Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank Taylor Gooden was born on the 15th of May 1882 in Norwood SA to George William Gooden and a Mrs Gooden. According to his father's obituary he had four brothers, Leonard, Ernest, Reginald, and Roy Gooden. Both of his parents died in 1907 when Frank was 25 years old. These deaths are listed in the obituaries in the register (1907), and the Observer (1907). Before enlisting, he was working as an electrical engineer after having completed a three-year apprenticeship at the telephone department G.P.G Adelaide. He was 33 1/2 years old at the time of his enlistment and was married to Mrs. Ettie Gooden, who is listed as his next of kin on his enlistment papers. Mrs. Goodens home address when he enlisted was 14 Gurr Street, Goodwood Park, South Australia, it is presumed this was also his home address. He was described in his enlistment papers as having a dark complexion, grey eyes, and black hair.

F.T.Gooden embarked from Australia in August 1916 on the HMAT Itria A53 from ‘Outer Harbour’ in Adelaide. He then traveled for just under two months before arriving in Plymouth, England in October of that year. During this trip he was made a voyage only sergeant, reverting to private a month after the voyage.

His service number was 2324. Having enlisted with the Fifth Pioneer Battalion, more specifically, with the fourth reinforcements of that battalion, Gooden marched into Perham Downs, Wiltshire. He stayed here for only a few days, after which he was moved to Fovant, Wiltshire. Fovant was a camp and training ground during the war, housing around 20,000 men in wooden huts at around 30 men per hut. At the time of Gooden’s arrival at the camp it would have been primarily occupied by British regiments, although Australian numbers were increasing and slowly taking over. Gooden stayed at Fovant for 10 months, from November 1916 to September 1917.

In September 1917 Frank Taylor Gooden departed from England to France, where he joined the Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company.  Once in France, Gooden stayed with the AEMM&B company until the sixth of March 1918 when he went on leave until the 20th, he was then taken on strength back to the AEMM&B company on the fifth of May. On the 21st of August Gooden was sent to the hospital, sick. The specific illness that caused this hospital visit is unknown. On the 24th of August he rejoined his unit, having recovered from his ailment. From the 18th to the 29th of November, Gooden left the unit on leave once again, although on this occasion his Casualty Form for Active Service specifies that this was in Paris.

After a series of promotions and reversions, Gooden was finally promoted to transport corporal. Gooden was then marched out for demobilization in February 1919, and then marched out to England in that same month. On the 16th of the 6th 1919 Frank Taylor Gooden finally disembarked in Australia. Gooden was awarded a victory medal and a British war medal for his service.

After the war Gooden returned to his wife, Ettie and a now two- to three-year-old daughter, Margaret. A year after his return a baby boy was added to the family, John Stanley Gooden. 

John would then grow up to be a renowned physicist who worked at the Australian National University. The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation (2011) lists that John was appointed Research Fellow at the Research School of Physical Sciences in June 1948 by Mark Oliphant who was the director of the school at the time. The Advocate newpaper reported that Dr John Stanley Gooden died in 1950 after going to hospital for ‘kidney troubles’ , leaving behind a wife and child. Frank’s wife had died a few years beforehand in 1948 as listed on her gravestone, and it would be another twenty years before Frank’s eventual death in 1973.

Gooden is buried in Mitcham General Cemetery, Mitcham, along with his wife and daughter.