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Fraser-W-Captain-Chaplain

Page history last edited by Lenore Frost 4 years, 9 months ago

Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington, 1914-1918

 

Weekly Times (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Saturday 18 September 1915, page 8

 

Fraser W (Rev)    Captain Chaplain  William  Chaplains          55    Clergyman    Married    Pres        

Address:    Moonee Ponds, Athol St, 8    

Next of Kin:    Fraser, Elizabeth (Bessie), Mrs, wife, 8 Athol St, Moonee Ponds    

Enlisted:    22 Aug 1916        

Embarked:     RMS Mooltan 22 Aug 1916    

And other voyages

 

Rev William Fraser served as the Minister for the  Ascot Vale Presbyterian Church, Maribyrnong Rd, Ascot Vale, from 1903 until his retirement in 1926.   He served in WW1 as a Chaplain in the AIF from 1915 to 1917.

 

 

TO SERVE THE TROOPS

CHAPLAIN DEPARTS

Ascot Vale Presbyterians will miss the Rev. W. Fraser, their minister, who has sailed as a chaplain with the rank of captain, on one of the troop ships.  Mr  Fraser is a very well known and highly respected minister, whose heart is with the Australian soldiers, and they may depend upon his doing his very best for them. At present Mr Fraser's destination is unknown, but all will wish him well, wherever his work may lie.

 

Mr Fraser has been granted six months' leave of absence by his congregation. In the school hall, prior to his departure, he was presented with a gold wristlet watch, suitably inscribed, and also a purse of sovereigns, which is the gift of the women of the congregation.

 

At a concert given by members of the choir, Messrs J. D. Graham, H. Robinson and J. Findlay, on behalf of the congregation, board of management, and session respectively, spoke of the fine work which Mr Fraser had done at Ascot Vale in the 12 years of his ministry there.

 

TO SERVE THE TROOPS. (1915, September 18). Weekly Times (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 8. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132706057

 

EMPIRE DAY ASCOT VALE STATE SCHOOL. CELEBRATION AT MOONEE PONDS TOWN HALL.

 

The Rev. Captain Fraser, who wore khaki, said that having recently returned from Egypt and England, he wanted to tell the scholars a few things about the Australian soldiers of which they were all so proud. When he landed at Suez a British officer, a man of great experience in India, remarked, "What splendid fellows you are bringing from Australia. They simply amaze me. I had no idea you grew such tall, strong, splendid fellows over there." They could imagine how proud he felt when he heard such praise from such a source. And at Zeitoun, when he witnessed an Australian march past, he was again proud to hear English officers express similar sentiments. "We are proud of such material," they said, "and they will do credit to Australia." Had they not already done that at Anzac? (Applause and cheers.) Then when he journeyed to England he heard the same thing. Tears came to the eyes of the English people when they spoke of the brave deeds of our boys. "How comes it that they are so brave ?" asked an elderly lady. "We understand that they were the sons of convicts." (Laughter.) "These soldiers," he replied, "are the sons of the best brawn and muscle that ever left the Motherland-the pioneers who felled the big trees and laid the foundation of the great Australian Commonwealth. They came across the waters, the voyage occupying them from 120 to 150 days, to new homes in a new land, which they explored and opened up. Australia got the best, the bravest; the weakest were left behind."

 

The Australian soldiers had shown themselves worthy of such fathers. They had won undying fame for themselves and their country. (Cheers.) At Lonesome Pine 8000 Turks fell before the onslaught of 2000 Australians, and what they had done at Gallipoli they would do in France. (Loud cheering.) Even the nurses said, "These boys are splendid--patient in suffering, and always cheery and bright and hopeful." You could always pick out an Australian soldier -and not by the feathers worn in their hats (and to show what a lot some of the English people knew about Australia it might be mentioned that some of them referred to these adornments as "kangaroo feathers.") (Loud laughter.) No, they might be picked out by their alertness and intelligence. Now, what did all this massing of troops and rush in munitions factories mean? It meant that we are fighting because we must keep our word, for we had given a pledge to stand by little Belgium. (Cheers.)

 

Australia was part of the great British Empire, and was assisting to honour that pledge. We were out to win and God would be with us. There were even more important studies than grammar and geography and arithmetic - every boy and girl should be grafted in the principles of nobility and truth, and so fitted to discharge their duties in the battle of life that they would meet them as manfully as our brave boys met their tasks at Gallipoli. (Cheers.)

 

EMPIRE DAY. (1916, June 1). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 4 Edition: Morning.. Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74593118

 

 

Australians and locals guides on donkeys in the Valley of the Kings, close to the

Royal Tombs, Luxor, South Egypt, 1917. Captain William Fraser, Chaplain is the

Australian on the donkey on the right.  http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/J00436

 

 

The best news I have for you is that we have the Rev. W. Fraser (Ascot Vale Church) as our brigade chaplain. He joined us as we were starting out on the last stunt (fight). He is looking real well. I reckon he is game to tackle this life. I hope he doesn't get ill or stop any lead, because he will do a lot of good here. On this last stunt we started out about tea time on Tuesday. Mal. Jamieson and I on horseback with the bearers. Mr. Fraser, who rides a horse, went with a party to form a dressing station.

MacKinnon J N Pte 16713

 

AUSTRALIANS IN THE HOLY LAND. (1917, August 2). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 5 Edition: Morning. Retrieved May 22, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74603269

 

Anniversary Services.

 

At the Ascot Vale Presbyterian Church on Sunday last, the anniversary of the Sunday school was celebrated. The morning service was taken by the minister, Rev. W. Fraser, who only returned from Palestine on the previous Thursday, where he had been acting as chaplain-captain for the past 12 months. A descriptive address on the temple of the sacred tooth of Buddah, at Kandy, 60 miles from Colombo, and the ancient wells in the Holy Land, was very interesting. It was listened to by the scholars and adults with rapt attention.

 

Anniversary Services. (1917, October 4). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 2 Edition: Morning. Retrieved January 27, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74603866

 

Memorial Service. A grand memorial service in connection with the fallen soldiers will be held in Queen's Park, Moonee Ponds, on Sunday next, 24th inst., at 3 p.m. There will be a programme by the combined choirs, while the Returned Soldiers' Band and the Moonee Ponds and Ascot Vale Bugle Bands will render selections. Returned Chaplain-Capt. Fraser and other prominent speakers will officiate. A collection will be taken up for the Repatriation Fund by the Voluntary Aid Detachment. A large attendance is requested.

 

Memorial Service. (1918, February 21). The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter (Moonee Ponds, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 2 Edition: Morning. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74605189

 

Evidently the Victorian Presbyterian General Assembly is falling in with the popular cry of preference to returned soldiers in regard to the filling of its gift positions. The gift of the moderatorship has been offered to and accepted by the Rev. W. Fraser, B.A., of Ascot Vale, who served in the Palestine campaign as chaplain with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. The reverend gentleman is of Bendigonian origin, and has been at Ascot Vale since 1903. The Moderator-General, Right Rev. John Walker, is also a former chaplain.

 

What People are saying and Doing. (1919, November 20). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 6. Retrieved September 2, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146472857

 

Presentation to Capt H B Graham, May 1915

 

Mentioned in this correspondence:

Essendon Gazette 2 Aug 1917  Letter from MacKinnon J N Pte 16713

 

Australian War Memorial collection:

Diary written by Chaplain William Fraser, 3 Light Horse Brigade, 1917. It records an account of the Battles of Magdhaba and Gaza told to Chaplain Fraser by Brigadier General John Robinson Royston while they were in 14 Australian General Hospital in Cairo, 1917. Also included are newspaper cuttings relating to these battles pasted into the diary.

http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PR03456/

 

Ascot Vale Presbyterian Church Jubliee Review, 1937 p 10.

 

 

War Service Commemorated    

Essendon Town Hall F-L

Ascot Vale Presbyterian (Capt Chaplain)

Essendon Gazette Roll of Honour With the Colours

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