William Henry Etchells

"I only hope it is all a great mistake". This line jumped out at me as I scrolled through the service record of Harry Etchells, a soldier from Campbelltown who died on the Western Front in 1917. Amongst all the formal documents and official wording of the correspondence between the Base Records Office and Harry's sister Rubie Etchells, it was this line from Rubie that brought home to me the personal tragedy of war. As ANZAC Day approaches, I thought I would briefly tell the story of one of Campbelltown's brave men that never returned.

William Henry Etchells, better known as Harry, was the son of Harry and Nellie Etchells who lived at Eckersley about 1890. When his mother died in 1894, Harry and his sister were raised by relatives in Campbelltown.

William Henry Etchells (on right) with an unidentified friend during the First World War. (Clive "Oke" Etchell Collection).

Harry enlisted in the First World War in 1914, reaching the rank of lance-corporal in the 3rd Battalion. He suffered greatly from sickness and injury during his service. At Gallipoli he was evacuated with shell concussion and he suffered a gunshot wound in France in 1916. In England, he married a woman called Florence. He returned to the front in 1917 where he was badly wounded after losing both his legs and died soon afterwards. Unfortunately for his sister Rubie and the rest of the family there was no mistake.

W.H.Etchells' grave in Hooque Crater Cemetery, Zillebeke, Belgium. (Clive "Oke" Etchell Collection).

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

McGill, Jeff    2001
Campbelltown & World War One 1914-1918
Campbelltown: Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

St Marks Collegiate School

Of all the wonderful images we have in the library's collection, I think this is my favourite. It dates to 1866 and shows officers and other ranks of the St Marks Collegiate School Cadet Corps in front of Macquarie Field House. It was established as a boarding school for boys by the Reverend George Fairfowl Macarthur.

The school was moved from Darling Point by Macarthur to the 800 acre property of Macquarie Fields in 1858. It would come to prosper here and resident enrolments rose to more than 80. Macarthur built up a cadet corps, systemized the curriculum and enlisted the aid of university professors. He also insisted that boarders should wear the cadet uniform every day as normal school uniform but day boys were not required to do so.

Military drill had been introduced to some schools in Sydney as early as 1834. A member of Macarthur's staff had been on a visit to England where he had observed the greater public schools operating cadet-training schemes. He noted the benefits that the boys derived from such training. This led to Macarthur requesting 'consideration of a proposal to institute a corps of cadets'.

The local studies section of the library contains the full list of names of the cadets and staff in this photograph.

Written by Andrew Allen

Campbelltown City Library Celebrates History Week 2012

Campbelltown City Library will be celebrating the History Council of New South Wales' History Week from September 8-16. The theme this year is Threads: they wore what?  which is designed to explore the history of clothing and the impact that fashion makes on society.

Throughout the week a display of historical photographs of uniforms worn by people from Campbelltown will be presented along with an exhibition of historical garments from the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society collection from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The photograph above is of a group of nurses from a Campbelltown Hospital immediately following the First World War. The hospital is probably that which was located in Lithgow Street that preceeded Milby Hospital where the old Fisher's Ghost Restaurant is located.

In addition to these displays, Dr Vicki Karaminas, an Associate Professor at the University of Technology in the School of Design, will be presenting a talk about "Men's Fashion in Australia from Colonial Times" at HJ Daley Library. The talk is free and will commence at 1:00pm on Tuesday 11 September. Bookings are essential on 4645 4436.