Right sort of Colonist - Kenneth Fyffe of Bunyip

Kenneth Thompson Grant Fyffe (SN 6798A), a farm labourer from Bunyip, enlisted in the A.I.F., on September 3, 1917 at the age of 21 in the 21st Infantry Battalion, 20th Reinforcements. After serving overseas, he Returned to Australia January 5, 1920. (1)

Kenneth's enlistment paper showing his permanent adress as c/o Henry Berry, 

Bunyip, Victoria.

National Archives of Australia www.naa.gov.au

First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920

As we can see above, Kenneth's address was c/o Henry Berry at Bunyip. This is farmer Thomas Henry Berry. Henry, born in  South Australia in May 1885, was the second eldest of the nine children of  Joseph and Emily (nee Darby) Berry who took up land at Tonimbuk  in 1893. In 1901 they took up land just south of Bunyip, and later gave their name to Berry Lane which is next to the Recreation Reserve. Henry did not marry and died on September 2, 1935. (2)

Kenneth was the subject of an interesting article published in the  Herald in July 1917, which shows the connection at the time between  patriotism, colonialism and nationalism; as well as Kenneth's sense of adventure that he would move to the other side of the world on his own.

Kenneth - the right sort of Colonist

The Herald, July 31, 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242476481

Right Sort of Colonist. Australia good to him, so he will fight for her. 

Three years ago Kenneth T. Fyffe, a youth of Brixton, London, was serving behind the counter of a provision merchant in High road, Streatham, when he read of the opportunities for young men in Australia. He went to the Immigration office in the Strand, passed the doctor, and came to Australia.

Most of his time has been profitably spent in the Bunyip district, as farm hand and employe in a local cheese factory. He has tried several times to enlist, but as his parents are in England he was unable to obtain the necessary consent. Yesterday he became 21, and was accepted at the Town Hall Depot for service.

"Australia has been good to me," he remarked to the enlisting officer, "so I am going to fight for her and the Mother Country." His parents reside at Cornwall road, Brixton. (3)

In the 1921 Electoral Roll, Kenneth was living at 53 Kneen Street, North Fitzroy and had an occupation of an engine cleaner. Also living in the house was Phillip and Emma Baussmann, their son Phillip and daughter Amelia Evelyn. Kenneth married Amelia on November 18, 1922 at the house in Kneen Street, the service being conducted by the Presbyterian Minister, the Reverend John Garnon-Owen. He was listed on the marriage certificate as a 26 year-old tram conductor and Amelia was a 23 year-old machinist. In the 1924 Electoral Rolls the couple were in Brighton Avenue in Preston, where they remained until the mid 1940s. Kenneth ad Amelia had one daughter and three sons, however the marriage broke up and in 1950 Kenneth married Betty Parker. (4)

Amelia died on July 8, 1957 and is buried at the Fawkner Cemetery; and Kenneth died on November 12, 1964 aged 68 and was cremated at Springvale Botanical Cemetery.  (5)  You can read more about Kenneth on the RSL Virtual War Memorial  here - https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/162981

 I wonder if Kenneth ever returned to visit Bunyip after he returned home from the War?

Footnotes
(1)  First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920   https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4036340&S=1&R=0
(2) Genealogy SA https://www.genealogysa.org.au/;  Call of the Bunyip: a history of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk, 1847 - 1990 by Denise Nest  (Bunyip History Committee, 1990), pp132-133. Joseph Berry died in February 1932 - death notice - The Argus, February 10, 1932, see here; Emily Berry died September 4, 1947 - death notice - The Argus, September 5, 1947, see here.
(3) The Herald, July 31, 1917, see here.
(4) Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Kenneth and Amelia's marriage certificate; Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages. Children as listed on an Ancestry family tree - Elsie (1923-1991), Kenneth (1925-2012), Frederick (1930-2003), Alfred died as a infant in 1932. 

Address - the Electoral Rolls from 1924 to 1946 list Kenneth and Amelia at 19 Brighton Avenue, however the 1946 Electoral Rolls list their children Elsie and Kenneth at 2 Brighton Avenue.  The Sands and McDougall Directories (digitised at the State Library of Victoria) lists their address as 2 Brighton Avenue in 1930, 1935 and 1940 - and it is the first house in  Brighton Avenue which is off Hotham Street. In the 1925 Sands and McDougall Directory the street is not numbered.  Presumably, initially their house was numbered as 19 Brighton Avenue, later renumbered to 2 Brighton Avenue, and they didn't get around to changing their address on the Electoral Roll. There are only ten houses on each side of the Avenue and the Sands and McDougall entries show the Fyffe house in the same position in the street in each entry, so they did not move,  see below. 

Sands & McDougall Directory 1925

Sands & McDougall Directory 1940

(5) Amelia death notice - The Age, July 10, 1957; Kenneth death notice - The Age, November 13, 1964 - from newspapers.com.

This is a revised and expanded version of a post, which I wrote and researched, that appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Commemorates: Our War Years.  I think the article about Kenneth is so interesting that it is worth repeating here.