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Enlisting in New Zealand - Samuel Arthur Carroll

Samuel Arthur Carroll

Born: 12 February 1881 at Bridgenorth, Tasmania

Many Tasmanians did not enlist in their home state. Samuel Carroll, originally from Bridgenorth, was working in New Zealand when he enlisted with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 18 December 1915.

Samuel was born at Bridgenorth on the east side of the Tamar River where he was the 10th child born to Michael and Elizabeth Carroll. He was educated at Bridgenorth School and spent his early life assisting on the family farm cutting timber and splitting palings to be sold.

Work on the small farm was hard and the soil was not all that productive resulting in Samuel seeking work else. Samuel worked in Tasmania’s west coast mines before trying his luck on the gold fields of Kalgoolie, in Western Australia; and in South Australia. He also turned his hand to other jobs to get by.

Enlistment

In 1913, Samuel moved to New Zealand and found work in a gold mine at Waiuta Blackwater on the West Coast of the South Island. The conditions were wet and cold after Australia. He went to Christchurch and there he did several different jobs before enlisting.

Time in the mines meant it was no surprise Samuel was assigned to the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company, Section No 4 and in Relief No 3. Samuel served in France as did his brother, Daniel Francis Carroll, who enlisted in Tasmania on 2 November 1915 with the 12th Battalion Although the two were only a few miles away they never saw each other.

Samuel was discharged on 3 February 1918 for being:

“No longer fit for active service on account of illness contracted on active service.”

After the being discharged, it took Samuel several years to regain stable health.

Patriotic Bridgenorth

Though Samuel never returned to live in Tasmania his name does appear in The Examiner dated 11 March 1920 which reported about the “Bridgenorth hall committee concluding its patriotic entertainment on Wednesday, when medals were presented to the soldiers of the district”.

Daniel Carroll was among the local soldiers at the medal presentation at Bridgenorth which was attended by 300 people, including people from the surrounding districts of Launceston and Westbury.

Allegiances to the two Anzac countries

On 26 December 1919 Sam married Lucinda Parker in Christchurch, New Zealand. The couple had two children Bernard and Mary.

Samuel had a love for two countries and would tell his family stories of farming at Bridgenorth among the kangaroos, possums and snakes. Tasmania was where he was born and grew up and New Zealand where he chose to live, fight for, marry and raise his family. Both countries should be proud of him. Samuel passed away peacefully on 3 May 1947 and was interred in the Soldiers’ Portion Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch. New Zealand.