Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

12/10/1916

Date of Discharge

03/04/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

07/08/1896

Place of Birth

Canberra ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Canberra ACT

School(s) Attended

Canberra Public School, Narrabundah (Crossroads) School

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

Charles Kaye (father), Canberra ACT

Service Number

16279

Final Rank

Lance Corporal

Final Unit

8 Field Company Engineers AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honor Queanbeyan Public School, Isabella Street, Queanbeyan NSW

Frank Kaye was born in Canberra and lived at his family's farm which used to be behind the Albert Hall. In 1910, after the first survey teams set up camp below what is now Parliament House, Kaye would deliver them milk from the family's dairy as well as wood and water and before and after school he would check his rabbit traps set in a line from the house up to Kurrajong Hill. He was soon employed as an office boy by Charles Scrivener, but not officially until 1912 when he turned sixteen, and then worked for the Department of Home Affairs as a messenger and a clerk prior to enlisting in 1916. He served with the 8th Field Company Engineers in France and Belgium, and was appointed as a Lance Corporal in July 1917. Kaye suffered a dislocated right elbow in July 1918 which saw him return to Australia to be discharged on 3 April 1919, but he had to be quarantined for ten days at Canberra Hospital due to the influenza pandemic. Kaye was a committee member of the Canberra branch of the RSSILA when it was formed in 1921. He also served in World War 2 with the 13th Garrison Battalion and by the time he retired in 1961 he had been in the public service for 49 years. The next year he was awarded the Imperial Service Medal.  Kaye died on 19 June 1985 and is buried in Gungahlin Cemetery.

Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 125 pounds, chest 31-34½ inches, fair complexion, grey eyes, fair hair, Church of England.

Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Jim Gibbney, 'Canberra 1913-1953'(p.56), AGPS 1988
G.A. Mawer, 'Canberry Tales: An Informal Story', 2012
National Library of Australia : Canberra Rifle Club Minute Book 1914-1939 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 3996)
National Library of Australia : Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734)
National Archives (A202) 1914/4381 Full names of Officers and Employees, Federal Territory Salaries Register
Students roll, Schoolhouse Museum, St John's, Reid
Jim Kaye, 'Secrets and Stories', St. John's Schoolhouse Museum talk, 7 April 2002
Queanbeyan Age - 7 November 1916, 2 March 1917, 6 September 1918
The Canberra Times - 5 August 1961, 19 January 1962, 20 June 1985
Canberra Public Cemeteries http://www.canberracemeteries.com.au/cem_gravesearch.asp
Image courtesy of Gordon Shannon