Douglas GRANT

Regimental number6020
Date of birth1885
Place of birthBellenden Ker Ranges, Queensland
SchoolAnnandale Public School, New South Wales
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationMechanical draftsman
Address132 Albion Street, Annandale, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation30
Next of kinFoster Father, R Grant, 132 Albion Street, Annandale, New South Wales
Enlistment date13 January 1916
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name13th Battalion, 19th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/30/4
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 22 August 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll13th Battalion
FateReturned to Australia 10 April 1919
Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Grant was an aborigine who was adopted by a member of the Australian Museum collecting expedition, Robert Grant, after his parents had been killed, possibly in a punitive raid mounted from Cairns, although other sources claim they were killed in tribal fighting.

He enlisted in January 1916, but was discharged just as his unit was about to embark for overseas service because of regulations preventing aboriginals leaving the country without government approval. He re-enlisted, and embarked in August 1916 with the 13th Bn. On 11 April 1917, during the first battle of Bullecourt, he was wounded and captured, and became a prisoner of war in a camp near Wittenberg, and later in one at Wunsdorf, Zossen, near Berlin. He was repatriated to England in December 1918, and returned to Australia in April 1919.

Date of death4 December 1951
Age at death66
Place of burialBotany Cemetery, New South Wales
Sources'Australian Dictionary of Biography 1891-1939'