BOURKE, Harold John
| Service Number: | 1682 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 August 1915, West Maitland, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 30th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | West Maitland, New South Wales, 27 June 1894 |
| Home Town: | West Maitland, Maitland, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Marist Brothers School |
| Occupation: | Railway labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Fromelles, France, 20 July 1916, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery Plot III, Row B, Grave No 5, Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery, Fromelles, Lille, Nord Pas de Calais, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Maitland Horseshoe Bend Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1682, 30th Infantry Battalion, West Maitland, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Dec 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1682, 30th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Dec 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1682, 30th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Berrima, Sydney | |
| 20 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1682, 30th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), KIA behind German lines |
Great Sydney Central Honour Board
Harold John BOURKE (Service Number 1682) was born at West Maitland about June 1894. No Railway record card can be located for him and there is no listing of his name in any Government Gazette tri-ennial list, or Annual Report. Where he worked in the Railways is unknown. On his enlistment papers he gives his calling as labourer.
He joined the AIF in West Maitland, on 12 August 1915, aged 21 and a couple of months.
He embarked from Sydney on 17 December 1915 on HMAT ‘Berrima’, he reached Suez and joined the 30th Battalion. The battalion then travelled via Alexandria and Marseilles to the Western Front in France.
Bourke was killed in action 20 July 1916 at the Battle of Fromelles. 1,917 Australian and 503 British soldiers died in what has been described as ‘the worst 24 hours in Australia’s entire history’. In the chaos that was left after the battle, 250 Australian and British bodies were buried by the Germans in a mass grave. Its location was not recorded, or lost. The Germans had however recovered identity discs which they passed to the British authorities. The 250 were thus known to be dead, but their resting place unknown. In 2008 the mass grave was identified at Pheasant Wood and over several years the 250 bodies recovered with many identified through DNA analysis. All 250 were re-buried in a new cemetery known as Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery, with the last interment being made on the 94th anniversary of the battle in 2010.
Harold John Bourke is one of the 96 soldiers to be positively identified and given a named headstone.
(NAA B2455-3101174)
Submitted 11 May 2023 by John Oakes
Biography
"...1682 Private Harold John Bourke, 30th Battalion from West Maitland, NSW. A 21 year old labourer prior to enlisting in the AIF on 12 August 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 2nd Reinforcements from Sydney on 17 December 1915 aboard HMAT Berrima. While serving on the Western Front, he was killed in action at Fromelles, France on 20 July 1916, aged 22 years. After the war he had no known grave and was commemorated on the VC Corner Cemetery Memorial at Fromelles. In 2008 a burial ground was located at nearby Pheasant Wood containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers including Pte Bourke. All of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the new cemetery on 19 July 2010, ninety-six of the Australians, including Pte Bourke, had been identified through a combination of anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information. Work is continuing on identifying the other remains relocated from the burial ground and buried in the new cemetery as unknown soldiers." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)
Service record details:
Embarked Sydney, 17 December 1915; disembarked Suez, 23 January 1916.
Taken on strength, 30th Bn, Ferry Post, 20 April 1916, and reverted to Private.
Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 23 June 1916.
Reported Missing, 20 July 1916.
- 'Identification Disc received from Germany. No particulars were afforded except that Soldier was deceased. May now be reported "KILLED IN ACTION" 20/7/16.'
- Communication from Berlin (file p. 17): 'austr. Sold. Bourke, Harold John 30. Batl. gefallen am 19.7.16 in Gegend Fromelles gefallen'.
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Red Cross File No 470404 has statement by 383 Pte R.H. CLARKE, 30th Bn (patient, No 1 Canadian General Hospital), 24 November 1916: 'He was a cousin of mine. Pte Sharp of B. Coy told me that he had seen him wounded in the German trenches when we went acrosss at Fromelles.'
Like many in the 8th Brigade he had oenetrated the German front line only to be cut off and killed. He was buried along with hundreds of others, in a mass grave. Details of his loss were communicated via the Red Cross
Compiled by Steve Larkins Oct 18
Click images to start slideshow.