Abdul Ganivahoff
AWM memorial panel 88
Russian spelling
Абдул(ла) Ганивахов
Born 1886
Place Kazan, Russia
Ethnic origin Tatar
Religion Lutheran (?)
Arrived at Australia
Residence before enlistment Melbourne
Occupation Sailor
Service service number 1703
enlisted 18.02.1916
POE Melbourne
unit 2nd Pioneer Battalion; 19th Battalion
rank Private, Corporal
place Western Front, 1916-1917
casualties WIA 1916
final fate KIA 27.02.1917
memorial 26 Villers-Bretonneux, France
Naturalisation Served as Russian subject
Materials
Commemoration and blogs
Melbourne Recital Centre commemorative concert in Ganivahoff's memory
From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:
In 1916 Abdul Ganivahoff, a Tatar man, came to enlist at the Melbourne Town Hall. He could barely speak English, and was enlisted by a young NCO in poor health called Henry Nicholson. This Tatar man was very obviously different, even from Slavonic Russians, let alone from Britishers, but he had been able to slip past the barrier of the White Australia policy because he had arrived in Australia as a Russian sailor. Henry Nicholson discovered that Abdul had 'no living relatives or friends either in Russia or in this country' and asked Abdul if he wanted Nicholson to be recorded as his friend in the 'next of kin' section. In spite of the briefness of their contact Nicholson never forgot his adopted Tatar 'friend'. Upon making enquiries after the war, Nicholson was upset to learn that Abdul Ganivahoff had been killed in action in France, in early 1917.