NELSON Harry Francis

Harry was described as being 27 years old, single, a dentist, 5 feet 7 inches tall, blue eyes, fair hair and of Church of England faith. He gave his father, C. H. Nelson, of Buderim Mountain, Via Woombye, Queensland as his next of kin.

Harry enlisted at Townsville, North Queensland.

After completing his training at Enoggera Camp, Harry embarked for service overseas with the 3rd reinforcements, 9th Battalion.

Harry sent a letter to his mother, telling her he had arrived safely at the Enoggera Camp, Brisbane.

His unit embarked from Pinkenba Wharf, Brisbane on A49 HMAT Seang Choon, on 13 February 1915.

Harry’s unit arrived on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 6 May 1915.

Ten days after sending his family a postcard from Gallipoli telling them “I am quite well” he was wounded in action.

On 19 May, Harry was wounded when hit by shrapnel bullets while in the trench. He received a gunshot wound to the head and was admitted to Cotternero Hospital, Malta on 24 May 1915. On 10 June his family received a telegram at Buderim.

A month later Harry was transferred to England, embarking from Malta on 21 June 1915, on hospital ship Loyalty. Harry was admitted to the Western General Hospital, Manchester, England.

Medical Report: Was in trenches when hit by shrapnel bullets, which resulted in the loss of right eye and lower lid, scars on nose and temple. Board recommends rest and re-examination in three months.

The following letter appeared in the Townsville Bulletin on 23 July 1915.

Mr. C. G. E. Nelson has received an interesting letter from his brother Frank, who volunteered from Townsville, and was at the Dardanelles. Mr. F. Nelson, who has been wounded and lost one eye, writes from the Military Hospital at Malta in cheerful strains as follows :—

"Just a line to tell you what sort of a time we had fighting in the Dardanelles. I was there nearly a month fighting, and think I did my bit as well as the next man. We had to land under heavy fire from the Turks and many of our fellows were killed before we landed. Talk about lively! Machine guns playing on us, shrapnel and shells bursting everywhere. I was feeling ding-dong and doing all right, up to the time I was wounded. I got quite used to shells bursting and bullets whizzing around me. I got a bullet through my hat just before I was wounded. At the time I was hit we had fine big trenches on top of a hill. I was hit on a Wednesday. The Turks were reinforced some 20,000 and they started advancing towards our trenches at daybreak, after firing at us all night. Talk about a row! You can imagine hundreds of rifles going off at once. When they advanced towards our trenches at daybreak, they all started singing out "Allah! Allah!" Our lads yelled out " Come on, we will give you Allah!' and a few oaths added on. Anyhow, we beat them out of sight. They had plenty of snipers. One "pot" was having a go at me. I spotted him hiding behind a bush, sneaking up and let him have it left and right. All I saw was something go up in the air, and I knew I had finished him. I had better cover than he had. One night we made a charge to what we thought was a blind trench, but when we got there it was full of Turks. There was only a few of us ---- only a company of 130. We left a small portion of our trench to try and gain this portion, but had to retire when we saw what we had struck. We could do nothing else. If you had seen me retire; I reckon I could have beaten Postle. The day I got wounded there was very heavy fighting, but we got a great victory. I was hit about 11 o'clock, after having been hard at it from 3 in the morning. The hill we occupied on the edge of the sea was surrounded by British battleships, which shelled some forts not far away. It was a grand sight to see them all firing. There were several aeroplanes, balloons and seaplanes, and everything a man could see in warfare. I saw Bob Hartley in the Field Ambulance. He looked well, but said "It was a fair cow dodging the shells." Having lost my right optic I feel I have done my duty. The result of being wounded has not left me nervous in any way, and I feel as strong as ever. Apart from my eye I am in a splendid state of health, and am getting out and walking round the hospital grounds. The pain in my eye has quite left me and I am feeling quite happy and contented. I can see out of my left eye splendidly, and the doctor tells me it will never be affected, for which I am truly thankful, though I will have to wear a shade for the rest of my days, because there will be a scar from my nose to near my ear. There is a chance of my going to London for final treatment. That will do me!"

Unit from Nominal Roll – 55th Battalion. Harry returned to Australia from England per Star of Victoria, on 19 January 1916, with loss of right eye. On returning to Australia a medical examination was performed at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane with the following report:

6th Australian General Hospital 30/5/1916 – Right eye missing and a very bad socket with no prospect of making a useful socket by plastic operation. No treatment recommended.

Harry was discharged from the AIF on 14 June 1916 as unfit for war service and service at home. He was granted a War Pension on 19 June 1916 receiving 30/- per fortnight backdated from 15 June 1916.

Medals
1914/15 Star.
British War Medal.
Victory Medal.

Harry is Commemorated on the Buderim Mountain Roll of Honour Board, Buderim War Memorial Hall.

Harry Francis (Frank) NELSON was born at Toowong, Brisbane. He completed a 3 year dentist apprenticeship with surgeon Dr. Victor Richard Ratten (1878-1962), in Brisbane, Queensland. Frank and his brother Gordon both became dentists and were practising together in Townsville by 1915. Gordon had established the practice some years previously.

In 1914 Frank joined the AIF in Townsville and fought at Gallipoli where lead shrapnel wounds to the head ended his war service. When Frank returned from the War in 1916 he came to Buderim to join his family. The Nelson brothers grew citrus on the farm and early in the 1920s Bob worked his way to America on a tramp steamer, to go to the Californian orange groves and work so that he would know more about citrus. After his return they had some very good years of citrus crops.

APPOINTMENT - Mr. H. F. Nelson has accepted an appointment with Mr. A. C. Wilson, of Nambour, he has been a registered dentist in Queensland for many years. He first assisted Mr. Wilson 12 years ago, and as Mr. Wilson is seriously ill he has now temporarily taken charge of his rooms. The Brisbane Courier, 1 January 1923.

In 1924 Frank married Miss Olive Jolly.

WEDDING - At the Methodist church, the Summit, on October 29, the marriage was solemnised of Mr. Harry Francis Nelson (Buderim Mountain) and Miss Olive Jolly (youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jolly). Miss Marjorie Chapman attended as bridesmaid. Mr. W. Jolly carried out the duties of best man. Subsequently, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson left by mail train for Brisbane, for the honeymoon.

In 1960, in poor health, Frank cut off a block with his home on for himself and sold the rest of his farm to Mr. E. Setterfield who put in Besley Street, Buderim and sub-divided it into allotments.

The Australian Electoral Roll shows Harry living in William Street, Buderim in 1967.

His daughter Joyce said she has never seen any letters to his parents ever mention what it was like in the battlefield. He did tell them of the bullet through his hat (actually it was a peaked cap the same as he is wearing in the Harefield photo) earlier on the same day as he was wounded. He also said how he’d never lost consciousness after being wounded and that he walked himself down alone to the medical post. This amazed the medical staff considering the loss of blood he’d had and they said he must have a very strong constitution.

It seems to me that when his bandages on both eyes came off in Malta he must have been in a state of delayed shock and utter relief and simply had to tell someone (letter to his brother) what it had been like. In England the Doctors told him he would always have bad nerve troubles and he later found out that they were correct. A specialist Doctor also said his remaining eye would be left weakened by the trauma it had endured and he advised not to go back to dentistry full time, because there are so many germs on people’s teeth and a weakened eye more liable to be affected by them and perhaps loss of sight. He did say to keep his name on the Dental Register, however, as in the country some people were sure to ask for help at times and if he wasn’t registered and he helped he would be liable for hefty fines.

The time when he went to temporarily to help Mr. Wilson in Nambour was a year before I was born. I can remember him helping a couple of other Dentist friends in Brisbane for short periods with Mechanical Dentistry (i.e. making false dentures). I was quite young then.

During World War 2, I remember him doing a couple of tooth extractions for locals who, because of petrol rationing, couldn’t get to a dentist in Nambour. Dad set up a kitchen chair in the back yard for the best light, a stool with a glass of warm salty water for mouth rinsing and his Dental Forces. He had no anaesthetic whatever, but the patients all said “never mind that, just get this damned tooth out” . . . And so he did. A few times he got called at night to go and plug badly bleeding gums after a person had had a number of teeth extracted that day.

After World War 2 ended, I can’t remember him helping any more. Mechanical Dentistry was using new types of materials and different techniques, so Dad called it a day for Dentistry and took his name off the Dental Register.

Dad was a non-drinker, although all his family would have a drink. He often said the only liquor he’d ever had, was the rum they gave the soldiers to drink to boost their bravedo when going into battle. He was a smoker for a time, but gave that up too. He wasn’t a religious person, but he was a very good-hearted person.

Dad never read books but would make up adventurous and interesting stories and looking back, the stories always ended with a moral lesson. He also loved telling yarns.

Dad was cremated at Albany Creek Crematorium and some of his ashes came back to the Ashes Columbarium at Buderim Cemetery. The RSL asked could some of his ashes please go to the Pinnaroo Lawn Cemetery also and mum agreed to this.

Harry died on 3 April 1971 aged 83. His brother Bob died in the same year.

Children
Joyce Horatia Nelson b. 1927 m. Leslie Stephen Short.
Francis Robert Nelson b. 1930-2012 m. Lola Worthington.

PARENTS - Charles Horatio & Elizabeth Mary Nelson

Charles Horatio Nelson (1853-1928) was born in October 1853 in St. Marylebone, England. Charles sailed to Australia in 1884 to get himself established, before his fiancee Elizabeth Mary (Bessie) Gates came out to marry him.

Their wedding took place on 13 October 1884, at St. John’s Pro Cathedral, William Street Brisbane two months before Bessie’s 21st birthday, so Magistrate John Petrie had to give his consent to the wedding in lieu of her parents. C. H. Nelson late of Brixton, Surrey, to Elizabeth Mary, youngest daughter of Mr. Robert Gates, of St. Mark’s Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Charles was working for Gordon and Gotch but a few years later became one of the Librarians at the Brisbane School of Arts in Ann Street, Brisbane. Prior to 1912 his son Bob, on doctor’s advice, had come to Buderim to learn farming from Mr. Wallace Burnett. When Charles retired in 1912, he and Bessie decided to sell in Brisbane and live at Buderim.

When Charles first came to Buderim in 1912 he came by train to Palmwoods and then walked to Buderim up through Mons. He got lost at Mons and Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Vise very kindly put him up for the night and set him off in the right direction next morning. Needless to say the Nelsons and Vises became very good friends.

Charles and Bessie purchased land in what is now the corner of William and Besley, Street, Buderim and got Mr. Lanham of Nambour to build them a house. Charles died in December 1948 at his residence, Boyd Road, Brisbane, Queensland, aged 75 years. He is buried in the Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane.

OBITUARY - The death of Mr. C. H. Nelson occurred last Sunday, at his residence, Boyd Road, Nundah. At one time the deceased was well known to the reading public of Brisbane. Mr. Nelson, who was born in Middlesex, England, in 1853, arrived in Brisbane in 1884, and in the same year was appointed assistant secretary to the Brisbane School of Arts. Later he became secretary, a position that he filled for 15 years, thus completing 28 years of service with the institution. Upon the eve of severing his long connection with the School of Arts, in 1912, the committee thought fit to mark their appreciation by presenting him with a complete set of the works of Charles Dickens, and five months’ leave of absence. Mr. Nelson then retired to Buderim, to take up the work of an orchardist. Later, his health failing, he returned to Brisbane, and resided at Nundah until his death. He is survived by his wife and three sons, Messrs. C. G. E. Nelson (dentist, Townsville) and H. F. and C. R. Nelson of Buderim Mountain. The Courier Mail, 1 December 1948.

OBITUARY - Elizabeth Mary Nelson - At her residence, Buderim, on Tuesday evening, the death occurred of one of the districts pioneers in the person of Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Nelson, relict of the late Charles Horatio Nelson, at the age of 85 years. The deceased was born in Kent (England) and was a resident of Buderim for 37 years. Surviving her are two sons Messrs H. F. and C. R. Nelson. Relatives and friends of Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Nelson and family, Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Nelson (Buderim), Mr. and Mrs. G. V. Nelson and family (Taringa), are invited to attend the Cremation service of their beloved Mother, Mother-in-law, and Grandmother, Elizabeth Mary Nelson, to take place at the Mt. Thompson Crematorium, at 2 p.m. No flowers by request. The Courier Mail, 16 June 1949.

Children
Charles Gordon Edward Nelson 1885-1945 m. Eve Quinlan.
Harry Francis (Frank) Nelson 1887-1971 m. 1924 Olive Jolly.
Dorothy Maud Nelson 1889-1893.
Charles Robert (Bob) Nelson 1895-1971 m. 1948 Muriel Elizabeth Vise.

Buderim Mountain Roll of Honour Board, Buderim War Memorial Hall, Corner of Main & Church Streets, Buderim

The National Archives of Australia.
The Brisbane Courier, 1 January 1923.
Daughter - Joyce Short (Photos, Postcards, letters etc.).