SAPPER OSWALD ARTHUR BEYERS
4999 – 3rd Tunnelling Company
Oswald Arthur B. H. was born at Hill End New South Wales (NSW) on 22 November 1872, the son of Ludwig Hugo Poland Beyers and Mary (nee Emmett). Louis Beyers was Beyers of the famous partners Beyers and Holtermann who found the world’s largest specimen of reef gold (estimated at 3,000 ounces) on Hawkins Hill, Hill End in 1872.
Oswald enrolled at Hill End Public School on 7 March 1882, aged 9 years. A school report in 1889 placed him 8th in a class of 31. The report also noted ‘Not very ambitious or he might be higher in his form’.
In 1893, Oswald married Theresa Christiana Buckleton at Ashfield, NSW. Theresa was born at Sydney, NSW in 1876, the daughter of George and Matilda Selina Buckleton. In November 1895 he was living at Hill End when he had a saddle stolen from him by William Cassidy. The saddle was recovered and Cassidy fined £2 and costs.
Louis Beyers was listed on the Electoral Rolls for the District of Wellington in 1898-1900, but had left Hill End in February 1897 taking two daughters and his other son Theodore to Kalgoorlie WA. Here he tried gold mining for several years with little success and died in 1910 at Mt Morgan Hospital, east of Leonora. The 1898-99 & 1899-1900 NSW Electoral Rolls, Electoral District of Wellington, Hill End Division, record: Beyers, Oswald A.H.B., Sallys Flat, prospector (Sallys Flat is near Hill End).
On 9 November 1903, Oswald got a job as a clerk with the Intercolonial Investment, Land and Building Company, Ltd in Perth Western Australia.
Oswald admitted to a gambling problem and submitted a guilty plea. On 5 May he was sentenced to sixteen months imprisonment.
In December 1915, Oswald, from Yarri, WA, contributed £2 to the Belgian Patriotic Relief Fund. On 23 March 1916 at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia (WA), Oswald completed an ‘Application to Enlist in the Australian Imperial Force’. He recorded his address as Railway Hotel, Kalgoorlie. A medical examination on the same day recorded that he was 5ft 5ins tall and 42 years and 5 months of age. He had a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. He was of the Church of England faith.
He signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’, and the Oath to ‘well and truly serve’ on 25 March at Blackboy Hill, WA. Oswald stated that he was a Miner by trade and named as his Next-of-Kin his daughter Gertrude Beyers of 54 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW and allotted three-fifths of his pay for the support of his wife and children.
After initial training at 54 Depot Battalion, Oswald was appointed to No.6 Tunnelling Company on 1 May 1916 at Belmont, WA.
Oswald embarked for active service at Fremantle with No.6 Tunnelling Company on board Warilda.
Two Sections of the Northern recruits to form the No.4 Company of the Mining Corps had embarked from Brisbane, Queensland early in May, 1916 aboard HMAT A69 Warilda for Sydney, NSW. Six officers and 152 other ranks together with the 1st Reinforcements of fifteen other ranks made up the two sections. At Rosebery Park, Sydney, they joined their Headquarters and two sections (8 officers & 153 O.Rs.) plus 1st Reinforcements consisting of one officer and seventeen other ranks for final training.
The 7713 ton transport departed Sydney, NSW on May 22, 1916 and collected in Melbourne, Victoria the No.5 Company recruited from Victoria, South Australia & Tasmania consisting of a Headquarters and 2 Sections (8 officers & 173 men) (3 M.D.). 1 Section from Tasmania (3 officers & 76 O.Rs); also 1st Reinforcements for No.5 Company (17 men from Vic. & 8 men Tas.) The ship departed on May 25, 1916 for Adelaide, S.A. to collect one Section of 3 officers & 76 O.Rs with 1st Reinforcements of 8 O.Rs.
Docking at Fremantle, W.A. on June 1, 1916 No.6 Company recruited from W.A. of 14 officers and 325 O.Rs along with 1st Reinforcements of 1 Officer & 32 O.Rs embarked and Warilda departed the same day for the European theatre.
Durban, South Africa was reached on June 16, 1916 and Cape Town on June 21, 1916 while St Vincent completed the African ports of call on July 7, 1916. Discipline was fairly good except at intermediate ports where soldiers going Absent Without Leave caused concern. The fifty-eight day voyage experienced remarkable pleasant weather and terminated at Plymouth, England on July 18, 1916. Four, Five and Six Companies comprising of 1064 officers and other ranks were detrained to Amesbury and Tidworth to begin training for the front.
On 18 September, Oswald was awarded 3 days ‘Confined to Barracks’ for appearing unshaven on the Commanding Officers’ parade at Perham Downs.
Oswald proceeded overseas to France on 22 September 1916 and marched in to the 2nd Australian Divisional Base Depot on 26 September. He marched out to the 1st Anzac Reinforcement Camp on 12 October and joined the 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion on 16 October.
The 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion was an advanced section of the Base Depot. Formed at La Motte, France on June 6, 1916 with Captain N. Macrae being seconded from the Mining Corps as Adjutant and Quartermaster, the Battalion had an initial strength of 21 Officers and 1003 Other Ranks, mainly Infantry. The Battalion organised works near the lines and through duties would accustom the reinforcements to war conditions before being assigned to a company in the field.
For a time, all infantry reinforcements were drawn from this unit. Heavy losses at Pozieres in July through September 1916 caused all infantry to be directly absorbed into their fighting units.
The Battalion continued to be a transit unit for tunnelling reinforcements and in October 1916 there were 9 officers and 203 men in the Battalion which now served as a tunnelling company, working with the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company at St Eloi, The Bluff and the Ravine (near Ypres). On 5 November 1917 the 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion was abolished.
Oswald was attached to the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company on 26 October.
He ceased to be attached to the Canadians and was taken on strength of the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company (3ATC) on 3 December 1916.
Oswald was wounded in action at Hill 70 on 19 April 1917 suffering ‘gun shot wounds’ to his legs. He was treated at the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station on the same day and his right leg was amputated above knee. He was transferred to the 7th General Hospital, St Omer on 24 April and was reported as seriously ill on 29 April. On 3 May his Next-of-Kin were advised of his wounding.
Oswald was evacuated to England on 11 May on board Hospital Ship St Andrew and admitted to the Norfolk War Hospital on the same day. His Next-of-Kin were advised of this transfer on the same day and on 31 May were advised of the amputation. On 3 June they were advised that his condition was improving, and on 26 June that he was progressing favourably. He was transferred to the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital at Southall on 8 August. On 28 August his Next-of-Kin were advised that he was ‘convalescent’.
On 1 February 1918 he was still on strength of 3ATC. He was discharged to furlough on 18 May 1918, to report back to the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital on 1 June. On 23 July he was granted further furlough, to report back to the hospital on 6 August.
On 16 March 1919 he was discharged from the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital to the ship Czaritza for return to Australia, leaving London the same day. On 7 April at Alexandria he was transhipped to Dunlace Castle, which arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 15 May 1919. Oswald remained on board, to disembark in Sydney.
4999 Sapper Oswald Arthur Beyers was discharged from the A.I.F. as ‘medically unfit’ on 18 January 1920 in Sydney, entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Oswald was an early member of the Limbless Soldiers Association and by about 1923 was the Secretary of the Association.
In 1930-1933 Oswald is a secretary living with his wife Theresa at ‘Yugali’, 1 Weedon Road Artarmon.
In June 1935 his military records were forwarded to the Repatriation Commission, Sydney.
Theresa Christina Beyers died at Sydney in 1936.
In November 1936, Oswald represented the Limbless Soldiers Association at the State memorial service for the late Governor, Sir Murray Anderson.
Oswald Arthur Bernard Hugo Beyers died on 4 March 1943 at Sydney.
Obituaries courtesy of Helen Heath:
© Donna Baldey 2013
with the assistance of Helen Wood. Helen is working on an Anzac Centenary publication of WW1 service personnel from Hill End & Tambaroora, NSW, and can be contacted through the ‘Contact Us’ link on this website.
See “Born on the Hill End Gold Fields” by A. E. Howard, pg 138, re Beyers family, also “The Hill End Story” Book 1, by Harry Hodge, pgs 115-117.