Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

28/04/1916

Place of Enlistment

Charleville, Queensland

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Mont'

Place of Birth

Irishtown, Queanbeyan NSW

Address (at enlistment)

9 Henrietta Street, Chippendale NSW (previously Oaks Estate ACT)

Occupation

Shearer

Next of Kin

Son of John (deceased) and Rebecca Robertson of Oaks Estate; husband of Elsie Elizabeth Boocock (formerly Robertson), of 289 Forbes St, Darlinghurst NSW.

Burial Place

No known grave

Service Number

2775

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

52 Battalion AIF

Died 5 Apr 1918 aged 38 (or 39) years near Dernancourt, France

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 156, Canberra ACT
26 Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France
World War 1 Memorial, corner of Lowe St and Farrer Place, Queanbeyan NSW
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW

Montague Robertson was the older brother of Herbert William Robertson and was shearing in Queensland when he enlisted. He married in 1910 though it seems he was not living with his wife when he enlisted as he nominated his mother as his next of kin. Robertson arrived in France in January 1917 as a Private with the 6th reinforcements to the 52nd Battalion and fought at Messines in Belgium in June 1917 where he was shot in his right side. He returned to his unit at the end of July and by September 1917 the 52nd Battalion were participating in the battle of Polygon Wood when Robertson was wounded by shell fragments in the left ankle. He later wrote about a new innovation in medical treatment: "The doctor at the casualty clearing station asked me if I would give some blood to a badly wounded man and then he would send me to England. I waited there four days and he took 1½ pints of blood out of my arm and put it into a man with his leg off. It just made me weak for a day - blood transfusion they call it".

After convalescing in England, Robertson returned to France and rejoined his unit in January 1918. He was reported missing in action on 5 April 1918 during the German attack on Dernancourt (between Albert and Amiens). According to a chaplain, "Robertson started back in the retreat from the railway line to the hospital near Dernancourt" and seemed to have been killed and left. His body was not recovered. His former wife agreed to allow his medals to be sent to his mother.

Description - height 5 feet 10½ inches, weight 160 pounds, chest 38½ inches, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, Church of England.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
Rex Cross and Bert Sheedy, 'Queanbeyan Pioneers - First Study', Queanbeyan Books and Prints, 1983, pp. 106-7.
Karen Williams, 'Oaks Estate: No Man's Land', Canberra, the author, 1997 (p.239 note 2)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Information and image provided by Merv Robertson