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Moonta on the Yorke Peninsula, where Jack was born on the 5th June 1917, was one of the richest copper mining areas in Australia and attracted a huge number of skilled miners from overseas. Jack’s parents were Horatio (also called Jack) and Eliza Maud Abraham. Horatio was also Moonta born and worked as a miner initially as a tributer with his own father. This role entailed taking over a mine and receiving a proportion of the copper produced. In later years Horatio swapped mining and became a fisherman.
Jack Jnr was one of nine children, the youngest son with five sisters and three surviving brothers including Edith Eileen, Maud, Julia, Kenneth Ross, William, Ross Abraham, Owen, Elva and Elizabeth Myrl. Sadly, baby Ross, born in November 1909 lived just four days. He was buried in the local Moonta Cemetery.
Horatio was highly respected as a footballer for local teams, the Turks and Moonta, even being recognised in a poetical tribute in the Moonta’s ‘People’s Weekly’ where each player was eulogised. ‘Then next refer to Abraham, The smart Horatio; Who plays a right-down rattling game.' Horatio was also selected in the combined association team to play against the second pick of South Australian Football Association in Adelaide and was noted as one of the most prominent players of his side. In this regard, Jack followed in his father’s footsteps. As a fourteen-year-old he was in the Moonta Public School football team that travelled to Wallaroo. There, Moonta had a resounding win of five goals eight behinds to one goal. Jack was named in both the best player list and the goal scorers.
Jack was also a talented cricketer, playing for the Moonta Colts and excelling with both the bat and as a bowler. He and brothers William and Ross were also lauded players for the Moonta Juniors Football team. By ’37 Jack was selected in the Combined Yorke Peninsula team playing against the North Adelaide League Club, captained by Ken Farmer. Moonta also conducted a Regatta on Boxing Day, with Jack also proving to be proficient in the sailing races.
Post school, Jack played for the local Moonta team in a closely contested grand final in October ’38. Cross Roads narrowly won 7.8 to 6.7. In a tribute to his skills, Jack won the special prize donated by the central umpire for the best player of the 36 on the field.
Jack gained work as leading hand pile-rigger during the early construction work at the shipyard in Whyalla where he continued to play outstanding football for North Whyalla. However, with the outbreak of WWII there was a huge push by the army, with representatives travelling to country areas, to encourage fit, single young men to enlist. Consequently 23-year-old Jack travelled to Port Augusta and officially enlisted on the 8th July 1940. He was given the number SX8280 in the 2/48th Battalion. The Whyalla News shared the football team’s loss with an announcement that ‘Jack Abraham, star North’s forward, has enlisted in the Second A.I.F. Jack was runner-up in the "Mail Medal" competition last year and will be missed in the North’s camp.’
His early training was at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills before Jack had short time for pre-embarkation leave. He then left in February, arriving in the Middle East on the 23rd March ’41. Soon after he was briefly hospitalised with a cyst in his left ear before joining the rest of his battalion in the Staging camp at Amiriya.
By April, ’41 the 9th Division fell back to the Tobruk port, which they continued to hold for the next eight months. In August that year Jack was heavily wounded with gunshot wounds to his left forearm, loin and thigh and was evacuated to hospital. It was not until February the following year that he was able to re-join the 2/48th Battalion.
News of Jack being injured was shared through the September ’41 issue of the Chronicle. Others from his 2/48th Battalion who were also injured were listed Pte. Ivo Youl, SX7820, Mount Bryan; Pte. John K. Stone, SX7740 Willowie .( John was later killed in action and died on 17 July ‘42,); Pte. Ronald J. Little, SX1O507, Keith and Pte. Jack H. Abraham, SX8280, Moonta Mines.
Whilst Jack was still in the Middle East, his 63-year-old father, Horatio ‘Jack’ died on the 10th September, ’42 in the Wallaroo Hospital after his health became more impaired. He had previously broken his hip and was on crutches.
Less than two months later, Eliza received news of Jack’s injuries and being wounded, again. ‘Mrs. E. M. Abraham, of Moonta Mines, has been notified that her son, Pte. Jack H Abraham, has been wounded in action in Egypt. He was also wounded at Tobruk in August 1941. He enlisted in June, 1940, and went overseas in February, 1941.’ The Kadina and Wallaroo Times also shared this news that affected two of his sisters. ‘Advice has been received from the Military Authorities, that Pvte. Jack Abraham, of Moonta, has been dangerously wounded. He has been serving in the Middle East for nearly two years and has been previously wounded. Pvte. Abraham is the youngest brother of Mesdames C. Brown and F. Spry, of Kadina.’
Jack’s injuries were horrific. He sustained multiple wounds to his left leg and arm, with penetrating wounds to his abdomen affecting his small bowel and colon, and subsequently had his head run over by a Bren gun carrier. It was quite a miracle that he survived.
The November ’42 issue of the Chronicle carried the names of those injured. The 2/48th Battalion was particularly affected. Jack headed the list. ‘Dangerously Wounded. — SX8280 Pte. J. H. Abraham, Inf.. Moonta Mines; SX7824 Pte. Cyril A. Braund. Pt. Victoria, Seriously Wounded.— SX12499 Lt. George J Butler, Henley Beach;(Later died of wounds in N.G.) Wounded In Action.— SX9092 Pte. John. W. P Digan. Adelaide; SX13636 Fte, Kenneth F. Goldner, Colonel Light Gardens; SX7502 Pte. Norman J. Leaney, Maylands; SX10090 A-Sgt. John G. Glenn, Victor Harbor; SX6865 Pte. Robert T. McLaren, Barmera; SX11802 Pte. Alan H Harradine. Adelaide; SX8628 Pte. Leonard Kader, Adelaide; SX7512 L-Sgt. A. R. Cross, Wallaroo Mines; SX14264 Pte. Harold M. Cates, Portland; SX11090 Pte. Howard K. Eastick, Brighton; SX12801 Fte. George C. Bradford, Col. Light Gdns.; SX7436 Pte. John D. Cox, Woodville; SX8595 Pte. Francis W. Botten, York; SX10848 Pte. Alfred C. Capper, Ovingham; SX6931 Pte. Oscar J. Aesche, Monarto; SX8910 Pte. Jack R. Cufley, Allenby Gardens; SX7866 Pte. Raymond A. W. Bloffwitch, Bowden.
Jack had been part of the offensive at El Alamein to destroy a nest of machine guns. At that time, fierce fighting was underway in the massive assault to take Trig 29. John Glenn in ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ described that day as the ‘bloodiest fighting in the history of the 2/48th Battalion’ with ‘only forty-one weary troops remaining in the field’, that night was pronounced as the climax of the Alamein Battle. Glenn’s final summing up was ‘Truly it can be said of these men, “They fought themselves and their enemy to a standstill until flesh and blood could stand no more, then they went on fighting.” ‘When next the sun drove away those shadows from the desert, death would have reaped a rich harvest of gallant men.’ This was all that remained of these proud Rats of Tobruk. In total 48 men from the 2/48th lost their lives in this battle. In added high praise about those who tended the wounded and collected those killed in action “It says much for them that not one man was missing in their search over the four thousand yards from Trig 29 to the Blockhouse, or in the attack of 3,600 yards to Ring Contour 25.” An horrific battle for the proud and very brave 2/48th Battalion.
John Glenn describes that ‘the 2/48th had stirred up a real hornets’ nest’ During the preceding nights where ‘an occasional burst from a machine gun disturbed the night of 24th October. Nevertheless, it was a busy time for the tired men. Little or no sleep could be had. A hot meal sent forward after dark was quickly swallowed. There was no time for yarning. Defences had to be improved, more digging and wiring done and patrols sent out.’ On that night alone 9 of the Battalion were killed and 20 wounded in action. Of these 16 were from South Australia and the remainder from Western Australia. The conditions where ‘arrangements were made for mines, wire ammunition, food, water, overhead cover, sandbags, tools, anti-tank guns, and all the rest, and holding the present position while preparing to launch another attack. And while all this was being done, the battalion was subjected to murderous fire from artillery and mortars. It says much for the battle-drill of the battalion and supporting arms that everything worked out smoothly, going off without a hitch.’
The events of that month created a turning point in Egypt. John Glen attempted to capture the conditions. ‘They were the unsmiling eyes of men who have killed or tried to kill and have faced death in its most vicious forms. Theirs was the pride and sorrow of me who had endured too much. When all else was forgotten, they would remember Alamein and their mates who died there…. They had lived a lifetime in one night.’ The men survived being strafed by their own planes, witnessed their own trucks exploding and buried their own men. They also received the congratulations of Mongomery that ‘the part you have played is beyond all praise.’
The following month, December, Jack’s name had been removed from all lists, indicating he had survived his horrific injuries. Inevitably, though he was classified as ‘Temporarily unfit for service for a period greater than six months.’
By January ’43 Jack was on his way back to Australia where he continued to receive treatment. He spent some time in Kapara Convalescent Home, with particular focus on his abdominal wounds and fractured tibia. His injuries inevitably meant that he was officially described as being ‘Medically unfit for service’ (although a rider ‘extremely fortunate to survive’ was not added.) At the start of November ’43 he was issued with a civilian suit and officially discharged on the 9th December.
Jack and Joan Mabel Mugge were engaged in February ’44 with the news announced in the Advertiser ‘MUGGE—ABRAHAM.—The engagement is announced of Joan; only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Mugge. of Linden Park, to Jack ex-A-I-F. ret. youngest son of Mrs. and the late Mr. J. B. Abraham, of Moonta Mines.’ They married later that year in September; ‘MUGGE—ABRAHAM.—The marriage of Joan, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Mugge, Linden Park, to Jack (ex-A.I.F.), youngest son of Mrs. and late Mr. H. Abraham, Moonta Mines, will be solemnised at Scots Church, North terrace, Saturday, September 30, 5.30 p.m.’ Soon after, the young couple travelled back to Whyalla where work was plentiful and where their sons were born. The first of four sons, Ian arrived in February ’46, Neil in ‘49 followed by Stephen and Paul.
Early in ’47 the Mail carried a feature about Jack in a February article, a tribute to a man who faced seemingly insurmountable challenges. 'Cheery Jack Abraham is a shipyard worker at Whyalla again. When he enlisted in 1940 he was a leading hand pile-rigger during the early construction work at the shipyard before Whyalla had laid the first keel of the 14 fine ships it has built. Jack was knocked about at Tobruk and stopped a hail of bullets from an enemy tommy gun at El Alamein. He was badly wounded In both legs, an arm, and in the abdomen. As he lay in the desert sand, a Bren gun carrier ran over his head. That war incident alone might have had deep psychological reactions on many men, but Jack has never lost his cheerfulness. Invalided out of the A.I.F., Jack returned to Whyalla and got lighter work as assistant fitter. He has since been promoted to the higher paid job of 'chaser,' that is, he hunts up and arranges for the despatch of fittings and other materials wanted for ships under construction. The Repatriation Department has supplied Jack with a special belt to strengthen his abdominal muscles, and he enjoys a quiet game of cricket at Whyalla on Sunday afternoons. Jack is now a married man with one child, and has secured a neat little Housing Trust home.’
Jack also returned to the sports he loved. By ’48 his South Whyalla cricket team was battling North for the B Grade Premiership with Jack in the opening partnership. He began with a fine boundary shot but was then bowled. With such a good batsman out early North were ecstatic. Jack ended with 1/37 and a win by seven runs. Jack’s form continued to be outstanding. In December that year he played in a one day match where the outstanding feature was reported as a brilliant 181 not out by Jack Abraham of South. The following seasons saw Jack continue to display his skills with the bat, including in April ’41 hitting a six to the longest part of the ground, with the ball landing high up on the mound.
Jack’s mother lived to see Jack and Joan’s sons, her young grandsons arrive. Aged 78, she died in August ’56 and was buried with Horatio at Moonta.
76-year-old Jack died in Whyalla on the 8th April 1994 and now rests in that city’s Cemetery. Joan lived for a further fourteen years and also died in April, the 3rd in 2009. She now rests with Jack. A tribute to Jack’s service is in the Garden of Remembrance at Centennial Park.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.