Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

21/08/1914

Date of Discharge

03/02/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Billy'

Place of Birth

Weetangerra (Weetangera) ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Weetangerra (Weetangera) School

Occupation

Groom

Next of Kin

Edward H. Clark (father), Duntroon ACT

Service Number

30

Final Rank

Sergeant

Final Unit

4 Division Ammunition Column AIF

Weetangerra Honor Roll, St. John's Schoolhouse Museum, Reid
Belconnen Area Enlistments WW1, Ellen Clark Park, Smith Street, Weetangera
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honour at St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Lowe Street, Queanbeyan NSW

Billy Clark was born at Weetangera in 1891 and enlisted on 19 August 1914. He was a cousin of Arthur Clark. Billy Clark was working as a groom at the Royal Military College and living with his parents in the Home Affairs camp at Duntroon, where his father was caretaker, when he enlisted. He served on Gallipoli from May to July 1915 with the 1st Light Horse Regiment but was evacuated to England with appendicitis. He arrived in France in January 1917 with the 4th Division Ammunition Column and was later appointed to the rank of Sergeant. He returned to Australia in October 1918 on special '1914' leave and was then discharged. Clark worked at Duntroon after the war but died on 20 February 1930 at Bombala Hospital after suffering serious burns in a construction accident at nearby Mount Darragh.

Margaret Clough, 'Spilt Milk: A history of the Weetangera School 1875-2004', 2004
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Samuel Shumack, 'An autobiography or Tales and Legends of Canberra pioneers', 1967
Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000
National Library of Australia : Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734)
Queanbeyan Age - 20 August 1915, 9 March 1917, 29 January 1918, 17 December 1918, 6 March 1930
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)