Australia Bound

  Edward Dash c 1840 - Steve's 3xgreat grandfather Edward Dash was born in London on 3 November 1818 and baptised at St Ann, Blackfriars on 28 November 1818 to parents Jacob Dash and Charlotte Lawson.  Jacob and Charlotte had married in Kensington, London in 1809 where Jacob worked as a labourer, carman and brickmaker. Despite eight out of twelve children dying in infancy, Edward seemed to gain a good education which took him into his adult life and soon demonstrated that he was highly literate and numerate much more so than might be expected as the son of a labourer.  As was the times, young Edward became a wheelwright but census records and entries in his notebook show that in the 1840s and 1850s he also involved himself in a number of other occupations such as bookkeeper, grocer and confectioner.  He was a committed member of the Baptist church. In the early 1700's Dash (or Daish) families were living in Hampshire in the south of England but later moved to the Isl...

1939/45 Star; Pacific Star; 1939/45 War Medal; 1939/45 ASM Hughie Arthur John Hunter QX18621 Joining up to the Australian Military Forces was the easy part for my father who was only 20 years and 7 months old. These young men were very brave going into battle. Fighting a long war was the difficult part for Hugh Arthur John Hunter.  On his attestation form he is shown as a qualified baker and he lists his father, William Hunter as his next of kin which was later changed to his wife, Monica once they married on 11 September 1942 in Charters Towers, Queensland.  He had no experience of war except what he had heard of the First World War from his father, William Hunter who had fought in World War 1. Hugh Arthur John Hunter & Monica White Married 11 September 1942 Charters Towers, Queensland His years of war (some of his own words) He enlisted in Mackay on 1 April 1941 and was very quickly sent to the Exhibition Grounds in Brisbane where he was "issued up" and sworn in.  S...