June2015_DAYBORO DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
Est. 2004
Dayboro Remembers:
It certainly does – and I think it will also remember Anzac Day 2015 – the centenary of the ANZAC landing on Gallipoli peninsula – for a long time to come. Three new granite columns adjacent to the Dayboro Cenotaph were unveiled at the Dawn Service. The Service commemorated the lives of the fifteen World War One soldiers named on the Cenotaph who paid the supreme sacrifice. The columns are something very special. Many hours of research by both the Dayboro War Memorial Association and our Society went into just the few lines that appear on each of the fifteen plaques but it is the skill of the stonemason who created this wonderful monument that really should be commended. I think the monument is better than anyone thought it could possibly be.
Each month part of the Historical Society’s article will be dedicated to these fifteen soldiers, taking them in alphabetical order.
Private Thomas Henry Baxter:
Thomas was born at Laceys Creek on 10 March 1889. He was the fourth of the eleven children of William Baxter and Mary Ebert. His father William Baxter (also known as Ole Baxter, Baster or Bater) was born in Throndhjeim, Norway in 1842. William/Ole Baxter and his friend Haagen Raaen took the Oath of Allegiance on 7 May 1867. Their Certificates of Naturalisation show them both as natives of Norway and both 24 years of age. He married Mary Ebert, the 19 year old daughter of Nicholas and Christina Ebert of North Pine, on 1 February 1883. Thomas Baxter enlisted in Brisbane on 10 November 1915 and embarked on 31 March 1916 on “HMAT Star of Victoria” arriving in England in April and completing his training at Salisbury Plains. His mother Mary had received no formal education and when a letter from her son arrived she would ride to Emily Farrow, a former Laceys Creek school teacher, who would read the contents of the letter out loud to her. Thomas received a gunshot wound to his right leg at Pozieres on 21 August 1916. After 7½ months he rejoined his battalion and was killed in action 4 days later on 11 April 1917 during the first Battle of Bullecourt on the Somme. He was buried 500 metres east of Bullecourt. He was 28 years old and is remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme, France.
Diamond Jubilee Dayboro Show:
This will be the last Dayboro Grapevine before the 60th (Diamond Jubilee) Dayboro Show on Saturday and Sunday 4th and 5th July – only 7 weeks from the time of writing this article – only about 3 weeks from when you get to read it. Please come along and help celebrate this milestone. Just a reminder that we are still looking for photos from Shows over the years so if you do have any they can be dropped in to “Dayboro Cottage” where they can be scanned or scanned copies can be emailed to me.
See you at the Show.
Carmel Bond, President
Ph: 3425 1717 (h)
or 3425 2032 (Dayboro Cottage)
