Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

05/10/1916

Date of Discharge

12/08/1919

Place of Enlistment

Goulburn NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Ted'

Date of Birth

20/11/1890

Place of Birth

Reedy Creek via Tharwa ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Naas via Tharwa ACT

School(s) Attended

Naas School

Occupation

Labourer

Next of Kin

Joseph Matthew Oldfield (father), Mistley Cottage, Naas ACT

Service Number

4647

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

45 Battalion AIF

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

Ted Oldfield was born at Reedy Creek in the Naas district. Though some sources give his year of birth as 1891, it seems probable that he was born in 1890. Reedy Creek is a remote area of the ACT and, according to Higgins, when Oldfield's mother went into labour two of his brothers were sent during the night to fetch the nearest midwife, Catherine McNamara, who lived several miles away. During the 1890s his family moved down river to Mistley Cottage (also known as The Old Place) at Top Naas when his father became manager of 'Naas' station. After leaving school Oldfield worked as a shepherd in the snow country of the upper Cotter staying at Cotter Hut and De Salis Hut (just above Corin Dam). He would shoot wallabies and trap rabbits for further income.

Oldfield was farewelled at the Triumph Hall in Queanbeyan in November 1916 shortly before embarking for England with the 12th reinforcements to the 30th Battalion. He fell ill on arrival and was hospitalised but landed in France in July 1917 as a reinforcement to the 45th Battalion. His unit was in support at Polygon Wood in Belgium in September 1917 and fought at Passchendaele (Belgium) during October 1917, at Dernancourt (France) in April 1918 and in the Battle of Amiens which began on 8 August 1918. Oldfield received a gun shot wound to the knee later that month and was hospitalised in Rouen and then Le Havre. According to his son, Oldfield was actually wounded in the hip and given a mattock as a crutch before being picked up by an American unit and taken to hospital. He landed in Australia in May 1919 and was discharged in August 1919 after which he returned to the Naas district.

After receiving his back pay from the army, Oldfield bought a house in Queanbeyan for his parents and took over the running of 'The Old Place' (Mistley Cottage). He married Amy Brooks from Adaminaby in 1921 and bought 'Naas' in 1923, however his wife died from pneumonia in 1934 leaving him with two young sons to raise. Described as "taciturn and moody" after the war, Oldfield also leased land in the Booth Range and on Long Plain (on the western side of the Brindabellas). He left the district in 1957 and moved to 'Ellerslie' near Young NSW. Oldfield died in a car accident on 8 September 1978 near Young.

Description - height 5 feet 10½ inches, weight 163 pounds, chest 34-38 inches, dark complexion, hazel eyes, black hair, Church of England, partial plate upper jaw, muscularly developed, scar left cheek.

Richard Begbie, 'Max Oldfield: The story of his ride', 2016
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Matthew Higgins, 'Voices from the Hills. Places, People and Past Lifestyles in Namadgi National Park', KHA 1990
Matthew Higgins, 'Rugged Beyond Imagination', 2009 (p.68)
Queanbeyan Age - 7 November 1916, 14 August 1917, 14 November 1919, 20 September 1978, 27 September 1978
Queanbeyan/ Canberra Advocate - 6 November 1916, 9 November 1916
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Monaro Pioneers Index - http://www.monaropioneers.com/pioneers.htm