GARDINER, Frederick
| Service Number: | 1616 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 July 1915, Melbourne, Vic. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 31st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Mirboo North, Victoria, Australia, 13 May 1894 |
| Home Town: | Allambee, Baw Baw, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farm Hand |
| Died: | War Related Injuries, Caulfield, Victoria, Australia, 2 May 1926, aged 31 years |
| Cemetery: |
Footscray Cemetery, Victoria Roman Catholic B, Grave 1191 |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1616, 31st Infantry Battalion, Melbourne, Vic. | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 1616, 31st Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Bakara embarkation_ship_number: A41 public_note: '' | |
| 5 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 1616, 31st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Bakara, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Frederick William Gardiner Reg No 1616 was the youngest son of Samuel and Sara Gardiner. Samuel’s father William a farmer, emigrated from Somerset England in 1856 and married Jane in 1861 in Belfast (Port Fairy). Samuel was born in Yumbuk (near Port Fairy) in 1869. The family relocated to Gippsland - William dying in Warragul in 1889 and where Samuel married Sara (nee Grinter) in 1892.
Frederick was born in 1894 in Mirboo North according to his military records, though this probably relates to the district, rather than the township as we know it today. In 1904 a report in the West Gippsland Gazette indicates that Samuel had bought Lot 74 in the Parish of Allambee East, formerly owned by T Gunn. (This block runs off the Allambee South/Thorpdale Rd). The family which included 8 children moved to Lot 6 on the Allambee Estate around 1906, where they farmed and established a timber mill. The family later acquired adjacent land – Lots 11 and 7.
At the age of 21 Frederick, a farm hand enlisted in the 31st Battalion, 1st Reinforcements. He undertook his initial training in Seymour where he suffered from influenza and was admitted to hospital for one week. He embarked from Melbourne on board HMAT A41 Bakara on 5 November 1915, arriving in Suez 7th December 1915. He was hospitalised due to Influenza and then Mumps in February 1916. He rejoined his unit 11th March 1916 and transferred to the 25th Howitzer Brigade on the 18th March as a Gunner.
On the 12th May 1916 he became seriously unwell at Ferry Post and was again admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of Pleurisy. He was subsequently returned to Australia and Invalided out of the Army on a pension – medically unfit due to Pleurisy with Effusion 4th July 1916.
In 1917 Frederick married Elizabeth Norah Kennedy. They had two daughters. He died in May 1926 at the age of 32 and is buried at the Footscray Cemetery in the Roman Catholic Section.
Courtesy of Avenel Jane
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