LEADING SIGNALMAN AUBREY EMANUEL GOODWIN 2136 RAN
Aubrey Goodwin was born in Hillgrove NSW in June 1897, the son of Albert and Ann-Marie Goodwin of Mosman in Sydney. He enlisted in late September 1912 as a member of the second intake of boys on HMAS Tingira. He was rated as a Signal Boy in July 1913 posting to the Protected Cruiser HMAS Encounter in November of that year. He was advanced to Ordinary Signalman 2nd Class on his 17th birthday and to Ordinary Signalman on his 18th Birthday.
In June 1915 he posted to HMAS Cerberus for two months, probably on Signals courses during which time he was rated as a Signalman. On completion he posted to the Light Cruiser HMAS Brisbane as part of the ship’s commissioning crew. Whilst Aubrey was on Brisbane news would arrive that his older brother Private Louis Goodwin 2005, 31st Battalion AIF, had been killed in the Battle of Fromelles.
Aubrey was advanced to Leading Signalman in April 1918 and in September 1919, he transferred to the Battle Cruiser HMAS Australia, not long after it had returned from five years’ service overseas. This was followed by a seven month posting to the Light Cruiser HMAS Melbourne before Aubrey discharged “End of Engagement” in July 1922.
In 1926 Aubrey married Ellen Kate Keneally, and the couple would lose their first child John in November of that year. They would have two more children, James in 1928 and Marie in 1929. After their marriage the couple moved to the NSW Riverina where Aubrey worked as an Orchardist at Beelbangera near Griffith. By WW2 they had returned to Granville in Sydney, Aubrey now working as a Storekeeper. They retired to North Parramatta in the early 1960s.
Ellen passed away in 1973 and Aubrey on the 9th of May 1989 at the age of 93. They are buried together in Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney in Sect. Lwn 4 Row Plot 67
