Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

24/02/1915

Place of Enlistment

Liverpool NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Also known as 'Stan Grady'

Date of Birth

20/01/1896

Place of Birth

New Angledool NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Darlinghurst NSW (previously Canberra ACT)

School(s) Attended

St. John's (Canberra), Parramatta Marist Brothers

Occupation

Cook

Next of Kin

Son of Stephen (deceased) and Ada O'Grady of Darlinghurst NSW

Burial Place

No known burial place.

Service Number

952

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

18 Battalion AIF

Died (killed in action) on 22 August 1915 at Hill 60, Gallipoli aged 19 years. His body was not recovered.

Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli
AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 86, Canberra ACT

Stan O'Grady's birthplace has variously been given as Toowoomba and Canberra though his birth was registered (as Grady) at New Angledool near the Queensland border where his father, Stephen Grady, worked as a sheep overseer. Stephen Grady, who was born and raised in the Canberra area, died in February 1902 near Narranderra in the Riverina in a riding accident. He, at one time, had been a policeman (like his father) and a hotel keeper at North Bourke. Within a few years of his death Grady's family started calling themselves 'O'Grady'.

Stan O'Grady and his older brother moved to Canberra where they had family ties (they were nephews of Mrs. Bridget Young of Church Lane, Canberra and cousins of Michael Scannell) and they attended St. John's school. Their mother, Ada O'Grady, was English by birth and worked as a nurse in Darlinghurst in Sydney. He later lived at Acton and worked as a cook at the Kangaroo Café and the Power House mess before enlisting on 24 February 1915 at Liverpool. O'Grady served with the 18th Battalion which landed on Gallipoli on 19 August 1915. After resting for a day beneath the Sphinx they moved to Bauchop's Hill. On 22 August they attacked Hill 60 (the Kaiajik Aghyl - Sheepfold of the Little Rock) during which O'Grady was killed. According to a witness, O'Grady was shot on 22 August while charging up Hill 60 and he saw him fall. About seven weeks later they were 'body snatching' (attempting to recover bodies) "and found a body much decomposed and not recognisable, but within a few yards of where he had seen O'Grady fall. They also found part of O'Grady's pay-book."

Description - height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 145 pounds, chest 31-34½ inches, fair complexion, grey eyes, dark hair, Church of England.

Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Ann Gugler, 'The Builders of Canberra 1909-1929', 1994
Queanbeyan Age - 1 October 1915, 2 November 1915, 28 April 1916, 2 May 1916
Students roll, Schoolhouse Museum, St John's, Reid
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
AWM Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Files
AWM Collections Record : P03483.033 (portrait)
NAA (A361) DSG17/438 Appointment of Cooks at various Messes - Federal Territory
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)