AWAS on Rottnest - WF90197 BEARD (Nee ANDERSON)

Mary Mildred Anderson was born 25 November 1921 in Fort George Scotland. Her parents were Gordon Elphinstone Anderson and Mary Robertson. She had two siblings, Roy and Dot. The Anderson family had taken advantage of the Group Settlement Scheme to come to Western Australia. They left Scotland on the 12 June 1926, sailing on the SS Vedic. They were given Group 118 near Northcliffe WA on 30 July 1926. However, by 1934 the family sold off their farm. Many of the Group Settlers found it hard to make their way in Western Australia. Many had no prior experience of farming or forestry and it was a very hard life.

She enlisted in AWAS 20 October 1942 in Claremont WA. At that time she was almost 21 and was working as a housemaid.
She was posted to Fremantle Fixed Defences after her rookies training and her trade group was TG2 Instrument Operator.
Mary’s service record does not clearly indicate the date she was deployed to Rottnest Island, but her service record shows that in April 1944 she was admitted to 39ACH which was the WW2 Army reference for Australian Camp Hospital at Rottnest.

In March1944 she had been promoted to the rank of Lance Bombardier and
soon after that was sent to NCO school. By early 1945 her Unit listing was Fremantle Coastal Artillery and she spent time with 802 Anti-Aircraft Coastal Artillery Battery at Buckland Hill in Mosman Park.

On 18 September 1945 Mary married Thomas Joseph Beard in Fremantle and she was discharged from Army Service 16 October 1945.

Thomas Beard was born in Kellerberrin WA on 29 October 1917. He enlisted in Subiaco, Perth on 7 November 1939. He was deployed to the Middle East in January 1940 returning to Australia July 1942. In November 1942 he was sent to Queensland and then to New Guinea. He was sent a second time to New Guinea in 1945 for a few months. His service record shows he was hospitalised for malaria a few times after his overseas deployments.

Mary died 2 October 2003 at Hamilton Hill WA. She was cremated at Fremantle Cemetery and her ashes taken by the funeral director.

Thomas died 22 December 2005 in Bicton WA. He was cremated at Fremantle cemetery and his ashes were taken by the funeral director.

Sources

Index to Group Settlements in WA database https://catalogue.data.wa.gov.au/dataset/index-to-western-australian-group-settlement-information/resource/12ea1737-0e52-4aba-9274-fd892e5c46b0?inner_span=True

Online index to WA births, deaths and marriages
Births (1841-1991) Deaths (1841-1991) Marriages (1841-1946)
https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-justice/online-index-search-tool

Index to WA burials Metropolitan Cemeteries index (covers Karrakatta, Fremantle, Rockingham, Midland, Guildford, Pinnaroo and Gnangara Aboriginal cemetery.
https://www.mcb.wa.gov.au
Some family information and photos from Public Member Tree on ancestry.com (This is a pay site. Read my help notes for more information on how to access via a public library)
https://www.ancestry.com

Information from newspaper indexes national Library of Australia
https://trove.nla.gov.au