Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

31/08/1915

Date of Discharge

15/05/1919

Place of Enlistment

Goulburn NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

19/02/1874

Place of Birth

Yarralumla ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Brindabella NSW (previously Naas and Yarralumla ACT)

Occupation

Overseer

Next of Kin

Elsie Oldfield (daughter), Manly NSW

Service Number

4864

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

Australian Army Service Corps AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW

Jack Oldfield was born at Yarralumla in 1874 and also lived at Naas and Brindabella, working as a mail contractor, coach driver and sheep overseer. He was a widower and father of three when he enlisted in August 1915 at Goulburn. He was farewelled at Brindabella on September where he was presented with a wrist watch before embarking for overseas in March 1916. He joined the 55th Battalion in April 1916, serving at Fromelles in July but was wounded in the left leg in March 1917 near Flers and transferred to hospital in England. He returned to his unit in November but was wounded a second time in April 1918, by gas at Villers-Bretonneux, and sent to the Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley. He was sent to France a third time and joined the 5th Depot Unit of Supply, Australian Service Corps in October 1918 before returning to Australia in January 1919 suffering rheumatism and was discharged on 15 May 1919. Oldfield died on 29 December 1943 and is buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Queanbeyan. He was the brother of Joe Oldfield.

Description - height 5 feet 4½ inches, weight 112 pounds, chest 31-33½ inches, dark complexion, brown eyes, brown hair, Church of England.

Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Peter Procter, 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan', Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001 (p.245)
Queanbeyan Age - 21 September 1915
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Monaro Pioneers Index WW1 - www.monaropioneers.com/1st_aif_participants.htm