Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War II (1939-1945)
- Date of Enlistment
- 07/10/1941
- Date of Discharge
- 11/03/1946
- Place of Enlistment
- Paddington NSW
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 11/01/1916
- Place of Birth
- Sydney NSW
- Address (at enlistment)
- Deakin ACT
- School(s) Attended
- Canberra Grammar, Hawkesbury Agricultural College
- Occupation
- Labourer
- Next of Kin
- James Prowse (father), Deakin ACT
Unit and Rank Details
- Service Number
- NX48862
- Final Rank
- Private
- Final Unit
- 13 Aust Small Ships Company
Notes
Charles Prowse was born in Sydney in 1916, although his family was living at Bundanoon at the time. The Prowse family arrived in Canberra in 1926 when his father opened a shop at Eastlake (now Kingston). He opened a second shop in the Sydney Building on 3 May 1927, believed to be the first business to operate in Civic. After completing his schooling Charl worked on several properties including a stint as a jackeroo at Lanyon from 1936. He left there in 1938 to join his father in a carrying business carting bricks to building sites around Canberra.
When the war broke out Charl joined the militia but enlisted in the AIF in 1941 with the 2/7 Australian Armoured Regiment with which he served until the unit was disbanded in 1944. He finished the war with the Small Ships Company in Bougainville.
The Prowse family had bought Hill Station (in Hume) in 1944 but after the war they sold it and purchased Big Tinderry on the Queanbeyan River. Charl married Enid Elphinstone in 1947 and continued to work Big Tinderry until moving to Pearce and joining a landscaping firm. After retiring, Charl eventually moved to Mirinjani in Weston where he died on 2 February 2009.
Sources
Irwin Prowse, 'From Cornwall to the Colonies: A Prowse Chronicle 1760-1990', 1992
Susan Mary W. Withycombe. 'Lanyon: Within Living Memory', 1988 (refer chapter 6)
WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
The Canberra Times - 7 February 2009 (p.B14)