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Robert Gordon Hawkins

Robert Hawkins

Robert Gordon Hawkins was born on 4 January 1899 and must have been keen to enlist as he gave his age as 18 and two months, increasing it by exactly one year, when he enlisted on 23 March 1916, at the age of 17.

Robert enlisted with the 40th Battalion AIF and did his initial training at Claremont, the same camp as his brother, William.

After only three months training, on 1 July 1916 William departed for the Western Front on board HMAT Berrima. The boat journey would last almost two months and eventually, on 22 August 1916, he landed at Devonport, Plymouth Harbour on the south coast of England.

Soon after, on 15 October 1916, he departed for France and landed at Etaples which, during World War One, was a base for hospitals and troops. Within a fortnight he had been transferred to the 51st Battalion where he spent some time assigned to the hospital.

In March 1917 he was transferred to the 1st Australian General Hospital. In July 1917 he was sent to Rouen, in France, where he was detained in a punishment compound for a month and lost his pay. Apparently he had been ‘drunk’ on active duty and refusing to go on ward duties. By January 1918, Robert was transferred again, this time to the 9 th Field Ambulance, whose prime role was to evacuate causalities from the battlefield, a task often undertaken by stretcher bearers and drivers while under heavy fire. It was while engaged in this role that Gordon was wounded in action by gas. Robert reportedly told his family he was not able to get the mask over his nose and mouth quickly enough. This delay was sufficient to affect his lungs and hence his breathing for the rest of his life.

Within five days he was transferred to Rouen, and then to Devonport, England. He recovered and by 23 September 1918 he was back in France. He re-joined his unit in October 1918 and remained in France until the following April, well beyond the Armistice of November 1918.

Robert Hawkins returned to Australia on 18 August 1919. He received the Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1914/15 Star Medal.

Photo courtesy of Mick Hawkins – The Hawkins Family Book.

Acknowledgement

Bruny Island Historical Society