Gilbert Warren ADAMS                         

Rank: Private

Service: Australian Imperial Force

53rd battalion, 11th Reinforcement

Age at enlistment: 21 years 10 months

Place of birth: Norfolk Island

Enlisted: 25 July 1915

Locality of enlistment: Liverpool NSW

Next of kin:  John Adams, Norfolk Island

Date of discharge: 2 August 1919

Posting at Discharge: medically unfit, suffering from epilepsy

Gilbert Adams was a farmer from Empire Bay. While serving overseas in England and France he suffered ill health with bronchitis, influenza, high fevers, trench fever and epilepsy. In 1916 he was wounded and had a bullet removed. He died from epilepsy 9/10/1924.

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Harry DAVIS

Rank: Private

Service: Australian Imperial Force

54th Battalion

Age at enlistment: 18 years and 10 months

Place of birth: Woy Woy, county of Northumberland

Enlisted: 21 August 1915

Locality of enlistment: Warwick Farm NSW

Next of kin:  Esther Davis, Arthur Davis, Davis Town

Date of discharge: 22 September 1919

Posting at Discharge: Woodcutting and Saw Milling

 Ken Bergin’s great uncle (his grandmother’s brother).  He lived in Sorrento Road in one half of the guest house, Sorrento House.  He also owned the boatshed which is now the marina and had a half share with his sister, Mrs Olive Settree, of the Davis and Settree general store which was on the waterfront opposite his boatshed.

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Oswald  Bernard DAVIS                                   

Rank:  Private No.1834 1st Australian Divisional Force

Service: Australian Imperial Force

1st Australian Division

Age at enlistment: 21 years and 4 months

Place of birth: Woy Woy near the town of Gosford, county of Northumberland

Enlisted: 7 January 1916

Locality of enlistment: Casula NSW

Next of kin: Esther (sic) Davis, Arthur Davis, Empire Bay NSW

Date of discharge: 24 January 1920

Posting at Discharge: Carpenter

Private Davis was born in Woy Woy. He was a 21 year old single, shipwright. He did his training with Rock Davis for 5 years. His father was Arthur Davis of Empire Bay. He embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A40 “Ceramic” on April 14, 1916. Ken Bergin’s great uncle (his grandmother’s brother).  He was a shipwright and builder and, although he lived in Sydney, he spent a lot of time at Empire Bay with his extended family.  He and his brothers Harry, Arthur and Benjamin helped to build the MV Erina II, which was designed and supervised by their father, Arthur Davis (Ken's great grandfather), on the waterfront at Empire Bay near the fig trees where the playground equipment is located.

Oswald served in France in WW1. His service record shows his marriage in Willesden, London to Nellie Louise Dollamore in 1919.            
 

Emil Henri DUMAS

Rank: Private

1837

Service: Australian Imperial Force

1st Pioneer Battalion

Age at enlistment: 26 years old

Place of birth: Sydney

Enlisted: 10/01/1916

Locality of enlistment: Casula NSW

Next of kin: Alexander Dumas of Kincumber via Woy Woy, county of Northumberland

Date of discharge: 26/12/1917

Discharge: medical unfitness

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DUMAS Sapper

Sapper No.1837 1st Pioneer Battalion, 2nd Reinforcements
Sapper Dumas was a 26 year old single, carpenter when he enlisted on January 10, 1916. His father was Alexander Dumas of Kincumber. He embarked from Sydney on HMAT A40 “Ceramic” on April 14, 1916.
The Gosford Times reported that Sapper Dumas was from Empire Bay and had returned from the war.  A social was to be held at Kincumber School of Arts on Wednesday, November 28, 1917, to welcome him home.

For those of us who don’t know the terms, a Sapper is a military engineer. The name is derived from the French word sappe (“spadework,” or “trench”) and became connected with military engineering during the 17th century, when attackers dug covered trenches to approach the walls of a besieged fort.

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Arthur Houston HAGAN
Arthur Hagan, Private No.1857 1st Pioneer Battalion, 2nd Reinforcements

Private Hagan was from Empire Bay. He was a 21 year old single, carpenter when he enlisted on January 10, 1916. His mother was Mrs Susannah Hagan of Empire Bay. He previously served for 3 years in the Australian Rifle Regiment (A.R.R.) militia. He embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A40 “Ceramic” on April 14, 1916.

Private Hagan served in France and spent some time in a London hospital suffering from pleurisy and pneumonia.

Rank: Private
Service: Australian Imperial Force
1st Pioneer Battalion
Age at enlistment: 21
Place of birth: Balmain NSW
Enlisted: 10/1/16
Locality of enlistment: Casula
Next of kin:  Susannah Hagan, mother, Empire Bay, county of Northumberland
Date of discharge: 14/4/1919

 

Emil Dumas and Arthur Hagan sailed on the SS Ceramic. Ceramic had a long history, she had been built and delivered by Harland and Wolff Ltd of Belfast in 1913 for her then owners White Star Line Ltd. Her length: 655.1 feet, beam: 69.4 feet and draught: 43.8 feet, giving her a gross tonnage of 18,481 tons. Her speed, 15knots, powered by three triple expansion and low powered turbines all geared to a central shaft.

Hugh Bradford HAGAN
Rank: Corporal
Service: Australian Imperial Force
Age at enlistment: 22 years and 3 months
Place of birth: Balmain NSW
Enlisted: 30/8/15
Locality of enlistment: Sydney NSW
Next of kin:  Hugh Andrew Hagan of Davis Town, county of Northumberland
Date of discharge: 10/2/1917
Posting at Discharge: medical unfitness​

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Clarence West Erskine HAWKER

Rank: Captain

Service: Australian Imperial Force

5th Division Train

Age at enlistment: 26 years and 7 months

Place of birth: Largs Bay, Port Adelaide 

Enlisted: 22 August 1914           

Locality of enlistment: Morphetville South Australia

Next of kin:  J C Hawker, father

Date of discharge: 3 July 1919

Posting at Discharge : no disability

Records include letter from Effie Beattie, Empire Bay NSW. They married in 1919

Ken Bergin’s great uncle by marriage, having married Effie Beattie, eldest sister of his grandfather, Clarence Angus (Jack) Beattie of Bensville.  He was a member of a prominent South Australian pastoral and political dynasty, at least one of whom became Premier of SA.  After his service in WW1, he managed the Woodley winery at Glen Osmond, now an Adelaide suburb.  In their retirement, Clarence and Effie lived in Bensville where they had a large and admired garden.

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Alfred  Prendergast HUGHES

Rank: Corporal

Service: Australian Imperial Force

Age at enlistment: 23 years

Place of birth: Pilliga, NSW (sic) County of Northumberland * maybe Patonga

Enlisted: 21 August 1915

Locality of enlistment: Warwick Farm, NSW

Next of kin:  Mary Agnes Hughes, Empire Bay Post Office NSW

Date of discharge: 20 January 1920

Posting at Discharge : discharged

He embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A71 “Nestor” on April 9, 1916.  The Gosford Times reported that Private Hughes was promoted to Lance-Corporal and was attached to the Military Police at Salisbury Plains in England.

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Henry George HUGHES

Private No.10346 33rd Battalion

Private Hughes was born at Gosford. He was a 29year old and a single labourer when he enlisted on April 5, 1916. His father was Edward Hughes of Empire Bay Post Office. He had been previously rejected for military service on account of his teeth. 

Although Henry George Hughes is linked to Alfred Hughes of the same location, the Empire Bay post office, his name is not inscribed on our war memorial.

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C QUINTALL/ H G QUINTAL

After investigation, we think that this inscription is for Harrison Gascoyne Quintal. He enlisted in Liverpool, NSW and was a Private in the AIF and saw service in France. He was wounded on 2 occasions. He was 20 years, 1 month when he enlisted. Quintal was born on Norfolk Island and he is linked to the other Norfolk Islanders, the Adams, from Empire Bay. His mother, Lily Adams is listed as his next of kin. He was a farmer.

The Gosford Times reported that G. Quintel was from Empire Bay.

As an aside, Adams and Quintal are names associated with the Bounty mutineers. Locals from Empire Bay report remembering that the Adams family spoke the local Norfolk Island dialect.

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William SETTREE

Rank: Private Officer

Service: Australian Imperial Force

Age at enlistment: 27 years 11 months

Place of birth: Davis Town, county of Northumberland

Enlisted: 21/8/1915

Locality of enlistment: Warwick Farm NSW

Next of kin:  Bert Settree, brother

Date of discharge: 28/6/1919

Posting at Discharge: medical unfitness

Died in Empire Bay on 23 June 1952

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His next of kin was his brother, Bert Settree. His birth place was Davis Town, county of Northumberland. The records say that he was in Alexandria, Egypt and Marseilles, France before going to England.  Settree

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John Courtney VIRET

Rank: Corporal

Service: Australian Imperial Force

Age at enlistment: 34 years

Place of birth: Barnet, England

Lived; Empire Bay NSW, county of Northumberland

Enlisted: 12/8/1915

Locality of enlistment: Liverpool NSW

Next of kin:  F J Ludiwici, friend

Date of discharge: 23/8/1919

Posting at Discharge : medical discharge

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Donald  Frederick WHEATLEY

Rank: Private

Service: Australian Imperial Force

Camel Corps

15 Australian Light Horse Regiment

Age at enlistment: 24 years 11 months

Place of birth: Yass NSW

Enlisted: 9/12/1915

Locality of enlistment: Casula NSW

Next of kin:  S Wheatley, Empire Bay, mother, county of Northumberland

Date of discharge: 22/5/1919

Posting at Discharge : medically unfit

Our Norfolk Islanders

Thank you to Jan Raine for shining more light on our Norfolk Islanders, Gilbert Warren Adams and Harrison Gascoyne Quintal, both from Empire Bay.  Jan tells us that in the cemetery at Kingston, Norfolk Island, you will find headstones with "Bounty" names, Christian, Quintal, Adams, Young and McCoy and the Pitcairn names, Nobbs, Buffett and Evans.  

"A weathered stone marks the resting place of 'Dinah, widow of Edward Quintal and eldest daughter of John Adams of the Bounty" who died in 1864. 

Dinah seems to be the (great?) grandmother of these two boys who were undoubtedly related.
 

* Northumberland County was one of the original Nineteen Counties in New South Wales and is now one of the 141 Cadastral divisions of New South Wales. It included the area to the north of Broken Bay, including Lake Macquarie and Newcastle. It was bounded by the part of the Hawkesbury River to the south, the Macdonald River to the south-west, and the Hunter River to the north.

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Sources: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au

http://www.gosfordrslsubbranch.org.au/pdf/For%20King%20and%20Country.pdf

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Second World War inscriptions >>>

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Thank you to Mary Gray