MILLS Walter Henry (Harry)

Walter Henry (Harry) Mills Military History

Harry Mills was the second of three brothers to enlist in World War 1. The others were Thomas James Mills and John Robert Mills. Both of these were sent to Egypt for training. They were both repatriated to Australia in ill-health within a few months of arrival there. Harry was to have a longer absence from Australia.

Harry enlisted at Brisbane on 20 January 1915. He was a carpenter at Eumundi with his next of kin his mother Maria Hill of the same address. His personal details on enlistment were age 28 years 4 months; height 5 feet 7 inches; weight 141 pounds; eyes blue; hair brown.

Harry was a private in 25th Battalion B Company. The unit embarked from Brisbane on 29 June 1915 aboard the Aeneas . He first went to Egypt for training, There he was hospitalised with jaundice in December 1915. In early 1916 his Battalion moved to France. There Harry was involved in the Battle of Pozieres.

Charles Bean, the official Australian historian of WW1 said the Pozieres ridge €œis more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth€. Harry did not sacrifice his life there, but he sacrificed his freedom for close to two and a half years. He was reported as missing in action on 24 July 1916. Later it was confirmed that he was a prisoner of war of the Germans.

It would be many months later before his mother officially learned he was safe, even though he was a P.O.W. A letter dated 3 May. 1917 from Base Records, Victoria Barracks advised her that €œNo 944, Private W.H. Mills, is now officially reported prisoner of war. He was captured at Pozieres 23 .7 .16 interned at Gafangerenlager, Wahn, Germany.€

In the meantime, Harry, perhaps through the Red Cross, had written on 27 August 1916 to his bank manager in London:- €œWill you oblige me by writing to the Head Office of the Australian Offices, London, to arrange for 5s, every week to be paid out the 1s a day allotted to myself to some firm in England for a parcel each week. I am sorry to have to worry you so much, I know no-one in England. First parcel to contain tea, sugar, tin beef, biscuits, rolled oats, tobacco. If you cannot arrange with them, use the money to my credit. I am, yours truly, W.H. Mills.€

Harry had given his address as €œNo 944 Private W.H. Mills. 25 Battalion, 7th Brigade, A.I.F., Prisoner of War, Dulmen Internment Camp, Westfalia, Germany.€

The bank manager promptly forwarded the request to the Officer Commanding Headquarters A.I.F. Horseferry Road, Westminster. The official records do not disclose what action, if any, was taken in respect of Harry€™s request.

If Harry could write to his bank, might he have written to his mother also?

After the Armistice Harry was returned to England with other prisoners of war. On 15 January 1919 the Townsville Daily Bulletin published an official list of €˜repatriated Queenslanders€™- prisoners of war who had arrived in England. On 5 March 1919 he embarked in England for return to Australia on the Nevada. He arrived back in Australia on 1 May 1919, almost four years since his departure. He was discharged on 30 June 1919.

He is commemorated locally in the Eumundi District Roll of Honour in the School of Arts in Memorial Avenue.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.

Personal History

Mills Family Background.

The Mills Queensland story commenced with the arrival in Brisbane of immigrant ship Light Brigade on 18 May, 1863. On board were James and Catherine Mills with their three young children, Walter James 5, Anna 4 and infant Arthur. James and Catherine had been born and married in Coventry, Warwickshire, England.

James died in Brisbane on 11th December the following year. This left widow Catherine with three fatherless children. She was pregnant with a fourth. Emily Agnes was born in 1865, but died the next year. Somehow Catherine managed to raise the remaining children. The story continues with the eldest child, Walter James Mills, born Coventry in 1858.

Walter married Maria Hussey in 1878. They had nine children over the next eighteen years. There were five sons and four daughters. Two sons had died in infancy before Walter died at Caboolture in 1896. This left Maria with a young family. The youngest, Hannah, born in 1896 died in 1898.

How Maria coped isn't known. By the time of the 1903 and 1905 electoral rolls she was living at Wharf Road, Caboolture. Then in 1907 she married carpenter Francis Gustavus Hill. Soon after, the family moved to Eumundi where Maria was to live until the 1920s. During the First World War all three surviving sons joined the armed forces. They were Walter Henry (Harry) born 1886, Thomas James, born 1891, and John Robert, born 1893.

Both Harry and Thomas gave Maria, at Eumundi, as their next-of-kin. John was already married when he enlisted, so his next-of-kin was his wife.

Harry

Harry was born on 23 September 1886. His war records state he was born at Caboolture but a family tree on Ancestry.com states he was born on Bribie Island. Since a Bribie Island birth would have been registered at Caboolture this seems feasible. Harry was 10 when his father died. He went to school in Caboolture. After school he became a carpenter. In the early 1900s the family lived at Wharf Road, Caboolture,

After his mother Maria married carpenter Francis Hill in 1907 all of the family moved to Eumundi. In the period 1908-1914 there was a building boom in Eumundi. There was a heavy influx of new settlers. Many new town buildings - churches, banks, shops and the School of Arts plus many new cottages were built. So there was ample work for carpenters. Harry's occupation when he enlisted was "carpenter".

On Harry's return to Eumundi he married Ada Burrell there on 16 May 1919. Ada had been born in Eumundi in 1888 to early settlers William and Hannah Burrell. Later in 1919 the couple moved to Caboolture, which was to be their home for the whole of their married life. In the next 10 years they had five children at Caboolture - four daughters and a son.

In 1951 Ada died. By that time all five children had married and left Caboolture. Two were in Brisbane, and one each at Childers, Maroochydore and Buderim. Harry continued to live at Caboolture, appearing in the 1954 electoral roll as a carpenter. Whether he had been a carpenter for the whole of the period 1919-1954 isn't known. Unless people changed address, any change of occupation did not appear in the electoral rolls.

On 4 September 1954, Harry married Isabella Pratt at Murwillumbah, New South Wales. He was three weeks short of his 68th birthday. The couple had a son born the following year The electoral roll of 1958 showed this couple at Tygalgah via Murwillumbah. Harry at 72 was a farmer.

Harry died at Murwillumbah on 6 September 1961, just shy of his 75th birthday. His widow Isabella moved to 17 Riverview Street Murwillumbah, She appeared there in the 1963 electoral roll. She was still there in the 1980 roll. She died at Murwillumbah in 2008.

By 2011 all five of Harry's children with Ada were deceased. He is survived by the son born to Isabella and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Eumundi & District Roll of Honour Board, Eumundi Memorial School of Arts Hall, Memorial Drive, Eumundi (as H Mills).

Eumundi Methodist Church and Sunday School Honour Board, Eumundi Museum, Memorial Drive, Eumundi

Maroochy Shire Honor Roll, Shire Chambers, Bury Street, Nambour

Nambour (Maroochy Shire) Roll of Honor Scroll, Private Collection, Nambour (this scroll was available for sale to the public after the war)(on scroll twice)

Photo: AWM P03236.037

Sources-Military
National Archives of Australia, WW1 records
AIF Project
Mapping our Anzacs

Sources - Personal
Indexes Queensland Immigration 1848-1912
Queensland Justice Department bdm Historical Index Searching
NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages
Newspapers -Nambour Chronicle
Australian newspapers digitized (Trove)
Electoral Rolls Queensland and New South Wales