City of Armadale - History House > Records

BADGE, MILITARY - AUSTRALIAN ARMY

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1914 - 1918

Overview

Brass army badges x 6. Curved badges with the word [AUSTRALIA]. The letters are attached to two metal curved bars that run the length of the word across the top and bottom of each letter Two eyelets on the back with pin through.

Historical information

John Hickson was born in c1888 in Lancashire England. As a child it seemed John lost his father and his mother Ellen married Walter Tomlinson. In 1911 the Tomlinson's migrated to Western Australia. By 1912 the Tomlinson family is living on Prospect Road in Armadale. In 1916 John had moved away and was working at the 281 mile siding of the Trans Australian Railway. He was using the name John Hickson Tomlinson.
John Hickson enlisted under step-Father's name of Tomlinson at Kalgoorlie early January 1916 aged 27. He entered Blackboy Hill camp 1st February 1916 before being sent to Maribyrnong in Victoria for artillery training with the 8th Battery, Australian Field Artillery Battery. He left Australia (Victoria) 27th June, 1916. On arrival he joined the 3rd Division Ammunition Column. On 24 November 1916 the unit was sent to France.
On 24 June 1917 he received minor wounds to his back but was back on duty the dame day. On 27 September 1917 he was confined to barracks for seven days for missing the 2pm parade.
On 19 January 1918 he was promoted to acting Bombardier but reverted back to the rank of driver at his own request on 8 June 1918.
He returned to Fremantle 24 July 1919 and was discharged on 7 September 1919.
John returned to Armadale and found work as a labourer with the Western Australian Railway. In 1927 he married Alice Grace Trame in Perth and seems to have dropped the use of his step-fathers name.. In 1954 they moved to First Avenue (today Banyard Avenue) in Kelmscott where they had an orchard. It seems they did not have any children.
John passed away in 1976 age 87. Millicent passed away the following year age 89.
On his return from the war he packed his uniform and kit into the kitbag and then left in the corner of his shed where it stayed untouched until his death.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-33-COA2007.36

Themes

People
Social History
War and Conflict

Material

Brass

Width

56 mm

Depth

10 mm

Keywords

HICKSON john Mr Dvr

World War One

1st Australian Imperial Force

TOMLINSON John Mr Dvr

HICKSON john Mr Dvr

Year

1914 - 1918

Statement of significance

This object is part of collection with good provenance and interpretive potential that tells the story of the City of Armadale's connection to armed conflicts around the world from the late 1800s to today. The collection explores the experiences of people associated with the City of Armadale who went to war, their experiences when they returned as well as how these conflicts impacted the community who stayed behind.

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Comparative significance criteria

Object’s condition or completeness

Well provenanced

City of Armadale - History House

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