Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

World War 1, also known as ‘The Great War’, was a huge war that erupted in July of 1914 and took the lives of over 16 million people worldwide. It was meant to be ‘the war to end all wars’, but just 21 years later, World War 2 started, killing more than 3 times as many people as WW1.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on the 28th of July 1914  is thought to be the main trigger of WW1, causing Europe to descend into war. Australia was called to aid the Allied Forces in the battle between the the Central Powers, and sent soldiers over to fight in Europe. This is where Rufus comes in.

Rufus Sanders Goldney was born in a small, South Australian town called Balaklava on the 6th of August 1883. He was born the second son of Susanna Goldney and William Henry, with another two brothers joining the family later on. He picked up after his parents and worked as a farmer on their family farm in Balaklava, alongside the rest of his family. He spent his youth going to school in Erith, near Balaklava, where he also went to church. He loved church, later becoming superintendent of the Erith Sunday school as well as a local preacher for the Methodist Circuit where he would ride around on his bike, and later a car, to preach messages of god to other citizens.

When World War 1 started Rufus and his family continued their work as farmers. However in 1916, although not forced to enlist, Rufus decided to join the war effort, but unfortunately for him his brothers did not share his desire and decided to instead stay in Australia to work.

Rufus enlisted on the 15th of March 1916, just one week before he married Louisa Marion Gill on the 22nd of March, after proposing to her many times beforehand. This was almost 2 years after the war had started, likely due to Rufus’ rather short height of 5 feet 4 inches, which in 1914 was just 2 inches below the required height to enlist. However this rule was later changed due to the desperate need for more soldiers.

Rufus embarked on the HMAT A20 ‘Hororata’ from Port Melbourne on the 23rd of November 1916, which, after a full 2 months of sailing, disembarked in Plymouth, England.

He was sent to a training camp in Perham Downs, England, until the 5th of September 1917, the same year that his first child, Edna, or Jo as they called her, was born.

He was appointed to serve in the 2nd Depot Battalion for the A.I.F, and was sent to France to fight in the trenches as a Private. Rufus was later promoted to the role of Driver, and sent to serve in the artillery base unit. As a Driver Rufus had quite a dangerous job in which he had to do many tasks such as: delivering supplies to soldiers on the front, returning wounded soldiers to ambulances, and delivering food to soldiers. This could be very dangerous because Drivers would have to ride horses (sometimes pulling carts) over the trenches, opening them up to fire from the opposition. However, despite the odds, Rufus managed to survive his role as a Driver and had his rank changed to Gunner and unit changed to the 3rd Divisional Ammunition Column.

On the 11th of May 1919 Rufus returned to his family from England to Australia on the ship ‘Borda’, fortunately in healthy conditions and without injury. He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service.

After WW1 Rufus returned to his past life as a farmer on his family farm, alongside his brothers, with his wife and daughter also staying at the family farm. During this time Rufus had four more children named Murray, Jack, Lance, and Desmond. Unfortunately Desmond passed away at a very young age, leaving Rufus heartbroken. At this point the entire family was working on the farm, Rufus even won a trophy for wheat growing in 1920. As well as this, Rufus also had part of his ear bitten off by one of his horses, showing his dedication to the trade. He remained on the farm until WW2 commenced, when he again went to serve his country in the war effort.

Rufus and his wife Louisa’s son Murray Goldney served in the airforce in WW2, before unfortunately being reported missing, presumed dead, in April of 1944. Rufus returned home to South Australia before the end of the war for unknown reasons, possibly due to sickness, injury, or perhaps due to the loss of his son Murray, which must have been a devastating loss for him. In 1944 Rufus joined parliament as a representative for the Liberal and Country League Party of South Australia, where he remained for 15 years until he retired at the age of 76.

Rufus passed away, unfortunately just one day before his 83rd birthday, in the year 1966 and was buried next to his wife Louisa in the Balaklava cemetery, where he remains to this day.