Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 04/04/1915
- Date of Discharge
- 09/03/1917
- Place of Enlistment
- Liverpool NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 08/07/1891
- Place of Birth
- Tharwa ACT
- Address (at enlistment)
- 'Hillview' via Michelago NSW (previously Tharwa ACT)
- School(s) Attended
- Tharwa School, Michelago Public School
- Occupation
- Labourer
- Next of Kin
- Michael McMahon (father), Michelago NSW
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 1276
- Final Rank
- Lance Corporal
- Final Unit
- 20 Battalion AIF
Commemoration
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Michelago Public School Roll of Honour
Notes
Michael McMahon was born near Tharwa (he was a twin), the older brother of Tim McMahon and a half-brother of William and John Grady. The family farmed in the Naas district and McMahon was initially schooled at Tharwa but the family moved to Michelago in about 1908. McMahon embarked for overseas in June 1915 as a Private with the 20th Battalion. He landed in Gallipoli on 21 August 1915 taking part in the relief of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at The Nek and Russell's Top. He returned to Egypt in January 1916 and proceeded to France where he was appointed as a Lance Corporal in March. Two months later he was wounded in action near Armentierres with gun shot wounds to his right ankle (causing fractures) and left thigh. After being treated in England he returned to Australia in November 1916 and was discharged on 9 March 1917. McMahon returned to Michelago to live and farm and remained a bachelor for the rest of his life. He died of a heart attack on 11 June 1956 and was buried in Michelago Cemetery.
Description - height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 145 pounds, chest 32 to 34½ inches, dark complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, Catholic.
Sources
Rex Cross, Bygone Queanbeyan, 1980
Matthew Higgins, A Century of Learning : Tharwa Primary School 1899-1999, (1999)
Valerie Bofinger, Ryan: from Moycarkey, Tipperary to Mulligans Flat NSW, 1999
Queanbeyan Age - 14 July 1916, 23 February 1917
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)