NAME Hugh Benjamin LONGWORTH
BORN 22 June 1894
DIED 4th Australian General Hospital Randwick 27 October 1938.
MILITARY SERIAL NO. 778A
UNIT 12th ALH
ENLISTED Liverpool 11 January 1915
DISCHARGED Sydney 9 July 1919 – permanent lung damage as a result of being gassed

Hugh Longworth’s story was contributed by State Records Volunteer Arthur Mason. 

Five Longworth brothers enlisted in World War One.  The other four were George, Archibald, Francis and Walter – all survived the war.

George was to become a soldier settler near his brother Hugh on Bulga Plateau Soldier Settlement.

The two brothers decided their future on the turn of a penny.  ‘Heads or Tails’ decided whether they would return to the John’s River, or take up land as soldier settlers. The Bulga won’[1]

Hugh and his family did not have an easy time on the Bulga plateau and his situation gradually deteriorated until his arrears amounted to £808.8.3. [2] He transferred the block to John Christopher Geelan who was also a returned soldier.

Hugh Longworth left the property and moved to Wingham to join his family who had been living there for some time.

Footnotes

[1] Arthur Mason, Bulga Battlers – A Soldier Settlement Saga, Arthur Mason Publisher, Springwood, 2009, p. 11.

[2] Ibid, p. 13.

Sources used to compile this entry:

Helen Hannah, The Mountain Speaks: a folk history of the Bulga Plateau, H. Hannah Publisher, Elands, NSW, 1979.

Mason, Arthur, Bulga Battlers – A Soldier Settlement Saga, Arthur Mason Publisher, Springwood, 2009.

State Records NSW: Lands Department; NRS 8058, Returned Soldiers Settlement loan files; [12/6886 No. 2838] Hugh Benjamin Longworth.

National Archives of Australia: B2455, First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers (Hugh Benjamin Longworth) online:

http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=8206395&I=1&SE=1