Callaghan, Thomas Albert

5678 Private Thomas Albert Callaghan - 11th Battalion AIF

Thomas Albert Callaghan was born in Fremantle WA in 1892 to John and Catherine Callaghan. He was one of several siblings, with Mary (1876), John (1877), Joanna (1879), Cornelius (1880), Elizabeth (1883), Edward (1885), Emily (1888), Abraham (1891), Ivy (1895) and Walter (1897).

The family lived at 100 Glyde Street East Fremantle and Tom was educated locally. After leaving school he took up work as a labourer/Lumper at Fremantle Harbour. During this time he had also served for two and a half years in the 11th Infantry Regiment of the Citizens Military Forces.

On the 21st February 1916 in Fremantle Tom enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was accepted as fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 4 & 1/2 inches tall;

Weight - 136lbs;

Chest Measurement - 33-36 inches;

Complexion - Fresh;

Eyes - Light Brown;

Hair - Dark Brown.

After his successful enlistment Tom was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp and was assigned to No.53 Training Depot. He spent a month there and on the 4th April 1916 was then transferred into the 18th Reinforcements of the 11th Battalion AIF. He trained with this group in WA for the next few months and on the 6th June 1916 they boarded the transport ship HMAT Suevic in Fremantle Harbour and set sail for England.

After the long sea journey they arrived at Plymouth Harbour on the 21st July 1916. After being disembarked Tom and his group were sent to the 3rd Training Battalion at Perham Downs on the Salisbury Plains.

He had a few months of training in England and on the 6th September 1916 was transferred across to France. He had ten days at the 1st Australian Division Base Depot Camp at Etaples and was taken on strength of the 11th Battalion on the 16th September 1916.

The 11th Battalion were then in the line near Ypres in Belgium. The Battalion had several weeks there but were then transferred to the Somme battlefield and they would spend November 1916 to February 1917 in the vicinity of Flers and Delville Wood.

It was a very cold French winter and more men were being evacuated with sickness than battle casualties. On the 8th November 1916 Tom was evacuated to hospital with myalgia. He spent a month in hospital and was released back to the base depot camp when he was also diagnosed with knee trouble and rheumatism.

After a week at the 26th General Hospital in Etaples, Tom was transferred to England for further treatment. He was then admitted to the 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham where it was found he had loose cartilage in his knee. He was operated on and on the 29th January 1917 was transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital.

He was recovering from his knee operations and had been discharged to the No.2 Command Depot Camp at Weymouth. However he had to stay in hospital again due to an occurrence of venereal disease, so was sent to No.1 Australian Dermatological Hospital in Bulford. He was released from there on the 16th April 1917.

However he had a recurrence and returned to hospital until June 1917. Tom then spent the next few months in the base camps in England while he regained his fitness.

In November 1917 he returned to France and rejoined the 11th Battalion. The battalion had been in the line near Passchendaele Belgium but then moved south east of Ypres near Hollebeke. On the 31st December 1917 Tom was wounded by shrapnel in the head. He was evacuated for medical treatment, being sent to the 56th General Hospital.

Fortunately it was not a severe wound and Tom was back with the 11th Battalion on the 26th February 1918. A week later he was sent to hospital with a wound to the shin. After a week in hospital in France, Tom was sent to England where he spent the next several months on recovery.

Tom also met a young lady while he had been recovering and in June 1918 he married Adelaide Wittey at St Augustine Church in Paddington England.

Tom returned to France in October 1918 and rejoined the 11th Battalion just prior to the Armistice. He served with them till February 1919 when he was evacuated to England with arm issues. He then spent the next few months in hospital and the base camps.

On the 21st June 1919 Tom boarded the transport ship Kongin Louise and returned to Australia, disembarking in Fremantle on the 3rd August 1919.

Tom was discharged from the AIF on the 21st September 1919.

His new wife Alice was also able to come to Fremantle in 1919.

They initially resided at 32 Howard Street Fremantle and then continued to live at 68 Irwin Street East Fremantle. Tom had also resumed his career as a Lumper at Fremantle Harbour.

In the 1950's Tom was a resident at the Repatriation Hospital.

The Daily News on the 15th March 1952 had an article about Thomas;

Happiness Woven Into A Man's Life Pattern

FOR 32 years Thomas Albert Callaghan - pictured — of Irwin-street, East Fremantle, was a lumper. But now he has changed the lumper's hook for a bobbin. Talent that has lain latent for years while he has heaved cargo is finding expression. The lumper has become an artist—in weaving.

It all happened while he was in Hollywood Repatriation General Hospital last year. He missed the noise of the winches, the manual work. So he started to make a felt toy under the tuition of the Red Cross Handcrafts section. His wife wanted a shopping bag. He made it. Then she wanted a scarf and towels.
The artist that had lain dormant in Tom Callaghan found expression.
He had been wounded four times in World War I. In later years the effects of months in the rain took their toll. When he left Hollywood he was forbidden to work again.
Under Red Cross guidance he started weaving. He soon found that he had an eye for colour besides a will to work Pastel tones are his specialty.
Now he can enthuse over a shade of aqua blue and find its exact place in his pattern. "I would have gone silly with nothing to do," he said. "The Red Cross has been marvellous to me."
For such work to continue the Red Cross needs £50.000 this month.

Thomas Albert Callaghan died in East Fremantle on the 14th September 1957 aged 65. He was cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery.