Bertie DUX
Service
number: 6158. Age:
19 years 8 months. Enlisted: 15 Jun 1916.
Occupation: Railway porter. Next of kin: (father) Mr John Dux.
Address
on enlistment:
Toorbul.
“Troop
transport HMAT A24 Benalla, crowded
with troops,
10 Oct 1914, Port Melbourne, Victoria.” [1]
10 Oct 1914, Port Melbourne, Victoria.” [1]
Service
Summary:
23 Jun 1916: Dubbo Depot.
25 Aug 1916: 18 Battalion, Liverpool, NSW.
16 Oct 1916: 17 reinforcement 23 Battalion.
23 Dec 1916: Embarked from Fremantle on A35
Berrima.
28 May 1917: Taken on strength 11 Battalion
in the field.
24 Aug 1918: Wounded in action.
“In 1917 the 11th battalion took
part in the brief advance that followed the German Army's retreat to the
Hindenburg Line. During a German counterattack at Louverval, France, in April
1917 Lieutenant Charles Pope was killed performing the deed for which he would
be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. The battalion subsequently returned to
Belgium to participate in the offensive that became known as the Third Battle
of Ypres.
The battalion helped to stop the German
spring offensive in March and April 1918, and later that year participated in
the great Allied offensive launched east of Amiens on 8 August 1918. This
advance by British and empire troops was the greatest success in a single day
on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as ‘the
black day of the German Army in this war’.
The 11th Battalion continued operations
until late September 1918. At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent.
This armistice was followed by a peace treaty, signed at Versailles on 28 June
1919.
In November 1918 members of the AIF began
to return to Australia. In February 1919, the 11th and 12th Battalions were
amalgamated due to steadily declining numbers in both battalions. They remained
so linked until their last members returned home for demobilisation and
discharge.” [2]
8 Oct 1919: Returned to Australia from
England on HT Benalla to Sydney.
15 Jan 1920: Discharged at Sydney.
Life
Summary:
Bertie Dux (1896-1972) was the second
youngest son of Johann Carl Gustav Dux (1852-1927) and Bertha Dorothea Lange
(1860-1948) and was born at Toorbul on 6 Oct 1896. The Dux family resided in
the Burpengary Creek/Toorbul area for many years.
Bertie Dux married Lottie Miranda
Bradley on 19 Jul 1919 at Bedford Park, England during his leave from 11
Battalion and while he was gaining experience in Motor Carriage building.
After Bertie Dux was discharged, he and his
wife lived in Sydney where he worked as a railway ticket collector and their first
two children were born. By 1924, Bertie Dux, his wife and family had moved to Brisbane where Bertie Dux worked as a labourer.
Gustav Dux, a crabber by trade, is
standing outside his slab hut, circa 1895. [3]
It is believed that Gustav Dux in the photo above was the father of Bertie Dux.
The slab hut was probably close to Burpengary Creek / Deception Bay.
It is believed that Gustav Dux in the photo above was the father of Bertie Dux.
The slab hut was probably close to Burpengary Creek / Deception Bay.
Bertie Dux enlisted three times to serve
in the Second World War (9 Nov 1939-30 Jan 1940: Q187329 – 1 Grn Bn; 10 Jul 1940-
15 Oct 1940: QX14482 – 8 Div Amn Coy; 21 Oct 1940- 12 Dec 1940: Q59622 – 3 Wks
& Pks) however by Dec 1940 he had been discharged as medically unfit.
In 1949, Bertie Dux’s youngest son, Norman Dux, married Daphne Turner, a great
granddaughter of Fred Turner and Alma Turner (Kalmakuta) of Toorbul Point.
Bertie Dux, aged 77, died at Geebung on 2 Dec 1973.
[1] Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial PB0246 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PB0246/
[2] Australian War Memorial 11th
Australian Infantry Battalion https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51451
[3] Photo and caption source: Collection of Thomas
Lane Bancroft. State Library of Queensland negative number 273 Available online
at https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/246845
No comments:
Post a Comment