7674 Private Daniel Thomas Harrison - 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company
Daniel Thomas Harrison was born in Penrith New South Wales circa 1867. He lived his early life in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and after leaving school went to the countryside.
In 1888 he married Catherine Martin in Bathurst NSW.
They moved to Western Australia in the 1890's and had Stanley born in Geraldton in 1897 and Evline in 1899. The family then moved to Fremantle and took up residence at 91 McCleery Street Beaconsfield. (Later renumbered to 29 McCleery)
Daniel was working locally as a Carter.
On the 30th January 1917 Daniel enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was accepted as fit for enlistment, with the medical examiner recording Daniel's physical attributes as;
Height - 5 feet 4 & 1/2 inches tall;
Weight - 127lbs;
Chest Measurement - 35 inches;
Complexion - Fair;
Eyes - Hazel;
Hair - Fair.
Upon his successful enlistment Daniel was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was initially assigned to the 10th Reinforcements to the 51st Battalion AIF. He trained with this group for the next few months but was then transferred to the Tunnelling Company Reinforcements.
As the Tunnelling reinforcements were being trained in Victoria and New South Wales, Daniel was sent over east to complete his training. He trained for a further few months and on the 8th August 1917 boarded the transport ship Anchises in Sydney Harbour and set sail for England, reaching Liverpool on the 2nd October 1917.
Upon being disembarked Daniel was sent to the Tunnellers Camp at Parkhouse. On the 14th November 1917, Daniel proceeded across to France and was sent to the Australian Base Depot at Rouelles.
On the 20th November 1917 Daniel was taken on strength of the 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion.
On the 4th January 1918 Daniel was transferred to the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company. When he joined them the 2nd Tunnellers were in the Cambrai sector supporting British Infantry Divisions. Much of their time was on building dugouts for the infantry and artillery.
On the 24th March 1918 Daniel was sent to hospital with rheumatism. He was sent to hospital at Le Havre where he revealed his real age of 51. Daniel was marked as medically unfit for further service and returned to England.
On arrival he was sent to No.2 Command Depot Camp at Weymouth. He would wait here for the next few months to be assigned a berth on a troopship home. On the 8th August 1918, Dan boarded the ship Carpentaria and set sail for home, reaching Fremantle on the
Dan was discharged from the AIF on the 15th October 1918.
He then returned home to McCleery Street where he resumed work as a Carter. He lived in 27 McCleery Street Beaconsfield till the 1940's.
