BOURKE, Vincent Richard
| Service Number: | 24538 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Divisional Ammunition Column |
| Born: | Kewell, Victoria, 1893 |
| Home Town: | Ferntree Gully, Knox, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Kewell |
| Occupation: | Teacher |
| Died: | Brain Tumour, Hawthorn, Victoria, 4 July 1950 |
| Cemetery: |
Box Hill General Cemetery, Victoria |
| Memorials: | Euroa Telegraph Park |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, 24538 | |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Jun 1916: | Involvement Corporal, 24538, 3rd Divisional Ammunition Column, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Barambah embarkation_ship_number: A37 public_note: '' | |
| 27 Jun 1916: | Embarked Corporal, 24538, 3rd Divisional Ammunition Column, HMAT Barambah, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Elsa Reuter
BOURKE Vincent Richard 24538 CPL
3rd Division Ammunition Column
1893-1950
Richard’s father was teaching at a state school in Kewell, Victoria when the three eldest children were born there. However Richard’s connection with Violet Town would have come about through his teaching at Gowangardie and Upotipotpon State Schools. It was from there that he travelled to Melbourne to enlist on 19 August 1915 when he was 23 years old.
He would have had the usual preliminary training before embarking on 27 June 1916 aboard HMAT Barambah. However a month later on 28 July he disembarked at Cape Town suffering from spinal meningitis. When he was well enough, he returned to Australia aboard HMAT Marathon.
He arrived in Melbourne on 24 September and was discharged on 5 December 1916.
He lived with his parents in Auburn while being employed as a clerk and later as watchman presumably at the local abattoirs.
In 1936 Vincent married Dulcie May Jackson; there were no children.
His death certificate states that he died on 4 July 1950 of a brain tumour, which may have been caused by the meningitis from which he suffered in the army.
He is buried in the Box Hill Cemetery.
Vincent was awarded the British War Medal.
There was an avenue of Brachychiton acerifolius (Illawarra Flame Tree) planted in 1918 somewhere in Violet Town but no one knows where. Some surviving trees are dotted around the town. A copper plaque was attached to each tree for identification and a number of these have been retrieved. Vincent’s plaque is among these which are now attached to the exterior wall of the Memorial Hall, Violet Town.
His name also appears on the Main Honour Board in the Memorial Hall, Violet Town.
© 2018 Sheila Burnell
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