A62 Wandilla was re-converted into the passenger carrier.[7]

During his voyage from Melbourne to Plymouth, Garnet was reprimanded for a crime in Cape Town related to Absent without Leave (AWL) from the ship A62 HMA Wandilla on the 3rd of July 1916. Although it is unclear exactly why Garnet was reprimanded by Lieutenant Col. R. Law[8], it could have been for one of many reasons, including being intoxicated, missing morning parades, or missing to embark the ship after the last time they were allowed off, but in the case of Garnet he forfeited one day’s pay for this offense. 

Between July and November in 1916 the 3rd Pioneer Battalion underwent intensive training to prepare them for battle on the Western Front.  The battalion was ferried over the English Chanel from Southampton to Le Havre in France.  On 26 January 1917 Garnet joined the Physical Training and Bayonet Fighting School in Sutton Veny, England.  He later re-joined his unit on 2 February 1917.  In April 1917 he completed gas training at the Ante Gas School in the field and re-joined his unit again in May 1917.   After a brief period of acclimatisation, the 3rd Pioneers’ first major operation came at the Battle of Messines in June of 1917[9] where Garnet had the opportunity to serve as Temporary Lance Sergeant[10].  Messines was considered the start of what is now known as the Third Ypres Campaign. During the battle, after months of meticulous planning and intense training, the Allies were able to claim victory over the Germans. 

It started with the detonation of 19 underground mines that were dug beneath the German lines following the Wytschaete-Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, where they “blew off the top of the ridge line”[11]. This explosion could be heard over the English Channel, and it is said that the men changed the geography of the ridge.  It is thought that more than 10,000 German soldiers perished during this seven-day battle.

Following the success in Mesen, Garnet was promoted to Vice Sergeant on the 28th of July 1917[12].  The 3rd Pioneer Battalion’s next major action was The Third Battle of Ypres major operations started on the 31st of July 1917 and was carried out by the British ‘Flanders Offensive’ when the British and French forces united against German defences along a 16-mile front of East Ypres.  More than 4 million shells were fired from over 3,000 guns over a period of 15 days by the British, including Australian batteries, destroying the town completely. This battle in Ypres continued until the middle of November 1917[13].

In December of 1917, Garnet detached for duty with Pioneer Training Battalion in England. He re-joined the Physical Training and Bayonet Fighting school to complete a course in Devonport as Sergeant in Command in January 1918, and he re-joined his unit later the same month.   After this brief union with his battalion, Sergeant Cameron attended the 43rd Army Physical Training and Bayonet Fighting Training Course from 25 February 1918 to 22 March 1918 and he qualified as good[14].  

He recommenced duty in May 1918 with permanent cadre and went to France in October 1918 to join his battalion in breaching the Hindenburg-Line in Northeastern France. Garnet re-transferred to the 3rd Pioneer Battalion from permanent cadre of Pioneer Training Battalion on the 2nd of October 1918 and he proceeded to France on the 4th of October 1918. The AIF faced its final phase of the war in late September / early October 1918[15] where Australian forces were engaged by United States to serve as advisers during these attacks[16].

During World War I, Rouen, France hosted the first Australian General Hospital at the racecourse from 17 April 1916 to 7 December 1918.  During this time there was over 90 000 patients admitted for treatment to illnesses and wounds[17]. Garnet was admitted to hospital in France (presumably Rouen) in 3 December 1918 for bursitis in the left knee and was then transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital in Abbeville, France.  He was discharged and returned to Australia on 18 January 1919[18].

During his two-and-a-half-year service in the First World War, Garnet Nelson Cameron was honoured with four separate medals.  The first medal was a Military Medal earned for his bravery and service during the war.  He received this medal on the 4th of February 1918.  At the end of his service, Garnet also received three additional medals, including the 1914-1915 Star which was authorised in 1918 for service in specified theatres of war.  A British War Medal 1914-1920, which was also awarded for service in the Army, Navy, Mercantile Marine and other military organisations.  The last medal was the Victory Medal, authorised in 1919 recognising the victory of the Allied Forces over the Central Power during the Great War[19]. 

After his return to Australia in 1919, Garnet settled back into his life in South Australia with his wife and two children, ages 4 and 5.  His 3rd child was born two years later in Clare, South Australia on the 6th of March 1921 followed by his fourth child in 1925[20]. Very little is known about his post-war life, but he enlisted for WWII on the 15th of April 1942 and served until the 2nd of November 1945[21].  During this time his wife and children travelled from the Clare Valley and ended up in Mount Gambier, in the South of South Australia where his wife, Ruby passed away in 1944.  She was 58 years old at the time of her death[22]. Garnet died on the 10th of January 1976 of unknown causes at the age of 84 in South Australia and he was buried at the Enfield Memorial Park, Clearview, Port Adelaide.

Bibliography

1.     AWOL on a ship? 2007, The Great War (1914-1918) Forum, viewed 28 May 2024, <https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/86443-awol-on-a-ship>.

2.     Cameron Garnet Nelson : SERN 1117 : POB Quorn SA : POE Adelaide SA : NOK W Cameron Ruby 1914, National Archives of Australia, viewed 22 May 2024, <https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3200110>.

3.     Other, AN 2012, Australian Hospital Ships, Naval Historical Society of Australia, viewed 28 May 2024, <https://navyhistory.au/australian-hospital-ships/>.

4.     Picture of Garnet Nelson Cameron in Uniform after enlistment. n.d., viewed 26 May 2024, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/83755>.

5.     Robert Cameron, b.1851 d.1925 - Ancestry® n.d., www.ancestry.com.au, viewed 22 May 2024, <https://www.ancestry.com.au/genealogy/records/robert-cameron-24-15m1z3v>.

6.     Rouen | Through These Lines n.d., throughtheselines.com.au, viewed 28 May 2024, <http://throughtheselines.com.au/research/rouen>.

7.     Troop Transport HMAT Wandilla (A62) preparing to sail from Pinkenba Wharf with Australian troops ... n.d., www.awm.gov.au, viewed 28 May 2024, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H02242>.

8.     Victor Harbor RSL archives n.d. document showing decedents of Robert Cameron [document] return service league, Victor Harbor

9.     Virtual War Memorial n.d., vwma.org.au, viewed 29 May 2024, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/81>.

10.  Virtual War Memorial 2013, Vwma.org.au, viewed 29 May 2024, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/7>.

11.  3rd Pioneer Battalion n.d., vwma.org.au, viewed 28 May 2024, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/67>.

[1] Victor Harbor RSL archives
[2] Garnet Nelson CAMERON M.M n.d. <https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/83755>
[3] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[4] Cameron Garnet Nelson : SERN 1117 : POB Quorn SA : POE Adelaide SA : NOK W Cameron Ruby 1914   https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/83755
[5] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[6] 3rd Pioneer Battalion n.d. https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/67
[7] Other 2012 https://navyhistory.au/australian-hospital-ships/
[8] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[9] 3rd Pioneer Battalion n.d. https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/67
[10] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[11] Virtual War Memorial 2013 https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/7
[12] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[13] Virtual War Memorial n.d. https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/81
[14] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[15] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[16] Virtual War Memorial n.d. https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/81
[17] Rouen | Through These Lines n.d. http://throughtheselines.com.au/research/rouen
[18] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[19] Terrace 2024 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=3200110&S=9&N=24&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3200110&T=P&S=9
[20] Victor Harbor RSL archives
[21] Garnet Nelson CAMERON M.M n.d. https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/83755
[22] Victor Harbor RSL archives