Published on Tuesday, 5 November 2024 at 3:42:49 PM
It’s #TimeWarpTuesday and just six days till Remembrance Day. In honour of this important day of reflection, thankfulness and commemoration, we are highlighting the stories of some of our Local Heroes and Heroines.
Ever wondered about the person behind the name on local cenotaphs and other memorials? Then you may be interested in a special feature of the Town’s annual commemorative services on both ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day each year. Since Remembrance Day 2019 the Town of Victoria Park has begun to research the history of one of its citizens who has served their country in times of war. Whilst the Town’s commemorative services are always dedicated to every serviceman and woman past and present, the Local Hero Focus Person, as we have come to refer to them, is meant to remind us that everyone who has served our country, was a person. A person who had a life before they enlisted, they had family and friends, hobbies and responsibilities. The Town is honouring the fallen through the continued telling of their stories. The Local Hero Focus Person for each commemorative service is highlighted in the Mayor’s speech at the service and we make every effort possible to contact any relatives of the serviceperson, so we can invite them to the service. A special commemorative brochure is also produced and available to collect at the service and from the Library. The serviceperson honoured at each commemorative service held by the Town is also added to the ‘Victoria Park Dictionary of Biography’, which is available to view on the Library’s website.
All are invited to discover more about our local heroes of the Town of Victoria Park and we hope you will join us especially this 11 November at Memorial Gardens on Albany Highway to especially commemorate the life and service of Private Leslie Edward Plummer.
We hope you enjoy the following stories of some of our Local Heroes.
Remembrance Day 2019 - Captain Harold Oscar Teague MBBS (1877-1917)
- Doctor, Surgeon, Health Officer, Son, Brother, Hero -
Harold Oscar Teague was born on 15 October 1877 in Bendigo Victoria, he was one of six children, having four sisters and a brother who died at one month of age in 1880. Harold never married. Harold attended Brighton Grammar School between 1888 and 1894. He enrolled in medicine at Melbourne University, and in 1901 graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery.
Upon completing his studies in Melbourne, Harold undertook a year’s residency at Auckland Hospital, New Zealand. Returning to Australia, Harold moved to Western Australia. In 1907 he opened his own practice in Victoria Park. His parents and one of his sisters also lived in Victoria Park.
Harold’s medical practice from 1910 until his death in 1917 was located at 114 Albany Road (now Highway), Victoria Park.
On 1 May 1915 Dr Harold Oscar Teague was gazetted as a Captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps, Australian Imperial Force. He embarked for service overseas on the 25 June 1915 and served first with the No. 1 Australian General Hospital. In December 1916 he was assigned as Medical Officer to the 11th AIF Battalion. He worked at the Luna Park General Hospital in Cairo, Egypt.
Frequently, at his own request, he was sent to the front line trenches in France, where he was killed on 14 February 1917. Harold was mentioned in dispatches by Sir Douglas Haig on April 9 1917 for ‘Gallant and Distinguished services’.
Harold was buried with 54 other Australians in the Bazentin-le-Petit Military Cemetery, Bazentin, Picardie, France (Plot 1, Row G). On 4 March 1917 Archbishop Riley of Perth conducted a memorial service for Captain Teague in the Church of the Transfiguration (now St Peter’s Anglican Church), Victoria Park. Harold’s name appears on St Peter’s Honour Roll and on an individual wooden memorial dedicated to his life and service.
At a special Anzac celebration at the Victoria Park Town Hall in 1917, Archbishop Riley unveiled a memorial portrait of Dr (Captain) Teague, A.A.M.C. who had also served as the Medical Officer of the Municipality of Victoria Park. This memorial portrait still hangs in the function room of the Town of Victoria Park’s Administration Centre.
Major JJ Nicholas also wrote of Harold, ‘the division has lost the service of one of its best medical officers. Teague knew no fear.’
In 1918 some street names were changed to honour Perth’s war heroes, including Walton Road that became Teague Street in honour of Captain (Dr) Harold Oscar Teague.
His obituary states that, ‘death, the inscrutable, had robbed, the medical profession of integrity and uprightness’. The death of Harold Oscar Teague also left a big hole in the lives of those he touched in Victoria Park and in the wider Perth community.
Lest We Forget.
Cover of Commemorative Remembrance Day Booklet for Frank Hilton Benporath (1885-1916)
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library
Remembrance Day 2020 - Lance Corporal Frank Hilton BENPORATH (1885-1916)
- Cyclist, Electrician, Family Man, Hero –
Birth and Parents
Frank Hilton Benporath was born on the 17 February 1885 in Kent, England. He was one of 14 children born to parents George Hilton Benporath and Fraces Grace Lancaster. In 1895 George, his wife Frances and six children immigrated to Western Australia aboard the ‘S.S. Orient’.
Marriage and Fatherhood
On 7 March 1905 Frank Hilton Benporath married Stella Rose Gorman at St Birgid’s Catholic Church in West Perth and fathered six children.
Life in Victoria Park
Frank was an electrician by trade, which seems to have run in the family. His brother Clement, after returning from the war, set up an electrical business called Benporath & Sons. It is not known at present if Frank worked on his own or for a company.
Frank and Stella lived for a while in Colin Street, Perth. They moved to Egham Street, Victoria Park (now Burswood) sometime in 1913. Stella and her family are listed as living in Egham Street up to and including 1918.
War Service
Frank enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Blackboy Hill on 17 August 1914, just weeks after war was declared and with his youngest daughter Eileen not quite six months old.
On 2 November 1914 Frank embarked from Fremantle on the transport ship ‘Medic’. He saw action with the 16th Battalion and was wounded at Gallipoli. Hospitalised for a short while he was back at the front only to be wounded again on the 4 September 1915, this time with a shrapnel wound to the head. He recovered at hospital in Malta and returned to action on the Gallipoli Peninsula, on 30 September 1915.
Frank served at Gallipoli until the last days of the ill-fated campaign to take the peninsula and the efforts of many hundreds of thousands of brave men.
He was transferred to the 48th Battalion in early March 0f 1916 and promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major on the 24 March 1916 at Tel-elKabir, Egypt. By June 1916, Frank had joined the British Expedition Forces at Marsailles, France.
On 7 August 1916, during the Battle of Pozieres, Frank was wounded for a third time, this time with a severe wound to the abdomen. After suffering these wounds for ten days, Frank succumbed to his injuries on 16 August 1916. He was 31 years old.
Frank was buried in the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension in the Somme region of France alongside 1350 other brave men and women who died in service to their country.
Legacy
In 1918 the Perth City Council renamed many streets in honour of fallen war heroes. The renamed Duke Street to Benporath Street in honour of Frank Hilton Benporath.
Three generations of Frank Hilton Benporath’s descendants have also served Australia in conflicts since his heroic service in World War I. His son Stanley Frank Benporath in World War II, his great nephew in Vietnam and his great-great nephew Sean has served in Cambodia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lest We Forget.
Cover of Commemorative Remembrance Day Booklet for Arthur Lancelot ‘Lance’ Devenish (1893-1915)
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library
Remembrance Day 2021 - Private Arthur Lancelot 'Lance' DEVENISH (1893-1915)
- Warehouseman, Singer, Hero –
Birth and Family
Arthur Lancelot ‘Lance’ Devenish was born on the 3 December 1893 in Northam, WA to Arthur Devenish and Edith Alice Sanderson. Lance, as he was affectionately known, was the only living son as one was sadly stillborn in 1887. Lance had two older sisters, Edith Maycock and Muriel. Sadly, their mother Edith Alice died a few short weeks after Lance’s birth. The three children were placed in an orphanage until their father Arthur could find a suitable place to live in Perth.
Life in Victoria Park
By 1903 Lance along with his sisters, father, and his father’s new wife, Caroline Elizabeth, were living at 48 Leonard Street, Victoria Park.
Lance was known locally as a soloist of some note although professionally he studied agriculture and was working as a warehouseman upon his enlistment in the 11th Battalion at Blackboy Hill on 22 August 1914. Lance was six-foot tall, had dark eyes and black hair and was just four months shy of his 21st birthday when he enlisted.
War Service
One of the first to enlist following the declaration of war, Lance had a short two weeks preliminary training at Blackboy Hill in the 11th Battalion, and was part of the first convoy of Western Australian troops to leave for Fremantle on 31 October 1914. Lance arrived in Egypt in early December 1914 and continued his training.
Throughout this period, Lance frequently wrote home to his family, telling them of his experiences. In mid-1915 they received a letter form him stating that he was on the island of Lemnos and that he thought great events were about to occur.
Days after writing the letter in the early hours of the morning of the 25th of April 1915 [Lance] and the 11th Battalion were amongst the first wave of troops to land on Gallipoli. Many men of that company including Lance, were never seen again.
In early April 1916 nearly a year after the Anzac landing, Lance was officially reported to have been Killed in Action. He was 21 years old. His name is recorded on the Lone Pine Memorial on Gallipoli which commemorates nearly 5,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen who have no known grave.
Legacy
In 1918, the Perth City Council renamed many streets in honour of fallen war heroes. The renamed Chapman Street to Devenish Street in honour of Arthur Lancelot ‘Lance’ Devenish. In 2014 a tree in Kings Park was also dedicated to Lance’s honour by one if his great-great nieces.
Private Arthur Lancelot ‘Lance’ Devenish (Service Number: 423) of the famed 11th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force, whom was indeed as official World War I historian C. E. W. Bean would later pen, one “of the flower[s] of Western Australia’s youth” who laid down his life for his friends.
Lest We Forget.
Cover of Commemorative Remembrance Day Booklet for Private Alec Ernest James Bell (1946-1968)
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library
Remembrance Day 2022 - Private Alec Ernest James BELL (1946-1968)
- Postal Officer, Son, Brother, Uncle, Hero -
Birth and Family
Alec Ernest James Bell was born on 28 March 1946, the second youngest of six children, to Robert Edward Arthur and Florence Rose Elizabeth (nee Jones) BELL.
Robert Bell was a fitter and turner employed by Western Australian Government Railways at the tram depot, colloquially referred to as the ‘Carbarn’, that was located at the East Perth end of the Causeway. Prior to marrying in 1933, Florence worked in the tailoring trade and was a skilled seamstress.
Life in Victoria Park
In 1939, the Bell family moved into their forever home at 954 Albany Highway (on the corner with Camberwell Street), East Victoria Park. It was a Federation-style, two-bedroom, double-brick and iron house with a wide front verandah. It was still standing in the early 2000s, but no longer.
Alec went to primary school at Our Lady Help of Christians School, East Victoria Park, and secondary school at St Francis Xavier College, now part of Ursula Frayne Catholic College. He left school in 1961 aged 15 years and went on to work as a telegraph boy at the local post office around 1962, later becoming a postal officer at the GPO.
War Service
Private Alec Ernest James Bell (Service Number 5714453) was called up to Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies’ National Service Scheme on 13 July 1966 and began training at Puckapunyal, Victoria, later joining the 3rd Infantry Training Battalion based in Singleton, New South Wales.
During his training as a rifleman, Private Bell also undertook training as platoon medic and, by 7 December 1966, joined the 7th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) in which he would serve with 1,183 others as a platoon medic known as Private ‘Dinga’ Bell, a man with great compassion and care for his mates.
Platoon Seargent Tom Bourke described the day Private Bell lost his life, when his platoon ambushed the enemy close to Bien Hoa airbase, South Vietnam.
“Private ‘Dinga’ Bell was platoon medic on the late afternoon of 29 January 1968. In the first few moments the Platoon Commander, 2lt O’Brien, and all the NCOs were wounded including Private Bell who had received a direct hit from a rocket. Even though shockingly wounded, Private Bell tried to get to the other wounded. When he could not move he gave orders to another soldier as to how to help them. Even when we finally got him on to the Dustoff stretcher, Private Bell was still giving advice as to the care of the other wounded. As he was lifted up through the trees the enemy opened fire again. The Dustoff was forced to leave the area with Private Bell and stretcher hanging underneath. We later learned that he was dead on arrival at hospital”.
Legacy
Private Alec Bell was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery in Grave KA 727 on 15 February 1968.
A memorial flagpole and plaque was dedicated at Xavier College in the late 1970s/198s by the Bell family and the Korea and South-East Asia Forces Association. The memorial was later moved and now resides in a special commemorative garden at the front entrance to the Balmoral Street campus of Ursula Frayne Catholic College.
Plaques, memorials and even a public park have been placed and named in honour of Private Alec Bell, but they are just reminders of the legacy of the man. This true blue Australian son whose bravery, most likely saved the lives of the eleven other soldiers in the enemy engagement along with him.
Lest We Forget.
Cover of Commemorative Remembrance Day Booklet for Corporal Wilfred Harold Ramsden DCM MM (1889-1918)
Local History Collection, Town of Victoria Park Library
Remembrance Day 2023 - Corporal Wilfred Harold RAMSDEN, DCM MM (1889-1918)
- Carbonator, Bottler, Fiance, Son, Brother, Hero -
Birth and Family
Wilfred Harold Ramsden was born on 8 September 1889, the ninth child born to Alfred and Elizabeth Ramsden from Lancashire, England.
In 1879 the young family emigrated to Victoria and would later live for a period in New Zealand before moving to Sydney in 1883. They went next to Melbourne and then Bowral (rural NSW), finally ending up in Perth by 1906, by which point Alfred had been declared insolvent and deserted the family.
Early Life
Wilfred’s early life would have been strongly influenced by his mother Elizabeth. Despite losing three children and being abandoned by her husband, she ran (at different times) a successful sewing business, boarding houses and coffee shops, all while caring for Wilfred and his siblings. Wilfred took on that example of strength in his own life, shown most prominently in his war service, during which he would be injured on three different occasions and still remain on duty.
Life in Victoria Park
As a young adult, Wilfred lived with his mother and youngest sister at 62 Leake Street (now Carnarvon Street), East Victoria Park. He was a bottler and carbonator by profession and was President of the Brewery Employees’ Union for a time. The family attended the Church of the Transfiguration, Victoria Park (now St Peter’s Anglican Church), where Wilfred’s youngest sister Caroline wed family friend Edward Massey. Wilfred served as best man at this ceremony; one of the bridesmaids, Marie Calvin, would later become his fiancée. Marie’s sister Janet Calvin went on to marry Wilfred’s oldest brother Philip after the war, so the family ties must have been strong.
War Service
Wilfred Ramsden enlisted for service in World War I on 8 September 1915 and was assigned to the 13th Field Ambulance Brigade, sailing for Egypt in November. He was injured in Mesopotamia and sent to England, then to France, where he was wounded but remained fighting.
In March 1917 he was promoted to Bombardier and transferred to the 113th Howitzer Battery, then severely gassed eight months later and sent back to England. He gained his first class instructor’s certificate from the Army Signal School at Dunstable and returned to France, where he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty” on 1 January 1918. His forward observation party suffered several casualties; when his officer was hit, he dressed the wounds and - though wounded himself - went forward in the attack, showing splendid courage and determination.
Wilfred was gassed a second time in June 1918 and wounded in September, choosing again to remain on duty. On 4 October 1918 he was promoted to Temporary Corporal. Soon after, he suffered a gunshot wound and was sent to hospital in Étretat, France, where he suffered from bronchopneumonia, no doubt hastened by the gas attacks. Wilfred succumbed to his wounds on 9 November 1918 and was buried in Étretat Churchyard Extension.
He was posthumously awarded the Military Medal on the 24 January 1919. The citation includes: “At considerable risk from machine gun and shell fire, he crossed an area in full view of the enemy […] This N.C.O.’s total disregard of danger, devotion to duty and excellent example are deserving of special recognition.”
Legacy
With Wilfred’s death in 1918, his mother had lost five of her ten children whilst she still lived; she died in 1933, just before losing a sixth. Wilfred’s fiancée, Marie Calvin, would regularly insert memorial notices in local newspapers until 1930, the last of which simply says:
“IN MEMORIAM.
Anzac Hero.
RAMSDEN. — In loving memory of Corporal W. H. Ramsden, D.C.M., M.M.,
who died in France, November 9, 1918. Fond memories cling.
Inserted by Ri.”
A nephew (Wilfred Hugh Massey) was born in Victoria Park on the first Remembrance Day after his uncle’s death, 11 November 1919.
A memorial plaque hangs on the Honour Board of the Church of the Transfiguration, now St Peter’s Anglican Church, Victoria Park, as does a plaque for Wilfred’s brother Albert Edward John Ramsden, who was Killed in Action on the Somme, France in 1917. Five of Wilfred’s nephews are known to have served in World War II, with one, Richard Ramsden (1920-1943) being taken a POW in Timor and dying of illness in Burma.
In perpetual tribute, Ramsden Avenue in East Victoria Park is named in honour of Corporal Wilfred Harold RAMSDEN DCM MM. May his courage and valour be forever remembered.
Lest We Forget
To find out which of our heroes will have their story told next, be sure to attend the Remembrance Day commemorations at Memorial Gardens on Albany Highway, Victoria Park this Remembrance Day. Please gather from 10.15am. For more information about the day’s commemorative service please visit: https://www.victoriapark.wa.gov.au/events/remembrance-day-2024/1218. For more biographies and stories of our local heroes and heroines, please go to the Library’s website: https://www.victoriaparklibrary.wa.gov.au/local-history/victoria-park-people
#LoveVicPark #LestWeForget
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