Macquarie Park Cemetery & Crematorium Plassey Rd Macquarie Park NSW 2113
Cemetery Address
Macquarie Park, NSW
Demonination/Area
Catholic
Section
B
Row
2
Grave Type
Unmarked
Notes
BOY 1st CLASS THOMAS WILLIAM BLANKS 1998 RAN
Tom Blanks enlisted in the RAN in August 1912 as a Boy 2nd Class on HMAS Tingira. He was the son of Thomas and Mary Blanks of Sydney. Tom was advanced to Boy 1st Class in May 1913 and posted to the Battle Cruiser HMAS Australia in October 1913. Five months later he was discharged “Services No Longer Required” after receiving 14 days in cells and a character assessment of “Fair”.
In January 1916, Tom enlisted in the AIF in Sydney disclosing his previous service in the RAN, receiving the 4th Battalion O/N 5049. He embarked in Sydney on the SS Makarini as a reinforcement for the 4th Battalion on the 1st of April 1916 and by the 30th of May he had already been absent from duty with VD for 28 days. He would spend the next six months in and out of Hospital in the Middle East and in the UK until February 1917 when he finally proceeded to France to join the 5th Division, however by March he was again under treatment for VD.
In June 1917 he returned to France and was allocated to the 56th Battalion and within three weeks he was charged with “Drunkedness” and fined ten shillings. In July he was evacuated to England with Trench Fever where over the next four months he would be convicted of two more offences. He rejoined the 56th in the field in November 1917 and was again charged a month later, and again admitted to hospital.
The CO of the 56th had clearly had enough of Tom and he was detached for duty with the Engineers at the end of February 1918. In March he was evacuated to the UK with Influenza and after recovering, he added two more charges to his list of crimes, before finally rejoining the 56th in France in August 1918 where he would serve out the war.
Tom returned to Australia on the SS Port Melbourne in July 1919, but not before being convicted in England a further five times. It would appear that the Commanding Officer of HMAS Australia's assessment of his character was accurate.
Thomas passed away in North Sydney at the Graythwaite Red Cross Home on the 29th of May 1934, where he had been a inmate for at least four years. In 1915 banker Thomas Dibbs had made his home ‘Graythwaite’ available in perpetuity for distressed subjects of the British Empire regardless of Sect or Creed. It is possible that Tom’s repeated infections with VD resulted in his illness.
Thomas William Blanks is buried in the Catholic section of Macquarie Park Cemetery in Sydney, Section B, Row 2. It is believed here is no headstone over his grave.
Sources
Service Record - Australian National Archives
Service Record - Australian National Archives
