Bekza Gasieff
Doris Gasieff's certificate from the Russian consulate
NAA: BP313/1, GASIEFF D
Alias Gassieff
Russian spelling
Бекза Гасиев
Born 1881
Place Gizel, Vladikavkaz, Ossetia, the Caucasus
Ethnic origin Ossetian
Religion Russian Orthodox
Family
Wife Doris (Dunia) Gasieff (née Lapassova), married 1914, children Lida (Eva) Gasieff b. 1913 and Peter Gasieff b. 1915. Doris left Australia with children in 1921; in 1934 Peter Gasieff, refugee from Russia, destitute in India, applied for return to Australia and lived in Sydney serving in the AIF in WWII
Arrived at Australia
from Far East via Moji
on 3.12.1912
per Eastern
disembarked at Melbourne
Residence before enlistment Port Pirie, Melbourne, Sydney
Occupation Farmer; smelter; after the war shopkeeper
Service service number 8604, 4780
enlisted 7.10.1915
POE Adelaide
unit 10th Battalion; 50th Battalion
rank Private
place Western Front, 1916-1917
final fate RTA 10.09.1917
discharged 28.12.1917 MU
Naturalisation Served as Russian subject
Residence after the war 1917-18 Adelaide, 1919 Brisbane
Materials
Digitised service records (NAA)
Digitised Embarkation roll entry (AWM)
Army pay file (NAA)
Gasieff, D - Arrived 1917 at Melbourne (wife's travel document, digitised) (NAA)
Doris Gasieff's alien registration (NAA)
Peter GASIEFF - repatriation to Australia (NAA)
Peter Gasieff - Repatriation to Australia - Whereabouts of Beksa Gasieff (Father) (NAA)
Publications
Елена Говор, Осетинские анзаки. - Северная Осетия, 14 сентября 2007.
Blog article
Newspaper articles
Waiting for the priest. A claim for maintenance. - Barrier Miner , Broken Hill, 29 May 1914, p. 4.
Wife or slave? -The Advertiser Adelaide, 23 December 1914, p. 11.
The unveiled woman. Jealous Russian husband - Port Pirie Recorder and North Western Mail, 24 December 1914, p. 1.
From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:
[...] in April [1916] the Mongolia brought ten Russians from South Australia, among them five Ossetians from the Port Pirie smelters who had joined up together in October 1915 -- Soltanoff, Gasieff, Mamsuroff, Dezantoff, and Tolparoff.
[...] Even less is known about what happened to the family of Bekza Gasieff. He was an Ossetian married to a Russian woman, and they left for Russia in the 1920s. In 1934 Peter Gasieff, his Australian-born son, turned up in India, destitute, where he appealed to Australian authorities after escaping from Russia. Unfortunately, the available documents shed no light on this family's misfortunes.