Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

22/03/1917

Date of Discharge

23/11/1919

Place of Enlistment

Queanbeyan NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Ted'

Date of Birth

10/07/1888

Place of Birth

Canberra ACT

Address (at enlistment)

'Kia Ora', Ainslie ACT

Occupation

Farmer

Next of Kin

Elizabeth Shumack (mother), Ainslie ACT

Service Number

6875

Final Rank

Lance Corporal

Final Unit

19 Battalion AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St., Queanbeyan NSW

Ted Shumack was born in 1888 and farmed in the Upper Canberra area with his family. He was a foundation member of the Canberra Rifle Club and enlisted in March 1917 with the 20th reinforcements to the 19th Battalion (known as the Sportsman's Unit) with Everard Crace of Gungahleen. He joined the 35th Battalion in France in January 1918; his unit stopped the advance of the Germans at Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918. He was hospitalised shortly after with trench fever and transferred to England. Shumack returned to his unit in September and was appointed as a Lance Corporal, finally returning to Australia in September 1919. He and Jack Butt were welcomed home at the Ainslie Amusement Hall in October where he was presented with a gold medal. Shumack was discharged on 23 November 1919.

After the war Shumack continued to farm at Kia Ora until 1937 when he bought a property near Cowra. His son, Peter and daughter, Elizabeth both served in World War 2. He died in Canberra on 13 December 1950.

Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 176 pounds, chest 36-39 inches, ruddy complexion, grey eyes, black hair, Church of England, scar back of right wrist, scar on left shin.

National Library of Australia: Country Women's Association of NSW (Canberra Branch) History, 1959 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 734)
National Library of Australia: Canberra Rifle Club Minute Book 1914-1939 (manuscript call no. NLA MS 3996)
Queanbeyan Age - 13 July 1917, 4 November 1919
Canberra & District Historical Society photographs 2538, 2539, 2540
Stand-to, vol.1, Dec 1950 (p.31)
Elizabeth White, 'Shumack Family', manuscript NLA (pp.274,275)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)