Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 19/09/1915
- Date of Discharge
- 26/09/1919
- Place of Enlistment
- Goulburn NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 21/09/1894
- Place of Birth
- Queanbeyan NSW
- Address (at enlistment)
- 'Oakvale' via Williamsdale ACT
- School(s) Attended
- Williamsdale School (1907)
- Occupation
- Farmer
- Next of Kin
- Australia Gibbs (father), 'Oakvale' via Williamsdale ACT
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 2178
- Final Rank
- Corporal
- Final Unit
- 2 Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron
Commemoration
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Michelago Public School Roll of Honour
Notes
Harold Gibbs was born on 21 September 1894 in the Williamsdale area where he and his family farmed. He and Harry Locke enlisted just before his 21st birthday and he served with the 2nd Machine Gun Squadron and the 17th Imperial Camel Corps in Sinai and Palestine. He returned to Australia in June 1919 and later served in World War 2 with the 12th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps. Gibbs later lived in Queanbeyan and died, aged 92 years, at the George Forbes Nursing Home on 8 May 1987. He was buried at the Queanbeyan Lawn Cemetery, Tharwa Road. Harold Gibbs was the last World War 1 survivor on the ACT Memorial to pass away in this district.
Desription - height 5 feet 7 inches, chest 33-36 inches, fair complexion, grey eyes, hair light brown, Church of England.
Sources
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Narelle O'Rourke, 'A Country Nurse and Midwife', 1989
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
ACT Archives (AA1968/269.5) Williamsdale Register of Admissions and Class Roll
Queanbeyan Age - 11 December 1917, 30 September 1919, 8 May 1987
The Canberra Times - 1 November 1981
Image courtesy of Peter Johnston
Harold Gibbs (standing rear left). Image courtesy of Peter Johnston.