SI0918
WEIDENHOFER, Charles
Service Number: | 30716 |
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Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
Last Rank: | Driver |
Last Unit: | 23rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade |
Born: | Woodside, South Australia , 2 May 1880 |
Home Town: | Payneham, Norwood Payneham St Peters, South Australia |
Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
Occupation: | Surveyor |
Died: | Ponde, South Australia , 9 July 1961, aged 81 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
Cemetery: |
Mannum Cemetery, S.A. RSL Lawn Section |
Memorials: | Mannum District Roll of Honor, Payneham District Council Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
23 Nov 1916: | Involvement Driver, 30716, 23rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
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23 Nov 1916: | Embarked Driver, 30716, 23rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
11 Nov 1918: | Involvement Driver, 30716 |
Help us honour Charles Weidenhofer's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Paul Lemar
Charles was the son of George WEIDENHOFER & Lydia Eliza JACOBS and was born on the 2nd of May 1880 in Woodside.
Charles was the fourth child born into the family of nine children.
As a youth he helped his father on the farm at Woodside and then at Bow Hill on the River Murray.
When the family took up land at Geranium, in the Murray Mallee, west of Lameroo and Pinnaroo, Charles, known as Charlie, was a tireless worker. He was a strong healthy fellow and apart from farm work, he became an enthusiastic member of the community of Geranium
He was one of the founding members of the Agricultural Bureau and one of the five original trustees of the Geranium Institute. He acted as Master of Ceremonies at the local dances and was an accomplished dancer himself.
By about 1912 the family moved to 22 Albert Street, Payneham, as his father’s health was failing.
Charles was employed as a Surveyor.
After his father died in 1915, Charlie enlisted into the 23rd Howitzer Brigade, 8th Reinforcement on the same day as his brother, Frederick. He was allotted the service number 30716. The two brothers were to serve in the same unit together.
After further training in Maribyrnong, VIC, Frederick embarked on H.M.A.S. “Hororata” from Melbourne on the 23rd of November 1916, arriving in Plymouth on the 29th of January 1917.
The unit entrained at Larkhill before sailing from Southampton to France as part of the Second Division, Ammunition Column on the 8th of August 1917.
They were attached to the 3rd Division Artillery in Ravelsberg. They were involved with the battles of Broodseinde and Passchendaele in October 1917.
In 1918 they fought at the Somme.
Charlie was promoted from driver to Bombardier.
Charlie returned to Australia on the 14th of August 1919 and was discharged on the 22nd of September.
After the war, the South Australian Government instigated a scheme in which returned servicemen were able to lease land from the Government in any of a number of designated areas in the State. One such area was named the “Neeta Irrigation Settlement” at Ponde on the River Murray near Mannum.
Charlie took out a lease of 392 acres in this area. His first task was to drain the swampland and prepare the land for dairy farming. The rent, payable annually to the Government was as follows:
No rent for the first year, 12 pounds for the second, 24 pounds for the third, 36 pounds for the fourth and 48 pounds for the fifth and every following year.
One of the stipulations of the scheme read:
During the first two years of the lease, plant or bring into cultivation, to the satisfaction of the Minister of Agriculture, at least two fifths of the land included in the lease, and an additional one fifth of such land in each of the following three years, until the whole of such land is under planting or cultivation.
In January 1922, Charlie married Myrtle Teakle, whose father, Frank Teakle had established a reputation as an excellent brick maker. Charlie and Myrtle lived at Ponde, as did several other Weidenhofer families.
Charlie pumped water from the river to water his fodder crops, mainly lucerne, to feed his dairy cows. The milk was poured into large cans which were transported, sometimes downstream by barge, to Murray Bridge, or by truck to Adelaide.
Charlie, as in his younger days at Geranium, was a tireless worker but always made time for recreation. On his property, he laid down a tennis court which was a great venue on weekends for family and friends to gather for a game. Fishing was a popular pastime as there were plenty of fish in the river.
They welcomed their first child into the family on the 20th of September 1922; Elinor Dorothy.
Rex Charles was born on the 10th of January 1926.
Early in 1940 Myrtle took out a lease on a block of land at Ponde and about seven months later she inherited a property at Woodville Park.
On the 21st of July 1942, their son Rex, enlisted into the RAAF and was allotted the service number 442840.
Sadly, Myrtle died on the 31st of July 1944, aged 51 and Charlie buried her in the Cheltenham Cemetery.
In 1948 his son, Rex, married Mona Mitchell.
In September 1948 Charlie was devastated when his daughter, Elinor Dorothy was killed in a horrific road accident near Tungkillo, at the age of 26 years.
Charlie buried her in the Cheltenham Cemetery.
Charlie continued to live on his property at Ponde, with the help of his son Rex and his wife Mona.
In 1961, Charlie aged 81, died at Ponde and was buried at the Mannum Cemetery.