SAPPER ALBERT EDGAR OATES
222 – 1st Tunnelling Company
Born at Sandhurst, Sandridge, Victoria in 1879, Albert was the son of Jane Oates (nee Hawkey). He married Malena Mary Jones at Victoria in 1902.
A son, Eric Frederick Oates, was born in Bendigo in 1903.
The Electoral Roll for 1909 records Albert Edgar Oates, engine driver, living at Racecourse Road, Mount Morgan, Queensland. The 1913 Roll records Albert Edgar Oates, engine driver, living at Walterhall, Mount Morgan with Mary Malena.
Albert signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ at Brisbane on 17 November 1915.
He stated that he was a Miner and Engine Driver by trade, and that he had previously been rejected for service due to his sight.
A medical examination the same day recorded that he was 36 years and 9 months of age; that he was 5ft 7ins tall and weighed 112 lbs. He had a dark complexion, grey eyes and black hair. His sight was recorded as D24 and D18. Albert was of the Church of England faith.
He named as his Next-of-Kin his wife Mrs. Mary Malena Oates of Elliott Street, Hawthorne, Brisbane, Queensland and allotted three-fifths of his pay for the support of his wife and one child.
Albert was appointed to No.1 Company of the newly formed Australian Mining Corps by Major MacTaggart, O.C. of No.1 Company.
He embarked at Sydney, New South Wales with the Mining Corps on board Ulysses on 20 February 1916.
At a civic parade in the Domain, Sydney on Saturday February 19, 1916, a large crowd of relations and friends of the departing Miners lined the four sides of the parade ground. Sixty police and 100 Garrison Military Police were on hand to keep the crowds within bounds. The scene was an inspiriting one. On the extreme right flank, facing the saluting base, were companies of the Rifle Club School; next came a detachment of the 4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, then the bands of the Light Horse, Liverpool Depot, and the Miners’ on the left, rank upon rank, the Miners’ Battalion.
Following the farewell parade in the Domain, Sydney, the Australian Mining Corps embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on 20 February 1916 on board HMAT A38 Ulysses.
The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company – 390; No.2 Company – 380; No.3 Company – 392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements.
Ulysses arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 22 February and the Miners were camped at Broadmeadows while additional stores and equipment were loaded onto Ulysses. Another parade was held at the Broadmeadows camp on March 1, the Miners’ Corps being inspected by the Governor-General, as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth military forces.
Departing Melbourne on 1 March, Ulysses sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where a further 53 members of the Corps were embarked. The ship hit a reef when leaving Fremantle harbour, stripping the plates for 40 feet and, although there was a gap in the outside plate, the inner bilge plates were not punctured. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’. The Miners were off-loaded and sent to the Blackboy Hill Camp where further training was conducted. After a delay of about a month for repairs, The Mining Corps sailed for the European Theatre on 1 April 1916.
The ship arrived at Suez, Egypt on 22 April, departing for Port Said the next day; then on to Alexandria. The Captain of the shipwas reluctantto take Ulysses out of the Suez Canal because he felt the weight of the ship made it impossible to manoeuvre in the situation of a submarine attack. The Mining Corps was transhipped to B1 Ansonia for the final legs to Marseilles, France via Valetta, Malta. Arriving at Marseilles on 5 May, most of the men entrained for Hazebrouck where they arrived to set up their first camp on 8 May 1916.
A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed. The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), better known as the ‘Alphabetical Company’.
No.1 Company was redesignated the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company (1ATC).
On 27 May 1916 at Armentieres, Albert was charged with being ‘out of bounds’ at 4.30 p.m. He was awarded 2 days forfeiture of pay.
Albert was wounded in action on 12 November 1916 receiving a gun shot wound to the right leg.
He was admitted to the 4th London Field Ambulance on 13 November and was transferred to the 10th Casualty Clearing Station on 16 November. On 18 November he was transferred to Ambulance Train 18 and then to the 2nd Australian General Hospital, Boulogne.
He was evacuated to England on 21 November on board the Hospital Ship Jan Breydal and admitted to the Colchester Military Hospital.
Alberts’ Next-of-Kin was advised of his wounding by telegram on 1 December 1916. On 6 December advice that he was in Colchester General Hospital suffering from ‘gunshot wound leg’ was provided to his Next-of-Kin.
On 15 December he was transferred to the 1st Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield. He was discharged to No.4 Command Depot at Wareham on 30 December.
On 6 February 1917 he was charged with having been Absent Without Leave (AWL) from 3 p.m. on 2 February until 9 p.m. on 3 February. He was awarded 7 days Confined to Barracks (CB) and forfeiture of 2 days pay.
Albert marched out of No.4 Depot to No.3 Command Depot, Hurdcott on 11 March. As his injury healed, his medical class altered. On 3 April he was B.1 - A.4., and on 11 April he marched out to the Hardening and Drafting Depot at Perham Downs.
On 12 May he was reclassified medical B.1 a. and marched out to No.1 Command Depot. On 9 August 1917 he was medically classified P.B. (Permanent Base). He was reclassified C.1. on 29 August.
Albert was attached for duty to the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital (1st A.D. Hosp.), Bulford on 27 March 1918 and transferred to the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC) Details whilst attached to the Hospital.
On 25 January 1919 he was detached from duty with the 1st A.D. Hosp. and marched out to No.2 Command Depot, Weymouth.
Albert left England on 25 March 1919 for return to Australia on board the Port Denison. He disembarked at Melbourne on 10 May, for onward travel to Brisbane, where he was discharged from the A.I.F. on 21 July 1919 as medically unfit due to defective vision. He was entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Albert had been a member of 1ATC from May 1916 until he was evacuated to England in November 1916. In that period he would have worked at Hill 60 in the preparations for the Battle of Messines Ridge. He may also have worked on the digging of the Catacombs at Hill 63.
1ATC later worked on the construction of the Hooge Crater dugouts.
The 1919 Electoral Roll records Albert Edgar Oates, engine driver, living at Elliott Street, Hawthorne, Queensland with Mary Malena.
On 19 March 1924 Albert’s military history was forwarded to the Department of Repatriation, Brisbane. The 1925 Electoral Roll records Albert Edgar Oates, engine driver, living at Lillington, Moray Street, Brisbane, Queensland.
Albert Edgar Oates died on 21 May 1927 in Queensland.
On 18 September 1928, details of his service were requested from Base Records by the War Service Homes Commission, Sydney as he was an applicant for assistance under the War Service Homes Act. The Commission noted in their letter that he was deceased. Base records provided the required details on 24 September.
In 1930 Mary is living at 15 Norton Hall, Oxford Street, Woollahra, New South Wales, in 1943 at 38 Kellett Street, Darlinghurst, and by 1954 Mary has moved to 275 Noble Avenue, Bankstown.
Mary Malena Oates, widow, aged 71 years, died at Bankstown, NSW on 22 July 1954.
© Donna Baldey 2013 / 2016