Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

12/08/1915

Date of Discharge

12/06/1919

Place of Enlistment

Warwick Farm NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Joe'

Date of Birth

09/07/1875

Place of Birth

Yarralumla ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Paddington NSW (previously Yarralumla and Naas ACT)

Occupation

Butcher

Next of Kin

Mary Ann Oldfield (wife), Paddington NSW

Service Number

5231

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

2 Anzac Headquarters AIF

Joe Oldfield was born in 1875 probably at Yarralumla, the younger brother of Jack Oldfield. He was a butcher by trade, married and living in Sydney when he enlisted in August 1915 at Warwick Farm. He served as a Private in the 45th Battalion in France from August 1916 until March 1917 after which he was attached to 2nd Anzac Headquarters until the end of the war. He was hospitalised twice with influenza and once with the measles and charged several times with being absent from camp, absent without leave and out of bounds without a pass before returning to Australia in March 1919 with premature senility. Oldfield was discharged in Sydney on 12 June 1919. A son, William Joseph Oldfield, enlisted a few days before him and was killed in action on 13 February 1917. Joe Oldfield died on 9 June 1932 in North Sydney.

Description - height 5 feet 4¼ inches, weight 124 pounds, chest 37 inches, sallow complexion, blue eyes, dark hair, Church of England.

Peter Procter, 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan', Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001 (p.245; refer to entry for his father John Oldfield)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Monaro Pioneers Index WW1 - www.monaropioneers.com/1st_aif_participants.htm