Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

25/01/1916

Place of Enlistment

Queanbeyan NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Nicknamed 'Bruiser'

Place of Birth

Queanbeyan NSW

Address (at enlistment)

River Street, Oaks Estate ACT

School(s) Attended

Queanbeyan Public School

Occupation

Labourer

Next of Kin

Son of Edward Duncan Robertson and Elizabeth Jane Robertson, River Street, Oaks Estate ACT

Burial Place

France 245 Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension

Service Number

2226

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

55 Battalion AIF

Died (killed in action) at Doignies, France on 2 April 1917, aged 20 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 161, Canberra ACT
Queanbeyan Public School Roll of Honour, Isabella St, Queanbeyan NSW
World War 1 Memorial, corner of Lowe St and Farrer Place, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honour at St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Lowe Street, Queanbeyan NSW
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW

Harry 'Bruiser' Robertson was born in Queanbeyan in 1896 and lived at Oaks Estate with his parents, Edward (Ned) and Elizabeth (Jane) Robertson. He enlisted in 1916 possibly as part of the Men from Snowy River route march and left Sydney in September 1916 as a Private with the 4th reinforcements to the 55th Battalion, reaching the front line near Flers in France at the end of December 1916. He was part of the advanced guard chasing the Germans as they retreated to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 but was killed in action as the 55th Battalion took the village of Doignies on 2 April 1917. Robertson is buried in the Lebucquierre Communal Cemetery, west of Velu, 5 miles east of Bapaume.

Harry Robertson was a nephew of Montague and Bert Robertson (who served in World War 1) and a brother of Ned ('Nigger') and Harold ('Todd') Robertson who served in World War 2.

Description - height 5 feet 8½ inches, weight 150 pounds, chest 34-38 inches, fresh complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, Church of England, mole on right side above his hip.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
Karen Williams, 'Oaks Estate: No Man's Land', Canberra, the author, 1997, (p.239 note 2)
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Queanbeyan Age - 25 January 1916, 30 May 1916, 27 April 1917, 8 May 1917, 14 August 1917, 5 April 1918
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Men from Snowy River', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Images and information provided by the Robertson family (Mary Stuart, Pat Storen and Merv Robertson)