223490 L/Cpl. Thomas Joseph Walsh Australian Imperial Force C Section 10th Australian Field Ambulance from:Doveton St, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia Thomas Walsh, known as Tommy, was born on 20th December 1892 at Ennistydom, County Clare, Ireland where his father was stationmaster with the Irish Railways. He immigrated to Australia on the SS Gothic from Tilbury, United Kingdom, aged 21.
He travelled on an assisted passage as a tradesman carpenter and settled in Ballarat, Victoria gaining employment with the Victorian Mental Health Department.
On 30th July 1915 aged 24 he enlisted in 1st AIF and was assigned Reg No 12402, attached to 10th Field Ambulance and sent to Mooney Ponds for training. He embarked for war from Sydney on the SS Beltana in December, arriving at Salisbury Plains in the UK for further training.
In December 1916 the 3rd Australian Division, under the command of Major General John Monash, with 10th Field Ambulance attached, moved to Belgium to a sector near Armentieres, where Tom acted as stretcher bearer and ambulance driver and worked in casualty clearing stations. He was a contributor to the ambulance magazine `All Abaht It', writing several poems including The Dying Anzac on page 20 of the second edition and published in The Bulletin newspaper.
From November 1918 the men were returned to Australia for demobilisation and discharge. Tom travelled as an orderly in care of casualties and was discharged in February 1919.
He returned to the mental health department as a male nurse where he graduated through the system to become warden of J Ward in Ararat - a gaol for the criminally insane which is now a popular tourist attraction. He married Elizabeth Hinchey in 1934 and had two male children. In 1939 he was transferred to the department's largest hospital at Ballarat as head male nurse in charge of a large staff and about 900 inmates.
He never talked about his war experience and returned his medals to the Army. Tom passed away on 14th May 1953, aged 62 years.
|