Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edgar (Scotty) was born at Yarranyacka on 9 May 1892 to Samuel Scott and Mary Ellen Scott (nee Wishart) of Yarranyacka. He was the eldest of 6 children, 2 boys and 4 girls.  His father was a farmer at Yarranyacka.

Scotty started his schooling at the Yarranyacka School at the age of 6, his teacher being a Miss Barraud.  He and a friend (Arthur Cosh) would walk the 3 miles to school, often being side tracked by the many rabbits on the way: a form of entertainment was to jump on the rabbits hiding in the grass tussocks.  When the Waratta Vale School opened in 1905, Scotty completed his final year at that school. Like most boys of that time he completed his schooling at year 7, leaving to work on the family farm at Yarranyacka.  He remained working on the farm with his father until he enlisted in the Army on 5 March 1917 at Lipson.

He then traveled to Adelaide for processing and basic training before being posted as an Air Mechanic in the Australian Flying Corps.  This was an extraordinary posting at this time as aviation was very much in its infancy.  Also it would appear that he had no particular mechanical training other than that which he had acquired working on the farm: I hope it was better than some of the farm mechanics that I know!

The Australian Flying Corps was based at Point Cook (Vic) where the Central Flying School had been established.  Initially it consisted of No1 Squadron (Sqn); this Sqn was deployed to the Middle East in 1916 and was known as the “Mesopotamia half flight”.  The complete Sqn was captured by the Turks at Baghdad – few survived captivity.  In late 1916 the Flying Corps was expanded to 4 Sqns, the latter 3 Sqns (2, 3 & 4 Sqns) being deployed to the UK for training before being sent to the Western Front in March 1917 – Scotty was part of this later group, being posted as a reinforcement to 3 Sqn.

Australia was the only British dominion to set up a Flying Corps for service during WW1.  One third of the fatalities suffered by the Corps were as a result of training accidents, indicating the risks associated with aviation at this time.  

 Scotty returned to Australia aboard the SS "Nestor", arriving on 14 December 1919, and took his discharge in Adelaide on 14 January 1920.  He returned home and again helped his father on the family farm. 

After several years he bought his own farm at Moody (Section 11, commonly known as “Reid’s Place) from John Welch: this was a soldier settler block that had initially been allocated to a Mr. Compton but had been handed back to the government for reallocation, as had many of the Moody blocks.  He worked this farm until he sold it to Basil Baillie in the late 1940s.  This block is now owned by the Baldisseras.

He then moved to Tumby Bay and lived with his parents and sister, Mrs. Trix Simmons in their house on The Esplanade.  Scotty had never married

Scotty must have been a very fit man as he regularly rode his bike to Port Lincoln and back, just for exercise.  At least he did not have to worry about road trains in those days!

After several years in Tumby he moved to the Riverina (NSW) and bought a farm there in the early 1950s; a few years later he sold the farm and again relocated, this time to Murray Bridge, where he lived with another of his sisters, Mrs. Elsie Yelland, for a short period. 

Like many farmers, the call of the land was strong, so he bought yet another property at Buccleuch (near Coonalpyn, SA) and continued to work this property until his death on 23 January 1958 at the age of 64 years.

He is buried in the Murray Bridge cemetery.

Medals and Decorations

British War Medal                                                                             

Victory Medal