Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert William Wait was born in Auckland, New Zealand on the 3rd of June 1883, to parents James Wait ll and Ellen (Hearn) Wait. Robert was one of 7 children (in order of oldest to youngest), James Martian Wait, Margret Isabel (Wait) Barry, Mary Theresa (Wait) Shave, Robert William Wait, Jessie Veronica (Wait) Julian, George Henry Wait and Edward John Wait. He married Georgina Marion (Myers) Wait and they moved to Australia and lived in a house in Victoria with their Son Arnold William Wait. Before the War he worked as a baker.

On the 24th of November 1914 Robert William Wait enrolled in the Australian Imperial Force. Robert was a private in the 13th company Field Butchery and Bakers division for the ASC (Army Service Corps), who were bound for the island of Imbros near Gallipoli. Robert embarked for war on the 22nd of December 1914 from a dock in Melbourne at the age of 32. The ship he embarked on was the HMAT Berrima A35.

The Butchers and Bakers were the people who made and prepared the food for the soldiers of their company. They would make food for when their soldiers went out into the field to fight or meals for the soldiers who stayed and slept in the camp, the bakers would also make food for the sick/injured and other people who worked in their company.

During the war the bakers wrote diary’s about their lives during the war, one of the most popular things that Robert documented about was the constant sounds of heavy gunfire from coming both handguns and the boats coming from around the Island. As well as shipwrecks and the surrounding waters and the Bakers camp surrounding waters.

The bakers were looked down on by the soldiers but anytime a spot opened up in the bakers division most of the soldiers would try to get that position.  

On the 6th of November 1915 Robert was admitted to Kephalos Hospital, for Choroiditis. Choroiditis is one of the conditions in a group termed the white dot syndromes which all involve inflammation of the retina and choroid. No one knows what exactly happened to Robert for this to happen to him. He was admitted into hospital for this on several occasions (13/11/15, 20/11/15, 30/12/15, 30/12/15). He even had to be transported off of the island he was placed onto and moved to a different Anzac hospital for further treatment, then on the 24th of January 1916 he was sent back to Australia after a complete loss of eyesight in his left eye.

When he returned to Australia, he was put into a hospital for his eyes but later was discharged and went to live with his second wife Alma A Jones. Robert lived until he turned 67 then eleven days after his 67th birthday he died (14th of June 1947). His grave is unmarked, so we don’t know the exact place of his grave. About 5 years after the death of Robert (16th of June 1952), one of his sisters M.G. Brennan sent a letter to the army asking about the whereabouts of her brother.