Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

27/02/1916

Place of Enlistment

Queanbeyan NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Kiandra NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Uriarra ACT

Occupation

Labourer

Next of Kin

Grandson of Thomas Oldfield and Hannah Oldfield (nee Fisher), Berrima Road, Moss Vale NSW. Son of Alice Fisher. His father James was deceased.

Burial Place

France 512 Grevillers British Cemetery, plot 1, row C, grave 1

Service Number

2408A

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

19 Battalion AIF

Died of wounds in France on 17 April 1917, aged 20 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 88, Canberra ACT
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT
Memorial plaque in porch of Christ Church, Queanbeyan NSW
World War 1 Memorial, corner of Lowe St and Farrer Place, Queanbeyan NSW

Fisher was probably born in late 1895, in the mountainous district of the upper Murrumbidgee River. His father James grew up at Gurrangorambla (or Currangorambla) on the western side of the Brindabellas which probably explains why Tom's birth was registered at Kiandra. His mother, Alice Oldfield, also grew up in the high country at The Pockets (which is almost 1300 metres above sea level) between Mount Bimberi (at 1912 metres, the highest point of the Brindabellas) and Gurrangorambla though her father selected a block in 1892 on the Cotter Falls run. By 1899 the Fishers were living on the Yarralumla estate where James Fisher was a blacksmith and Tom's sister was born.

Tom's father died in 1901 and he was raised by his maternal grandparents Thomas and Hannah Oldfield who by then had moved from The Pockets to the Cotter Hut on their selection on the upper reaches of the Cotter River. Some records, particularly relating to Fisher's uncles Edwin and Tarlton Oldfield, refer to the family living at 'Glendale' near Gudgenby in the years before the start of the war. By the time he enlisted in February 1916 (with the signed permission of Hannah Oldfield), Fisher was a labourer in the Uriarra district.

Fisher arrived in France with reinforcements for the 19th Battalion on 5 April 1917. The 19th Battalion were positioned at Norieul near the Hindenburg Line when, on 15 April, the Germans launched an attack. They overran Australian positions at nearby Lagnicourt and then attacked towards Norieul when Fisher was mortally wounded by a gun shot to the head. He died from his wounds on 17 April 1917 at the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station and was buried in Grevillers British Military Cemetery, 1¼ miles west of Bapaume. A memorial service was held for Fisher at St. Edmund's Church in Tharwa in June 1917 because he "was widely connected in that part of the district."

Description - height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 150 pounds, chest 33-36 inches, fair complexion, hazel eyes, fair hair, Church of England, had a round scar on the back of his neck.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
First World War Nominal Roll
First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Matthew Higgins, 'Rugged Beyond Imagination', 2009
Queanbeyan Age - 8 June 1917, 10 August 1917
Goulburn Evening & Penny Post - 27 April 1901
Information provided by Vince Fisher