Troyle, Tchorzewski, Brynkeveh, Wineberg, Mekenass

April 30, 2016

Konrat Jank Troyle

  • Konrat Jank Troyle, from Abo (Turku) in Finland, came to Australia probably as a seaman and worked in Western Australia as a farmhand.
  • He served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front. Two months after arrival he was captured as a prisoner of war at the battle for Riencourt. He survived for sixteen months in German camps, but died from influenza in October 1918.

George Marion Tchorzewski

  • George Marion Tchorzewski, a Pole from Ukraine, came to Australia in 1882 as a child with his parents. His father was sugar-cane farming in the Bundaberg area.
  • Enlisting in the AIF, George arrived with the 52nd Battalion in England, but got sick and was returned to Australia.
  • After the war he married a Ukrainian woman, Polly Sakaranko, and continued farming in the Bundaberg area.

Hypolit Brynkeveh

  • Hypolit Brynkeveh, a Polish man from Lodz, worked in Australia as a cotton worker and miner.
  • He served with the 45th Battalion on the Western Front, attaining the rank of Lance Corporal. In June 1918 he was wounded in the head, but recovered and returned to his battalion.
  • After the war he worked on the ships as a greaser; in 1921 he married an Australian girl, Eva Kay. Soon after that he disappears from the records; he probably left Australia.

Harry Wineberg

  • Harry Wineberg, a Jewish man from Warsaw in Poland, came to Australia in 1900 and worked as a jeweller in Western Australia. He was married to an Australian woman, Sarah Shineberg.
  • He served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front. In August 1916 he was wounded at Mouquet Farm and returned to Australia.
  • After the war he moved with his family in Sydney, where he worked as a salesman.

Alfred Joseph Mekenass

  • Alfred Joseph Mekenass (he served as Makeness), a Lithuanian from Panevežys, came to Australia in 1912 and worked as a labourer and gang overseer.
  • He enlisted in the AIF in Newcastle and sailed with the 1st Pioneer Battalion to the Western Front, but while in Egypt was diagnosed with blindness and returned to Australia as medically unfit.
  • He married an Australian girl, Linda Irene Coward, in 1917 and lived in Hexham working as a rigger. In 1925 he was injured in an accident at work and died in hospital.

Peekman, Ronlund, Paulin, Limwerk, Averkoff

April 28, 2016

Edward Henry Peekman

  • Edward Henry Peekman from Turboneme in Estonia came to Australia as a seaman in 1909, worked on ships and was engaged in farming.
  • Enlisting in the AIF in Adelaide, he served with the 5th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front.
  • After the war the worked as a labourer at the stations in Victoria; in 1936 he moved to Sydney, where he worked as a carpenter.

Arthur Nicholas Ronlund

  • Arthur Nicholas Ronlund from Finland came to Australia in 1900 with his parents, who were followers of Matti Kurikka’s colonisation venture; they were farming in Cooroy in Queensland.
  • Arthur served with the 15th Battalion on the Western Front. In April 1917 he was wounded in the knee and taken as a POW by the Germans at Bullecourt. After the end of the war he was repatriated to Australia.
  • After the war he married an Australian girl, Ada Ellen Gohdes, and worked as a police constable in Queensland.

Karl Fritz Paulin

  • Karl Fritz Paulin from Vindava (Ventspils) in Latvia was a boatswain in mercantile marine. He came to Australia in 1905 and was based in Newcastle.
  • He served with the 34th Battalion on the Western Front, attaining the rank of Corporal. He was awarded the Military Medal for his conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in Battle of Ypres in October 1917, when he worked as a stretcher bearer.
  • After the war he married an Australian girl, Nora Geraghty, and lived in Sydney working as a carpenter.

August Limwerk

  • August Limwerk from Revel (Tallinn) in Estonia, although he sometimes provided his place of birth as Riga, came to Australia in 1914 as a seaman, leaving his wife and child in Estonia. He also had the trade of an electrical engineer.
  • He enlisted in the AIF in Perth, but was discharged five months later as medically unfit.
  • He continued seafaring and died in 1920.

William George Averkoff

  • William George Averkoff came to Australia in 1910 with his family when he was twelve. They took up cane-farming near Innisfail. In 1915 his father died in an accident. To help his family – he had five younger siblings –William started to master the trade of bookbinder.
  • In March 1916, putting his age up, he enlisted in the AIF. He came to the Western Front with 47th Battalion and was killed at Messines, his first major battle in June 1917.
  • William’s mother, Anna Averkoff, raised the entire family after his death, and three of his younger brothers served in the 2nd AIF.

Maximenko, Olin, Salonen, Abolin, Haritonoff

April 26, 2016

Efim Maximenko

  • Efim Maximenko was probably a Ukrainian, although he did not provide any place of birth but ‘Russia’. He came to Australia in about 1909 and worked as an engineer fitter living in Sydney. In 1915 he married an Australian girl, Cora Petterson.
    He served with the 9th Field Company Engineers on the Western Front. In June 1917 he was wounded in the abdomen at Messines and died of wounds.
    His widow commemorated his name in the newspaper advertisements.

Axel Alexander Olin

  • Axel Alexander Olin, a Finnish seaman from Abo (Turku), was naturalised in New Zealand in 1908 and, by the time of his enlistment in the AIF, worked with his brother in Murrumbeena in Victoria.
    He served with the 39th Battalion on the Western Front and attained the rank of sergeant. For his courage and devotion to duty during the battle for Passchendaele in October 1917, he was awarded the Military Medal. He received it a few weeks before he was killed at Ploegsteert in February 1918.

Usko Leonard Salonen

  • Usko Leonard Salonen, another Finnish seaman from Abo, was Olin’s cousin. He came to Australia in about 1905. They both were members of the Freemasons’ Lodge in Dunedin in New Zealand.
    Salonen enlisted in the AIF together with Olin and served together with him in the 39th Battalion. In January 1917 he was wounded but rejoined his battalion; In June 1917, at Messines, he was killed in action.

Peter Abolin

  • Peter Abolin, a seaman from Riga, came to Australia in 1915.
    He served with the 39th Battalion on the Western Front with Olin and Salonen.
    After the war he married an Australian woman, Amelia Selina Rayner, and lived in Sydney, working on the waterfront.

Peter Haritonoff

  • Peter Haritonoff gave his birthplace as St Petersburg, but he was probably from Kaluga. He came to Australia as a seaman, having the profession of an electrical engineer.
    He enlisted in the AIF with Abolin, but was later transferred to the 8th Battalion. In 1917 he was returned to Australia as medically unfit.
    He disappears from the Australian records after the war; he probably sailed overseas, continuing his occupation.

Johnson, Saffar, Golden, Floessell, Woolman

April 20, 2016

Herman Johnson

  • Herman Johnson from Piarnu in Estonia came to Australia in 1896 and worked on the goldfields in Western Australia.
  • He came with the 28th Battalion on the Western Front, but soon got sick with pneumonia and was returned to Australia as medically unfit.
  • After the war he married an Australian woman, Edith Hinchcliffe Mallet, and lived in Subiaco, working as a shopkeeper.

Morris Saffar

  • Morris Saffar, a Jewish man, provided different places of birth: Paris in France, Volyn in Ukraine, and Ostrow in Poland. He came to Western Australia in 1914 and worked as a mechanical engineer.
  • He served with the 51st Battalion on the Western Front. In April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux he was wounded in the right hand and returned to Australia.
  • During the war his wife and children stayed in Russia. They were located through the British consul and reunited in Australia in 1923, but the marriage did not last. During WWII Morris enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne and later lived in Adelaide.

Robert Golden

  • Robert Golden, a Jewish man from Riga, enlisted in the AIF in Sydney, providing his occupation as a plumber.
  • He served with the 9th Field Company Engineers on the Western Front as a mechanic.
  • After the war he stayed in Sydney, continuing his work as a plumber.

William Frederick Floessell

  • William Frederick Floessell, an engineer from Helsingfors (Helsinki) in Finland who was educated in Europe, worked in Sydney by the time of his enlistment in the AIF. His wife and two sons lived in Christchurch in New Zealand.
  • He served with the 56th Battalion on the Western Front, until he got sick with rheumatism and returned to Australia in 1917.
  • After the war he published a book, Saints and Soldiers by Harley Matthews; he stayed in Sydney working as an engineer.

Simon Woolman

  • Simon Woolman, a Jewish man from Kleczew in Poland, lived in Sydney working as a bar manager and grocer. By the time of his enlistment in the AIF he had a wife and two children.
  • He served with the Machine Gun companies on the Western Front.
  • After the war he lived in Sydney working as a porter and steward.

Jacobson, Berskaln, Martinson, Lindquist, Saari

April 18, 2016

Fritz Johann Jacobson

  • Fritz Johann Jacobson, a seaman from Vindava (Ventspils) in Latvia, came to Western Australia in 1912 and was farming near Albany. Before enlisting in the AIF he twice applied for naturalisation, but was refused.
  • Arriving at the Western Front with the 16th Battalion, he was killed three months later at Bullecourt.
  • His brother was found after the war in Latvia.

Andrei Berskaln

  • Andrei Berskaln, a Latvian from Vindava, came to Australia in 1910 and worked in Tasmania as a carpenter.
  • He served with the 37th Battalion on the Western Front, attaining the rank of sergeant.
  • After the war he married an Australian woman, Emily Jane Wikinson, and settled in Melbourne, working as a joiner. He naturalised as late as 1967.

David Martinson

  • David Martinson, a ship’s carpenter from Riga, came to Melbourne in March 1916 and enlisted a week later.
  • He served with the 2nd Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front; in January 1918 he was returned to Australia suffering from rheumatism and being ‘overage’.
  • After the war he married a Russian woman Praskovia (Parascovia) Baranov and settled in Port Melbourne, working as a painter.

Emil Fredrik Lindquist

  • Emil Fredrik Lindquist, a Finnish seaman from Abo, enlisted in the AIF in Adelaide.
  • He served with the 7th Field Company Engineers on the Western Front.
  • After the war he married an Australian girl, Lillie May, and lived in Semaphore in South Australia.

Hugo Saari

  • Hugo Saari from Abo in Finland came to South Australia in 1910, probably as a seaman, and worked as a labourer and miner.
  • He served with the 48th Battalion on the Western Front.
  • After the war he changed his name to Hugo Saari Holme and moved to Western Australia where he married a local girl, Helen Frances Anderson. They lived in the gold mining areas and in Fremantle, where Hugo worked as a carpenter, shipwright and boat builder.