Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

23/08/1917

Date of Discharge

03/09/1919

Place of Enlistment

Queanbeyan NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

01/01/1899

Place of Birth

Tharwa ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Cuppacumbalong via Tharwa ACT

Occupation

Station hand

Next of Kin

Eleanor Oldfield (mother), 'Willow Glen', Naas ACT

Service Number

7086

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

34 Battalion AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW

Cuthbert Kirchner was working as a station hand at 'Cuppacumbalong' when he enlisted. He was a twin, probably born at his parents' property 'Glenview' near Tidbinbilla but his parents were divorced so only his mother was able to give him permission to enlist. He served with the 34th Battalion from July 1918 but was wounded in the shoulder in August 1918 east of Hamel during the Battle of Amiens. He rejoined his unit a month later and returned to Australia in June 1919, was discharged on 3 September 1919 and welcomed home at Tharwa in December 1919. After the war he obtained a soldier settlers' block near Pialligo but transferred it to another ex-serviceman in 1921. He attempted to enlist with the 3rd Battalion militia for service in World War 2 but was medically unfit as a result of his World War 1 service. His brother Robert served in World War 2. Kirchner died on 21 May 1969 and is buried in the ex-service's portion of the Woden Cemetery.

Description - height 5 feet 5½ inches, 123 pounds, chest 32½ -35 inches, ruddy complexion, brown eyes, black hair, Church of England, teeth left side required attention.

Lyall Gillespie, 'Early Verse of the Canberra Region' (pp.10,11), 1994
Susan Pfanner, 'Soldier Settlement Subdivisions in the FCT after World War 1', Canberra Historical Journal, March 1996
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Queanbeyan Age - 28 August 1917, 3 September 1918, 2 December 1919, 12 March 1920