Reginald Joseph CAMPBELL
Service
number: 6477. Age:
19 years 9 months. Enlisted: 11 Apr 1918.
Occupation: Seaman. Next of kin: (mother) Mrs Clara Campbell.
Address on enlistment: Toorbul Point.
Occupation: Seaman. Next of kin: (mother) Mrs Clara Campbell.
Address on enlistment: Toorbul Point.
The
quarterdeck of HMAS Brisbane covered
with snow
while in Portsmouth Dockyard on 29 Mar 1919.[1]
while in Portsmouth Dockyard on 29 Mar 1919.[1]
Service
Summary:
11 Apr 1918: Cerberus (naval training).
8 May 1918: HMAS Brisbane.
12 Jul 1919: Demobilized.
Service
Details:
During Reginald Campbell’s
service, HMAS Brisbane served in
Australian waters, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, United Kingdom and Malaya on
operational service and part tropical service.[2]
HMAS
Brisbane (1) history from May 1918 to
Jul 1919:
“From February to October 1918 Brisbane served in Australian waters on patrol duties due to the fear that
more German raiders would be sent to the Pacific Ocean.
On 21 Oct 1918 Brisbane departed Sydney for England and was at sea enroute from
Colombo to Aden when the Armistice of 11 Nov 1918 ended hostilities in the
First World War. She reached Mudros, on Lemnos Island, on 26 Nov 1918 and spent
a month operating with the Australian Destroyer Flotilla in the Eastern
Mediterranean. Sadly two of her sailors (Stoker 2nd Class JF Godier and Able
Seaman TJ Chitts) died from Spanish influenza on 2 Dec 1918 and were buried
ashore at East Mudros Military Cemetery.
Brisbane sailed through the Dardanelles, to the Sea of Marmara, and then
entered the Black Sea where she became part of British force that operated off
Sebastopol and Smyrna; as a show of force to support White Russian forces
engaged in fighting the Bolsheviks. In early 1919, Brisbane steamed to England and in late January commenced a refit,
at Portsmouth dockyard which lasted three months.
Captain Walter Thring, RAN took command of
Brisbane on 7 Apr 1919 and she sailed from Portsmouth for Australia on 17 Apr,
via Malta, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Singapore and Darwin. Earlier in the year
the British Admiralty had presented to Australia six J-Class submarines.
Escorted by the light cruiser HMAS Sydney
and the submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus,
the submarines had left Portsmouth for Australia earlier in the month. Later Sydney detached enroute and Brisbane assumed responsibility for the
escort of HMA Submarine J5 and towed her for some of the voyage to Sydney.
Proceeding ahead of Platypus and the
other submarines, Brisbane and J5
arrived at Sydney on 27 Jun 1919.”[3]
Life
Summary:
Reginald Campbell (1898-1972) was the second son of Joseph
Campbell[4]
(1871-1954) and Clara Elizabeth Payne (1874-1927) and was born 13 Jul 1898 in
Brisbane. The Campbell family had lived at Toorbul Point from the early 1900s
and Reg and his siblings had attended the Toorbul Point provisional school. After his World War One naval service, Reginald
Campbell was a seaman aboard the
excursion steamship Koopa which
travelled between Brisbane, Redcliffe and Bribie Island.
Reginald
Campbell in S.S. Koopa uniform, 1920s [5]
Reginald Campbell married Vera Huet in 1933 and the couple
resided on Bribie Island for the rest of their lives making their livelihood
from their Campbell’s Cash Store and boat hire business on South Esplanade. The
creek that ran beside their business was known as Campbell’s Creek (now known
as Williams Creek) and the bridge over this creek was known as Campbell Bridge,
South Esplanade.
Campbell’s boat shed on the beach at
South Esplanade, adjacent to their home.[7]
Reginald Campbell, aged 74, died in 1972 at Bribie Island and has a
memorial at the Albany Creek Memorial Park.
[1] Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial J03228 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C3514?image=1
[2] Source: NAA BP709/1 M35756 Service record 6477
Reginald Joseph Campbell
[3] Source: Royal Australian Navy HMAS Brisbane (1) http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-brisbane-i
[4] Joseph Campbell’s ancestors were Aboriginal
people from Moreton Bay.
[5] Source: Ancestry.com, ID 1066cmd, accessed 9
Feb 2014.
[6]
Source: Bribie Island Historical Society VC8_134 Vera Campbell’s photo album /
Ted Clayton collection
[7]
Source: Bribie Island Historical Society VC8_135 Vera Campbell’s photo album /
Ted Clayton collection
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