My Family Tree

Birth 2545/1897 CHATFIELD, William W. William W & Elizabeth A Coonabarabran
Death 10451/1953 CHATFIELD, William Wallace William Webster & Elizabeth Ada Dubbo
Find A Grave Memorial# 124802156
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The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW : Tuesday 14 April 1953)
BODY FOUND IN
RIVER

The body of a 57-years-old man, William CHATFIELD, of no fixed abode, was discovered in the Macquarie River, Dubbo, last Friday afternoon by a passer-by.

He informed Constable Fitzgerald and the body was removed to the morgue. Clyde CHATFIELD, employed at Mungeribar via Narromine, identified the body as that of his father. The body had been in the water for two or three days when it was found. A postmortem is to be held on the body by the Govt. Medical Officer, Dr. Conlon and an inquest will follow.
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The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW : Tuesday 14 April 1953)
Mr. W. W. CHATFIELD

Mr. William Wallace CHATFIELD, aged 58, was drowned in the Macquarie River at Dubbo on Thursday. The late Mr. Chatfield had for many years worked on the property of Mr. B. Lindsay, of Mungeribar Station. His wife died some years ago. He is survived by five sons, William, Clyde, Kenneth, Robert and Ronald, and six daughters, Emily (Mrs. Johnson), Cornelius, Mavis (Mrs. McAlister), Eliza (Mrs. Walker), Mary and Madge. The funeral left for the Church of England portion of the Coonabarabran cemetery on Sunday morning. Messrs. C. J. Shakespeare and Sons were in charge of funeral, arrangements.
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The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW : Wednesday 20 May 1953)
DROWNED IN RIVER
The body of a man fully dressed, was recovered by Dubbo police with grappling irons from the Macquarie River on April 10. He was William Robert CHATFIELD, 58, who had been employed, on Mungeribar Station, Narromine.

At Dubbo Coroner's Court yesterday the District Coroner (Mr. G. J. Christie) found that death was due to drowning. Sgt. F. Phelan assisted the Coroner. Sgt. McPhee said that shortly before 2 pm on April 10 the went with other police to the traffic bridge at Dubbo. The body of a man was brought out by a grappling iron. There were no marks of violence on the body with the exception of a small bruise on the left shin. About two weeks prior to April 10, the deceased had visited his people at Coonabarabran. He was addicted to drink. "It would be quite easy for anyone to fall into the river as the banks are very steep," said Sgt. McPhee. Clyde Chatfield gave evidence of identifying the body as that of his father. His father had had an accident from a motor lorry and had never been the same. Dr. Springhall said he examined the body at the Base Hospital and in his opinion death was due to drowning.
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Signed up 9 Jun 1918 in AIF as an ANZAC. Stated he was a labourer.
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The Canberra Times (ACT : Wednesday 4 May 1988)
FOR KING AND COUNTRY
IN THE last few months of 1917 the Australian Light Horse — the famous Australian mounted force which made the epic charge on Turkish positions in the Sinai Desert at Beersheba — played a major part in the Allied push into southern Palestine which ultimately loosed the German-Turkish hold in the Middle East.

Back in Australia only a year earlier, the new nation had been coming to grips with the tragic result of its military baptism in the Gallipoli campaign.

For young William CHATFIELD, then an 18-year-old Aboriginal stockman from the Burra Bee Dee Mission near Coonabarabran, names such as Gallipoli, Lone Pine, Romani, Gaza, Magdahba and Beersheba were unknown. It was unlikely he would have learned about them in geography class at the old mission school.

Chatfield was one of six Aborigines from the Coonabarabran district who joined the Australian Light Horse and who fought in several overseas theatres, including the Allied offensive in Palestine.

Like most of the Light Horsemen who rode with Lieutenant-General Harry Chauvall, and who returned home having written Australia's name in the annals of military history, Chatfield and his five Aboriginal friends are long since dead. For Chatfield's son, Jack, the story does not die.

Jack, a 58-year-old groundsman with the Parks and Conservation Service of the ACT Administration in Canberra, recalls his dad's tales of life and work on the Aboriginal mission at Burra Bee Dee.

"The only job Dad and his mates could get was to work as horsemen on the stations in the far west," he said. "They learned to ride early in life because their livelihood depended on it.

"At the outbreak of World War I, Dad's five Aboriginal friends — Jack McClaren, James Goulding, Tom Fuller, Walter Williams and Bob Wadley — all joined the army in Coonabarabran in 1917. But Dad was too young to enlist, so he travelled the 27 miles to nearby Baradine, lied about his age, signed up and was off to the Middle East."

After Gallipoli, Australian troops including remnants of the Light Horse were moved to Egypt to counter Turkish moves in the Sinai and Palestine. The defences were boosted by merging veteran Gallipoli units with the newly arrived contingents from Australia.

With Britain's Major-General Allenby in command, the War Office had approved the establishment of an ANZAC mounted division consisting of Australian light horsemen and some mounted rifle brigades from New Zealand. After an Allied victory over the Turks at Romani in August, 1917, the Light Horse was to be part of an offensive to outflank Turkish defences in the strategic town of Gaza and to capture the valuable water supplies at the Wells of Beersheba.

"Dad was a trooper with the Australian Light Horse, and he would tell of the hard march through the desert in the lead-up to Beersheba," Jack Chatfield said.

"Although he never mentioned if all his Aboriginal friends from the mission took part in the attack, he recalled the burning heat which he said was worse than outback New South Wales and the urgent need for water — not just for the troopers but for their horses. He would say that because of the need for water, Beersheba had to be taken in a day."

The Beersheba attack routed the Turks, setting the stage for the capture of Gaza and the Allied drive north. "Although he never boasted about it, I know Dad was proud to be part of that famous charge."

Three weeks before Christmas, 1917, Jerusalem fell, General Allenby entering the Holy City on foot — a victor's mark of respect to its sacredness. Nearly a year later, Damascus fell, then Aleppo, the Turks' regional capital. On October 31, 1918 — a year after the Beersheba charge — the Turkish Government sued for armistice terms and the conflict in the Middle East came to an end.

General Allenby described the Australian Light Horse as "equal to the best". They earned themselves the gratitude of the Empire and the admiration of the world. Jack Chatfield has a right to be proud of his dad.

But history often deals irony to its warriors, and it did so to the Coonabarabran Aborigines. The freedoms for which they had fought under the banner of King, Country and Empire were to elude them when they returned to Australia.

For returned soldiers like William CHATFIELD, the freedoms which they, as troopers of the Australian Light Horse, had encountered and enjoyed in foreign countries were as far away from Coonabarabran as was Beersheba.

"Back at home those Aboriginal men were not even allowed in the pubs," Jack Chatfield recounts. Like most Aborigines of that period they had to have a government ticket to enable them to come and go from the missions and reserves.

"They had fought with pride and conviction for a cause their country believed in. But they had fought for nothing — they weren't even citizens in their own country."

According to Jack CHATFIELD, most of the Aborigines returned to the Coonabarabran district and worked as roustabouts, some cutting sleepers for the railway, others taking on sheep shearing. William Chatfield wed and got a job on the old mission at Burra Bee Dee.

Recalling family life on the settlement, Jack said: "He raised 11 of us kids on eight bob a day, working on that reserve."

But Jack harbours no bitterness — he simply wants the story told. "Maybe time eventually does change some of the things we strive for. The government tickets are no longer required. Opportunities are being offered to Aboriginals and social attitudes are changing."

And in the Coonabarabran cemetery there are six graves which honour those Light Horsemen of 71 years ago.
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Andrew Roberts - Blacktown
Private Andrew Roberts from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment Task Force provides security during a task at the Multi National Base - Tarin Kot.

A modern day warrior from Blacktown in Sydney and currently serving in Afghanistan is related to a warrior from Australia’s indigenous past.

21-year-old Private Andrew Roberts can trace his indigenous family history to the young warrior, Gambu Ganuurru or Red Kangaroo, whose life was recorded in the 1953 Australian classic The Red Chief by Ion L. Idriess.

The story of the Red Chief is an18th century tale of adventure but has its basis in a true story handed down from generation to generation by his tribe and given by the last survivor, "King" Bungaree, to the white settlers of the Gunnedah district of New South Wales.

Today, Andrew is in Uruzgan, adding to his family history, and says he is proud to be an indigenous soldier in the Australian Army.

“When I was young I didn’t really understand what my indigenous culture was all about until my school was involved in a NAIDOC festival,” Andrew said.

“Aboriginal elders taught us about our culture and traditions and we learnt to understand where we were from and to be proud of who we are. My father is from the Kamalroi tribe and my mother was from the Bundjalung tribe,” he said.

“It’s sad a lot of indigenous people don’t know what tribe they are from because of the stolen generation children who were removed from their families in the early 1900s,” Andrew added.

The Kamilaroi people are from the area between Tamworth and Goondiwindi and west to Narrabri, Walgett and Lightning Ridge. In the south-west, their country extends to Coonabarabran and the eastern foothills of the Warrumbungle Ranges and includes the Warrumbungle National Park. Bundjalung people are the original custodians of northern coastal areas of New South Wales in the area including the Bundjalung National Park and Mount Warning.

After completing school in Blacktown and working as a Telstra administrator, Andrew decided to follow his childhood dream to become a soldier and his family always supported his decision to join the Army.

“Especially my younger brother Nathan, who is very proud of me, as is my older brother Adam and my sister Alynda,” Andrew said.

Andrew’s great grandfather, Trooper William Chatfield from Coonabarabran also served in the Defence Forces. He joined the AIF in 1918 and served with the Light Horse Regiment in the Middle East. He was one of the more than 400 indigenous Australians who fought during WWI. They came from a section of society with few rights, low wages and poor living conditions.

Most could not vote and none were counted in the census. But once in the AIF, they were treated as equals, paid the same as other soldiers and generally accepted without prejudice. For many Australians in 1914 the offer of 6 shillings a day for a trip overseas was simply too good to miss.

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