DAYBORO DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC _ Est. 2004
Dayboro Remembers: Private Thomas Francis Chambers:
Dayboro Remembers: Private Thomas Francis Chambers:
Thomas Francis Chambers was born on 26th August 1897 at the Lady Bowen Hospital, Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill. Tommy, as he was known, was the eleventh of the fourteen children of James Chambers and Annie McKeiver (Prescott). James and Annie Chambers were from Armagh, Ireland. They, together with their infant child Mary, arrived in Moreton Bay on the “Carnatic” on 25th October 1881 having sailed from Plymouth, England on 21st July 1881. “I arrived in Brisbane with a wife, a child, knife and fork and a penny” was a remark often made by James Chambers to his youngest daughter Josie. James Berry, owner of the Terrors Creek sugar mill, used to meet the emigrant ships to get labour for the mill. After arriving in Brisbane the Chambers family made the three day trip from the wharf to Terrors Creek in a horse and cart and James worked for 2½ years at the sugar mill. James selected a 160acre property in Mt. Brisbane Road, Mt. Pleasant which they called “Orange Grove”. Some years later his brother John (Jack) also selected property at Mt. Pleasant.
Tommy Chambers started school at the Upper North Pine Provisional School, a distance of 5 miles from the family farm. When the new Mt. Pleasant Provisional School opened on 25th August 1905, Tommy, together with his sisters Rose and Kathleen and brother William, were enrolled on the first day.
Tommy enlisted in Brisbane on 3rd August 1916, just three weeks before his 19th birthday. His occupation was given as labourer. He embarked for overseas on the “HMAT Kyarra” on 17th November 1916, arriving in England at the end of January. After further training he joined his unit, the 15th Infantry Battalion, in France on 3rd May 1917. During August the battalion moved to the front line as Messines Ridge, referred to as the high ground south of Ypres, Belgium. On 26th September the battalion was in an attack near Zonnebeke. Tommy was a member of C Company, No. 10 Platoon, which was in the Polygon Wood sector of the battle. A shell burst in their sector and seven men were hit. Tommy was wounded but sadly later died from those wounds. He is buried at Spoilbank Cemetery, Zillebeker, Ypres, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. He was just 20 years and 1 month of age.
His mother Annie died on 21st August 1918, 2 months after the death of her daughter Sarah who died after a long battle with consumption, leaving five young children. Sarah’s husband George Lahiff had died on 24th November 1915. Annie Chambers had been in indifferent health for some time and the loss of two members of her family had caused her much anxiety.
Another local young man, William (Bill) Stubbings, was killed in action on 25th September 1917 on Menin Ridge Road in the Ypres sector, the day before Tommy’s death. How sad it must have been when news of the deaths of these two young men reached their families and also the broader local community.
National Library of Australia Trove Website:
One section of this website contains digitised newspapers from every State of Australia. Many editions of 71 Queensland newspapers have been digitised to date and more are being added all the time so it is often a good idea to go back and check again just in case the one you are looking for has been added to the list. I thought the following article, which appeared in The Brisbane Courier on Saturday 1 March 1919, may interest readers:
Bullock Charges a Motor Car
While a car driven by Mr. Kelly was proceeding along the Dayboro-Petrie road it was charged by a bullock owned by Messrs. Cruice Bros, butchers. The bullock dropped dead, but the car suffered little damage.
Carmel Bond, President – Ph: 3425 1717 (h) or 3425 2032 (Dayboro Cottage)
Email: carmel.bond@bigpond.com or ddhs4521@gmail.com
Web: www.dayborohistoricalsociety.com.au *
