Camden Remembers

CAMDEN DISTRICT ROLL OF HONOUR

CAMDEN REMEMBERS STORIES

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There is a story behind every person listed on Camden Remembers. Some of their stories will be told here.
Select the links below to read each story.

William (Bruno) Geary by Christine Robinson.
The following story of four brothers, all born in Camden, was revealed while researching soldiers from the local area who served in World War 1 to be included on the Camden Remembers website.

William, known as Bruno Geary was born 1881 in Camden, the 10th and youngest child of David Geary a blacksmith living at Harrington Park Narellan in 1872, and his second wife Bridget Woods. Bridget died while Bruno was still a baby and he was fostered by Austin and June Bugden, a Camden couple who had twelve children of their own and whose youngest daughter Hannah Maria was the same age as Bruno.

Bruno remained with the Bugdens and later served his apprenticeship as a painter with H Goddard of Concord. Hannah Maria Bugden married William Henry (Harry) Boon in 1903 and Bruno went to live with them at Burwood.

Bruno enlisted in the AIF on the 30th December 1915 at Town Hall Sydney and served with the 18th Battalion. He gave his next of kin as Harry Boon of Norwood St. Burwood. He departed Sydney on the troop ship 'Nestor' on 9th April 1916 and arrived in France via England on 23rd September 1916.

Conditions in the trenches were horrendous and Bruno contracted Trench Feet and Bronchitis and was sent to England for treatment in November 1916. While in England he was operated on for appendicitis and after recuperating was back at the front in January 1918. It would seem Bruno never fully recovered and was invalided home to Sydney on the 'Medic' arriving 9th October 1918.

William (Bruno) Geary died on 25th October 1918 at Randwick Military Hospital from Uraemia, Chronic Bronchitis and Nephritis contracted while on overseas service in France. He is buried in the Roman Catholic section at Rookwood Cemetery.

After the war it was the policy of the Army to contact the named next of kin of the unmarried deceased soldiers requesting the name of the oldest living relative e.g. father then mother, oldest brother etc. so as to dispose of personal effects, medals etc. As nominated next of kin Harry Boon was contacted and he wrote a poignant reply.

'I know of no one who has more claim to anything belonging to the late Private W. Geary 18th Battalion No. 4430 than myself Harry Boon. William Geary and myself were like brothers.
He made a will in my favour and left anything and everything to me. I sent it to the Military authorities at Victoria Barracks Sydney at the time. I got the deferred pay of the late Wm. Geary and they have not returned it to me since. I did not put the will through probate because I saw by some of the Military papers I need not as the amount left was under 100 pounds to wit 47 pounds five shillings.

Geary lived with my wife ever since he was a little baby on the breast. They are the same age both born in 1881. My wife's mother adopted him when he was a few months old. His own father and mother are both dead years ago.' (David Geary died 1889 at Murrumburrah).

'The late Private W. Geary went to see a Geary who he heard was his brother and he said he believed he was, but Geary shut the door in Private W. Geary's face and told him he did not want to see the likes of him about his place. That was years ago. When Private W. Geary returned home sick from the war and came to my place, he said it was good to be home once more, the wife's mother and Geary lived with me practically for 20 years.
I drew the allotment money, 3 shillings per day 21/- per week while he was away, but I gave him most of it when he returned, and paid some debts he left behind to his mates, the deferred pay I spent most of it on his grave headstone and kerbing.'

Hannah Boon was granted Bruno's medals and Memorial Scroll and Plaque having signed a statutory declaration to 'preserve with due care any War Medals and other items given into my custody'.

Although not on any local memorials but all born in Camden, further research revealed that three of Bruno's brothers, James, Patrick and Edmund also served. It is to be hoped that the family (apart from Bruno) stayed close as both James and Edmund gave as their next of kin their sister Mrs. J. Maher. Mary Ann Geary daughter of David Geary and his first wife Mary Ann Heffernan married John Maher in 1878.

Patrick had married Elizabeth Reinhardt in 1900 and gave her as his next of kin. James and Patrick both returned to Australia.

Edmund Geary who also served in the Boer War was killed in action at Gallipoli between the 7th and 14th August 1915. His memorial is at Lone Pine on the Gallipoli Peninsular.
Lest We Forget

Our Jack by Steve Robinson.
Commemorating our Service Men and Women who have died serving their country at war is the greatest gift we have to show our gratitude respect and love for them. Since World War One every effort has been made to create permanent Memorials at home and overseas where they died.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, established by Royal Charter in 1917 pays tribute to the 1.75 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. Since its inception the Commission has constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots, erecting headstones over graves and in instances where the remains are missing, inscribing the names of the dead on permanent memorials.

From the CWGC website, http://www.cwgc.org/, the Commissions principals state; Each of the dead should be commemorated by name on the headstone or memorial, headstones and memorials should be permanent, headstones should be uniform and there should be no distinction made on account of military or civil rank, race or creed.

There's more to the Commission than cenotaphs and cemeteries, it is charged with keeping records of the 1.75 million Commonwealth war dead. At each cemetery and memorial you will find a register showing the service details and, in some cases family details of the men and women buried or commemorated there.

A fine example of the CWGC work is the Camden War Cemetery located within the General Cemetery on Cawdor Road. The Cemetery is the serene resting place of seventeen RAAF servicemen, four army personnel and two RAF servicemen who were stationed in the Camden area during World War Two.

Camden has many established Memorials, Rolls of Honour and Plaques that fulfil the principles of the CWGC and the Camden Remembers Project team has photographed, recorded all the names and information and is compiling data bases to show the service and family details of all the men and women commemorated in the Camden area and many more that somehow missed out on the honour they deserve.

Our Jack's Memorial

Recently when photographing some grave headstones of servicemen at St Mathews Church Cemetery at The Oaks we came across a memorial erected to commemorate a soldier who died in World War One. The inscription on the memorial simply says OUR JACK KILLED IN ACTION IN PALESTINE 4TH JANUARY 1918. Now for the Camden Remembers researchers Our Jack poses the question, who is Our Jack and who is his family?

In the book 'The Little Slab Church, St Mathews Church of England The Oaks' published in 2004, Noel Collison the author says 'The identity of Our Jack is known only to those who knew and loved him'.
An on line search of the Australian War Memorial's Roll of Honour lists three Australian servicemen that died on 4th January 1918. One of those happened to die in Palestine and his name just happened to be Jack.
Now it would be easy to presume and say wow that was easy we found Our Jack, but proving that Lieutenant Jack Diamond Sumner Potts of the Australian Flying Corps who died when his aircraft crash landed over enemy lines on 4th January 1918 lived in The Oaks or even had an association with the area isn't that easy.

After several weeks researching Jack Potts and his family, making enquiries at The Oaks, Picton and Camden Historical Societies, searching local news papers and the Sydney Morning Heralds of the day we now know a great deal about Jack Potts but we are still no closer to knowing Our Jack's real identity.

We're not giving up the search just yet, there's still a glimmer hope. We hope this article might reach someone who knows something about Our Jack. Maybe it's the person who placed the flower at the base of his memorial recently, it wasn't there the first time we photographed it.

It might be that we'll never find out who Our Jack is, in that case he will remain forever 'known only to those who knew and loved him'.
Whoever commemorated Our Jack at St Mathews Church Cemetery created a fine memorial befitting one of our war dead and there is one thing we can be sure of; Our Jack's resting place in Palestine will be well cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Lest we forget.

If anyone knows anything about Our Jack or his memorial would you please contact us.

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