Ancestor Details
Name of Ancestor: Hugh Benedict Walls
Ancestor's date of birth: 26/04/1878
Ancestor's date of death: 16/07/1952
Cause of Death: heart attack
Service and Life Before the Boer War: A labourer in the Gulgong District NSW
Service Number: 1387 (NSWIB), and 353 (BR)
Colony or State of enlistment: NSW, Place of Enlistment: Gulgong
Unit: NSW Imperial Bushmen and Bechuanaland Rifles
Rank attained in Boer War: SGT, Date Effective: Detail not available.
Highest Rank attained (if served after war): No evidence of post Boer War service.
Murray Page: 101
Contingent: Fourth New South Wales
Ship: Armenian, Date of Sailing: 23/04/1900
Ship: Britannic, Date of Sailing: 21/08/1901
Memorial details: Buried at the Longreach Cemetery
Decorations: Queen's South Africa Medal with Rhodesia, Transvaal and Cape Colony clasps; King's South Africa Medal with 1901 and 1902 clasps; Mention in Despatches.
Personal Characteristics: Height 172 cm, of dark complexion with blue eyes.
Reasons to go and fight: Detail not provided
Details of service in war: May 1900 - May 1901 with the NSW Imperial Bushmen in Rhodesia and west Transvaal including capture of de la Rey's convoy and guns at Wildfontein (24 March 1901). Returned to Australia 17 July 1901 on the Orient. Then back to South Africa on the Britannic, 21 August 1901. Served with the Bechuanaland Rifles from 26 September 1901 up to 30 June 1902 including a period on the GOC 1 Div, Lord Methuen's Escort. In an action at Brakspruit on 11 April 1902, his bravery was noted, and already a corporal, he was Mentioned in Despatches and promoted sergeant by the Commander in Chief South Africa, Lord Kitchener.
Service and life after the Boer War: he did move to Queensland and married in Longreach in 1915 and then raised a family there. Hugh was a renowned shearer. He died 15/07/1952 and is buried at the Longreach Cemetery.
Descendant Details
Name of Descendant: Darryl Raymond Wood, Everton Park QLD
Relationship to Ancestor: GrandsonName of Descendant: Deanne Mary Walls, Rockhampton QLD
Relationship to Ancestor: Granddaughter
