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Sharoff, Fass, Wolfson, Dumps

Nicholas Sharoff

  • Nicholas Sharoff claimed to be born in Vladivostok, but, considering that his brother lived in the Cheliabinsk area, it is more likely that he was born there too. He came to Australia probably as a fireman and, by the time of enlistment in the AIF, worked in Port Douglas in Northern Queensland.
  • His first enlistment, in May 1915, was not successful; he was discharged for medical reasons, although it was noted on his application that he was ‘very anxious to serve at the front’. He moved to Sydney and enlisted again, this time as a native of Port Douglas. With the 18th Battalion he sailed to Gallipoli, where he landed in November 1915. In March 1916 he was on the Western Front, where he was noted for taking part in a raid on enemy trenches in June 1916. A month later he was killed at the battle for Pozieres.
  • His family in Cheliabinsk was never found.

Charles Fass

  • Charles Fass was born in Kazan and was, probably, of German origin. He was an engine driver by trade. He came to Australia in 1914 from Port Said and worked in Byron Bay and Melbourne before enlisting in the AIF.
  • He served on the Western Front with the 8th Field Ambulance, being invalided in 1917 to Australia as medically unfit.
  • After the war he farmed in Mount Egerton in Victoria.

Heyman Wolfson

  • Heyman Wolfson, a Jewish man from Seda in Lithuania, was 14 when he moved to Ireland, where he worked as drapery commercial traveller. Twenty years later, in 1910, he came to Australia. He stayed in Melbourne and Brisbane before he settled in Adelaide, working as a labourer.
  • He served with the 32nd Battalion in the AIF; in July 1916 he was severely wounded at the battle for Sugarloaf, but, recovering, returned to the trenches and served to the end of the war.
  • After the war he moved to Western Australia and worked as a commercial traveller and labourer.

Charles Rudolf Dumps

  • Charles Rudolf Dumps, a Latvian from Saloz, came to Western Australia in 1909 working in the rural areas as a farm labourer, marrying an Australian woman, Mary Ellen Longstroth.
  • He served with the 1st Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front as a driver.
  • After the war he farmed in Serpentine in Western Australia. His son, Cyril Charles Dumps, served in the AIF in WWII.