Samuel CLARK

Samuel CLARK

Per his initial military service record (Depot), Samuel Clark was born at Coonabarabran, N.S.W. He gave his age as 33 years and 1 month, his marital status as single, and his occupation as labourer. His description on his medical was height 5 feet 2 ½ inches tall, weight 118 pounds, with a medium complexion, grey eyes, and dark brown hair. His religious denomination was Church of England. He completed his medical examination at Dubbo on 8^th November 1915, and was attested by at Dubbo on 8^th November 1915. He claimed to have 3 months previous service in the Australia Light Horse, then was discharged due to illness.

His next of kin in his service record was listed as his mother, Mrs Josephine McDonald, Frederick Street, Dudley, near Newcastle.

The postal address he gave on his initial Application to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force form at Dubbo on 22^nd October 1915 was ‘Coonamble’. He did a preliminary medical examination at Coonamble on 22^nd October 1915.

A Statutory Declaration in his service record stated that he ‘joined the Route March of recruits marching from Gilgandra to Sydney’.  Although he enlisted at Dubbo on 8^th November 1915, the Coo-ees were marching from Lawson to Springwood in the Blue Mountains on that date. He would have had to have caught up by train to join the Coo-ee March as it neared Sydney.

A letter from The Council of the Municipality of Penrith dated 3^rd May 1916 stated that S. Clark ‘joined the Coo-ees at Penrith’, so he must have been one of the two recruits referred to in the Nepean Times as ‘not residents’ who joined the Coo-ee March during the Coo-ees’ overnight stay at Penrith on the 9^th November 1915.[1]

After the Coo-ee March, Private Clark went before a Medical Board at Liverpool Camp on 17^th November 1915, and was found medically unfit with Varicole, and was discharged on 29^th November 1915.

[1] Alex Halden (Joe) Miller papers mainly relating to the Gilgandra Coo-ee Recruitment March, New South Wales, 1912-1921, 1939. Gilgandra Coo-ee Recruitment March correspondence and papers, 1915-1939 ; ‘Coo-ees at Penrith’, Nepean Times, 13 November 1915, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article86168730