Charlie Brown Goes to War

My Grandfather John Charles "Charlie" Brown was born Domenico Carrazzo in Viggiano, Basilicata Italy in 1898 and came to Australia aboard the GMS Seydlitz in May 1909. He travelled with his older sister and her young son Leo and later resided in Fitzroy Street, Melbourne.

Charlie was refused parental consent by his father to enlist in 1915, still determined to serve his adopted country he left home and travelled to Seymour army camp where he enlisted with the 4th Light Horse Regiment, 15th Reinforcement on 9 February 1916. He was given the Service Number 2156. Passenger records held in government archives show his age on arrival in Australia in 1909 as 8 years old. Meaning at the time of his enlistment in 1916 Charlie was aged just 15 years old, later documentation proves he lied about his age to enlist by claiming to be 18 years old.

To avoid being found out and returned he changed his identity including his name, age, residence, religion, N.O.K., occupation and nationality by claiming to be a "Nat. Born British Subject". Charlie then undertook military training at Seymour and embarked aboard the HMAT A13 Katuna on the 9 March 1916.

Charlie Brown arrived in Egypt in April 1916 where he transferred to the 4th Division Cyclists (Formed in Egypt in 04/16). He disembarked in France in July 1916 where he was again transferred, this time the 1st ANZAC Cyclist Battalion. He remained with this Battalion for the duration of the Great War.

Detailed information is not available for a lot of what the 1st ANZAC Cyclist Battalion did, however for almost 2 years they acted as mounted infantry, but using bicycles instead of horses, and undertook a variety of other tasks. These included acting as guides, traffic control, front line reconnaissance, patrolling, trench digging, cable laying, POW guards and often working in conjunction with their Corps mounted units including the 4th and 13th Light Horse Regiments. They served in France and Belgium from 1916-1918.

Charlie was gassed whilst serving on the Western Front and suffered the legacy of gas poisoning for the rest of his life. He met and married my Grandmother Josephine Grimar in Beaumont, Belgium in April 1919 and returned to Australia via England with his war bride on the Indarra on 27 August 1919. They returned to Fitzroy and in 1923 applied for a land grant under the War Service Homes Act after which they lived on an allotment of land at what is now Essendon Airport.

They later moved to Miller Street, Essendon where they raised 5 children, their legacy continues through new generations. Charlie worked for Worboys plumbing in South Melbourne as a gas plumber for many years. He never reconciled with his Italian heritage and thought of himself first and foremost as an Australian and lived as one until the end.

Charlie passed away in March 1969 and Josephine followed him in 1974, both are laid to rest in the Roman Catholic section of the Fawkner Cemetery. I wish I’d had the opportunity to have known him better while growing up, to have had the knowledge of our heritage when I was young and to have told him how proud I am to call myself his Granddaughter.

By Catherine Brown