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not clear where he was located, but the attestation papers bear the signature for this unit's Commanding Officer in early May. By early June it seems he was at Broadmeadows for training. Here Harty's military

career takes a sharp turn from his brother's. The records contain a letter from his mother, received at 3rd Military District Headquarters on June 8. By this time the family were aware of Henry's death, and the

The letter from Beatrice GEYER to the Headquarters of the 3rd Military District requesting the discharge of her son Harty in June 1915 (from Harty GEYER’s records held by the Australian National Archives).

letter is a plaintive cry from a mother who has lost one son, and doesn't want to lose another. The letter reads (as written):

Dear Sir, my son that went with the Second Contingent Pvt H.C. Geyer died from his wound at the Dardenelles. Their is a second son just turned 18 years he is at Broad Meadows training now Neither my Husband or self have given him consent would you kindly oblige me & family by giving him a discharge as I am broken hearted over the sad loss of my eldest son & I don't want my second son to go accross the water, & you will kindly oblige us all by doing so. I remain Yours Truely

Beatrice Geyer.

The military acted quickly on Beatrice GEYER's request. Minute papers in Harty's service record show an immediate request for details on his enlistment. The Camp Commandant states "Unless this man receives the consent of his parents he is to be discharged. Action taken to be communicated to District Headquarters". The subsequent notes show the requests path through the levels of army

bureaucracy. Only a week later on June 15, Harty had been discharged as a minor without consent.

The discharge is surprising in the light of the carnage later in the war. It also seems odd that the authorities discharged him as "without consent". A signed consent is clearly visible at the foot of the attestation papers (see the box on page 6). On the duplicate a note signed by the Medical Officer dated 2 March, 1915 says the consent is on the other form. It seems there are two possibilities. One is that Harty signed the consent himself - and the writing does bear a marked resemblance to his own elsewhere on the form. The other is that less than a year into a war that was expected "to be over by Christmas" and barely a month after the first news of the huge casualties at Gallipoli, someone in the military hierarchy took pity on Beatrice and sent her son back to her.

As a postscript, Beatrice may not have been entirely happy with how things turned out. In trawling through the Australian Newspaper Digitisation project we find a report in the Argus (published in Melbourne) reporting the Bendigo court news in August 1916. Three articles during the week

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report charges, a trial started, and then the outcome. All are short, and the last is to the point - it reads:

Two men, Harty Geyer, 20 years of age, and George Elliott, 23 years of age, who were defended by Mr. J. Brady, were found guilty in the Bendigo Supreme Court on Friday on a charge of assaulting and robbing Joseph Foon on July 28, and Mr. Justice A'Beckett sentenced them, each to six months imprisonment, with hard labour. 11

The age, locality, and unusual name would suggest this is our Harty GEYER. Mr FOON would appear to be Chinese or of Chinese ethnicity. There were (and are) other people with this surname in Bendigo. No other details were located on the circumstances leading up to the assault.

Why did Harty run off the rails. Was this a response to his brothers death? Had he already been in trouble? Was he led astray by his older friend? As we haven't had any contact with this line of the family, that will remain a mystery for the time being.

Sources: 1 http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=

4002189&I=1&SE=1 2 http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-

periods/ww1/1aif/4div/04bde/14th_battalion_aif.htm 3 http://www.awm.gov.au/units/place_493.asp 4 http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Transports.html 5 http://www.anzacs.org/index_cd2.html 6 http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/Letters/GermanMerchantship

SSDerfl.html 7 http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx

?casualty=108846 8 http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx

?cemetery=10702&mode=1 9 http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=

4002188&I=1&SE=1 10 http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=

4002187&I=1&SE=1 11 Argus (Melbourne, Vic.) Saturday 19 August 1916 p8

(accessed from http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/)

The bottom of page one in Harty GEYER’s attestation papers – the papers are completed when the applicant ‘attests’ his suitability to enlist. The handwritten notation reads “I consent to my son Harty joining the Australian Imperial Force” and is signed “H. Geyer” with the address “34 Chum St, Golden Sq”.

A TALE OF TOM BORTHWICK Author’s note: "Uncle Tom who died in the war"

was the name that went with a photo above my grandmother's fireplace. After researching this story he now means much more to me – Phil.

Thomas James BORTHWICK was born to Lily Maud and Thomas Adam BORTHWICK on October 14, 1918 at Okahukura near Taumarunui. Tom was the eighth of what would be fifteen children. Thomas Snr was born in New Zealand, and travelled to Australia on three occasions to work. He married the daughter of Henry GEYER and Margaret ROGERS at Menindee in April 1906. The couple moved to New Zealand in 1911. Family tradition says that Granny BORTHWICK wanted to see her

grandchildren. They never returned to Australia. Tom grew up in Ohura, and like many children of the depression era left school at 14. An outdoor boy, he took up farm work, later working in the timber mill at Waimea, and then the freezing works at Patea. Tom married Lynora Vivian WILLS (known as 'Viv'), daughter of Albert John and Agnes Kathleen (nee ROBERTS) in Patea on June 14, 1938. He was only 19. Family was swift in coming, with Allan born in 1938, Janet in 1941, and Graham in 1943.

The NZDF records1 for Tom are incomplete. Some pages from microfilm are nearly impossible to decipher. The attestation papers and history sheet survive, but no casualty form. The history sheet tells us which units a soldier was posted to. The casualty