Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

03/10/1915

Date of Discharge

25/07/1917

Place of Enlistment

Goulburn NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Gundaroo NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Gundaroo NSW (previously Canberra ACT)

Occupation

Labourer

Next of Kin

James Keir (father), 'Glengarrie' via Gundaroo NSW

Service Number

5397

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

53 Battalion AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Gundaroo War Memorial, corner of Cork Street and Harp Street, Gundaroo NSW (as "J. Keir")
Memorial Gates, Sutton Public School, Sutton

Keir came from a well-established family in Gundaroo where he was born in 1893. He enlisted in Goulburn on 3 October 1915 and was working for the Commonwealth possibly as a labourer at the Canberra Brickworks or, most likely, as a chainman for surveyor Arthur Percival. He had also been a member of the Canberra Rifle Club for 1½ years. Keir embarked for overseas in April 1916 and joined the 53rd Battalion in France on 22 July. On 25 April 1918, near Villers-Bretonneux, he was wounded in action receiving gun shot wounds to the left elbow and left hip which saw him evacuated to England. He returned to Australia on 10 June 1919 and was discharged on 25 July 1919. Keir died in Port Kembla on 20 March 1972.

Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 140 pounds, chest 33 inches, dark complexion, grey eyes, dark brown hair, Church of England.

Queanbeyan Age - 18 September 1914, 28 March 1916, 31 March 1916, 12 January 1917, 6 July 1917
Our Queanbeyan 'Boys', Howard & Shearsby, Yass (postcard)
Rex Cross, Bygone Queanbeyan, 1980
National Archives (A202) 1914/4381 Full names of Officers and Employees, Federal Territory Salaries Register
National Archives (A362) DSE1919/318 Agistment - Garnet Keir
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
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)