Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 11/08/1914
- Date of Discharge
- 04/03/1915
- Place of Enlistment
- Sydney NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Other Name(s)
- Known as Edwawrd James Cotter Oldfield or 'Ted'
- Date of Birth
- 25/09/1891
- Place of Birth
- Coolamine NSW
- Address (at enlistment)
- Gudgenby ACT
- Occupation
- Labourer
- Next of Kin
- Thomas Edward Oldfield (father), Gudgenby ACT
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- 979
- Final Rank
- Private
- Final Unit
- Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF)
Notes
Ted Oldfield was one of the first men from this district to enlist in August 1914. The Monaro Pioneers Index refers to him as Edward James Cotter Oldfield who was born at Coolamon (or Coolamine) on the western side of the Brindabellas. He was the younger brother of Tarlton Oldfield and the uncle of Tom Fisher and grew up in the upper Cotter valley and at Gudgenby. The Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) raised a battalion of 1000 volunteers in Sydney on 11 August 1914 for six months overseas service with the object of seizing and destroying German wireless stations in the Pacific and occupying the German territory of New Guinea. The Territory was administered from Rabaul on the island of New Britain. Troops landed on New Britain on 11 September and by 21 September the Germans had formally surrendered in their New Guinea territories. Oldfield returned to Australia by February 1915 where he was discharged on the expiration of his service. He did not enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Oldfield married Edith Marshall in 1916 at Moss Vale and they had two children. He died on 18 October 1955.
Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 168 pounds, chest 39 inches, fair complexion, blue eyes.
Sources
Peter Procter, 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan', Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001, p.246
Matthew Higgins, 'Rugged Beyond Imagination', 2009 (references to his parents)
Matthew Higgins, 'Voices from the Hills. Places, People and Past Lifestyles in Namadgi National Park', KHA 1990
Wendy McLennan, 'The Mayo Connection', 1996 (p.175)
Monaro Pioneers Index WW1 - www.monaropioneers.com/1st_aif_participants.htm
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)