Keith Davidson HEARN

There are many inconsistencies found when researching this soldier.

Family

Birth

WA BDM

Hearn Keith D Male Williams 109 1923

https://www.genealogysa.org.au

Death

Given Name(s): Keith Davidson

Surname: HEARN

Death Date: 1994, August 29

Age:

Publication Date: 1994, September 01

Publication: Advertiser

Death of infant

Given Name(s): Margaret Dawn

Last Name: HEARN

Death Date: 30 Jul 1951

Gender: F

Age: 15h

Approx. Birth Year: 1951

Marital Status: C

Relative 1: Keith Davidson HEARN [F]

Relative 2:

Residence: Kingscote KI

Death Place: Kingscote KI

District: Encounter Bay

Symbol: H

Book/Page: 771/4126

Death of son

Given Name(s): Kym Davidson

Last Name: HEARN

Death Date: 25 Aug 1970

Gender: M

Age: 19y

Approx. Birth Year: 1951

Marital Status: S

Relative 1:

Relative 2:

Residence: Salisbury

Death Place: Nr Native Valley

District: Mount Barker

Symbol:

Book/Page: 97A/6725

Memorial

Given Name(s): Keith D

Surname: HEARN

Death Date: 29 Aug 1994

Age: 71 y

Relations: Husband of Margaret Edith, daughter & grandchildren

Cemetery: Enfield Memorial Park

Previously lived in WINDSOR GARDENS

Notes: WX32625 Sapper 2/11 Battalion 9 Div, AIF badge

WX32625 on his memorial is the number of a different soldier (a Captain, not a sapper) in a different unit.. which further adds to the mystery.

http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/Veteran.aspx?ServiceId=A&VeteranId=766707

First Marriage

Victoria BDM

Event: marriages

Registration number 19539 / 1941

Family name: VANCE

Given name(s) Sylvia May

Spouse's family name: HEARN

Spouse's given name(s) Harold [sic] ?

A Keith Davidson HEARN divorced Sylvia May in Perth. Western Australia in 1944.

DIVORCE PETITIONS. (1944, September 7). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44977189

According to the electoral roll in 1949 she was a housekeeper in Katanning and she married that same year.

During the war, a Keith Douglas HEARN (WX13558) had a next of kin "Sylvia", but he was recorded as born in 1919 (not on WA BDM)

Item details for: B883, WX13558

National Archives Australia

2nd wife - birth

Given Name(s): Margaret Dawn

Last Name: COLLINS

Birth Date: 1926, December 26

Gender: F

Father: William Frank COLLINS

Mother: May ELBOROUGH

Birth Place/Residence: Uraidla

District: Adelaide

Symbol:

Book/Page: 186A/364

HEARN.—The marriage of Margaret Dawn, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Collins, Torrens Park, to Keith Davidson, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. G. R. Hearn, Newdegate*, W.A., will be solemnised at the Malvern Methodist Church on Saturday, April 26, at 7 p.m. Advertiser and Register (Adelaide, SA : 1931), Monday 10 August 1931, page 6

*Newdegate is in the wheat belt area as well, but further east than Williams or Narrogin. The second son John Anderson Hearn was engaged to be married on 11 September 1947 and was married at Tumby Bay on 12 February 1948. John was born in 1926. Their father was George Reginald Hearn, a farmer, who joined up in 1917 but was discharged medically in 1918 as he couldn’t march (big handicap for a recruit). He had hurt his ankle before enlistment in an argument with a plough. George married Margaret Davidson at Katanning in 1923 and Keith was born later that year. George died in Perth in 1971. - Chris Ward 14 Jan 2018

Keith divorced his second wife Margaret Dawn, in 1963.

Margaret Dawn remarried a Bill SMART.

Margaret Dawn SMART died in 2004.

Death - 2nd wife

SMART Margaret Dawn Death notice 14MAY2004 Death 77 at Ingle Farm, late of Uraidla and Kangaroo Island Adelaide Advertiser 18MAY2004

Ryerson Index

Third wife

Keith's 3rd wife was Margaret Edith who came from Victoria and they lived in Windsor Gardens (source: Deb Baohm 20/1/18)

From the Office of Australian War Graves. 17 Jan 2018

I have searched our data base and the only Keith D Hearn, service number WX13558, born 21/07/1923 and died on the 29/08/1994 had his ashes commemorated in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Victoria. Mrs M Hearn at the time was living in North Blackburn, Victoria and this is where she requested the ashes to be placed. We have no record of any memorial being placed at Enfield Memorial Park by the Office of Australian War Graves.

Death Notices

Advertiser 1 Sep 1994 (large ad - about 3") interalia

Hearn, Keith Davidson, on Monday August 29 1994 at Modbury Hospital. 9th [sic] Battalion 2nd A.I.F.
Dearly loved and loving husband of Margaret (Jack).
Much loved father of Lauri and father in law of Lou.
Devoted Pop of Susan and Nigel, Michelle and Jason.
... Privately cremated, Simplicity Funerals, Blackforest.

Also

HEARN, Keith. Much loved uncle and great uncle. Will be sadly missed. R.I.P. Love Helen, Phil, Rebecca and Sarah.

Advertiser 9 Sep 1994 TPI logo.

In memory of our member [sic] Keith Davidson Hearn. Pres: J W Hebal. Sec G. Blyth.

Interim Conclusion

(Research continues to verify the following.)

  • Keith Davidson HEARN was born in 1923 in the Williams District WA.

  • On 24 May 1941, at the age of 18 he enrolled at Southern Cross as Keith Douglas HEARN (WX13558) lying about his name and about his age as being 22 (i.e. born in 1919 - no WA BDM). On enrollment he said he was born in Narrogin, WA - which is just outside the present Williams district, and that his next of kin was Sylvia HEARN.

  • In 1941 he married to Sylvia May VANCE in Victoria, under the name Harold HEARN.

  • Sylvia May VANCE was most probably born at Stawell, Victoria, in 1916 (making her 7 years older than Keith) .

  • He had a son to Sylvia - Jim HEARN, now ROBINSON (he was fostered to the Robinson family, when Keith was away at war) (source: Deb Baohm 20/1/18)

  • He divorced Sylvia May in 1944.

  • His second wife recounts her meeting him as he was on furlough from service in the Middle East and on his way to New Guinea. (source: Deb Baohm 20/1/18)

  • He married (2) to Margaret Dawn COLLINS in 1947 in Malvern, SA

  • In 1951 he successfully applied for a KI soldier settlement plot 16 in the Hundred of Seddon, Kangaroo Island.

  • He lost a newborn called Margaret Dawn HEARN in Kingscote in July 1951. She was a twin to Kym Davidson HEARN who died in a car accident on 1970 (source: Deb Baohm 24/1/18).

  • Two more children to Margaret Dawn and Keith: Deryth and Ashley Jon. both still living. (source: Deb Baohm 20/1/18)

  • He divorced Margaret Dawn in 1963 and became estranged from his family (source: Deb Baohm 20/1/18) who moved to Kingscote and left KI for Adelaide in 1966 (source: Deb Baohm 24/1/18)

  • Margaret Dawn married (2) Bill Smart in 1966 the same year she and her children removed to Adelaide. She died in 2004. Bill died Apr 1984 (source: Deb Baohm 24/1/18)

  • Keith stayed - without his family - working on the farm until about 1965. He married (3) Margaret Edith ? (about his own age) who may have been working in a hotel in Kingscote, and originally came from Victoria. (source: Deb Baohm 24/1/18)

  • The couple lived in Windsor Gardens.

  • Keith Davidson HEARN died 29 Aug 1994.

  • The place of death is thought to be in Adelaide (source: Deb Baohm 20/1/18)

  • Lorraine James arranged the funeral and the at-need gravesite. (source: Chris Ward)

  • He was cremated at Enfield, and Simplicity Funerals were the undertakers. (source: Chris Ward)

  • It is unknown whether any ashes were placed at Enfield. Someone, presumably Margaret Edith, through the RSL, arranged for the AIF memorial at Enfield with several details wrongly stated e.g. his service number as WX32625 not WX13558. See image:

Enfield Memorial Park, South Australia

  • Notwithstanding the memorial at Enfield, it would seem Margaret Edith took his ashes (all or part?) back to Victoria, and had them placed in a niche at Springvale one month after his death.

  • Australian War Graves advise that his ashes are placed at Springvale Botanical Cemetery, on the behest of his wife Mrs M. Hearn, who was living at North Blackburn at the time. They state they have no record of a memorial at Enfield.

  • Springvale Botanical cemetery: "Keith is memorialised at Gardenia, Wall A, Niche 29. Please find photo of memorial attached. Our records have date of death as 29/08/1994, his date of service at Springvale was 30/09/1994 and he was 71 years old. Keith was not cremated with us (so we have no funeral director on our records) and we only have a portion of his ashes at our cemetery."

  • Chris Ward spoke to Springvale Botanical cemetery 22 Jan 2018 : They claim they received ALL of Keith’s ashes and what didn’t fit into the niche container were scattered in the cemetery. They have advised that the service they referred to was just the cemetery staff placing the ashes in the columbarium wall. There was no funeral or memorial service as such at Springvale.

Keith Davidson / Margaret HEARN WX13558 2/11 Batt 9 Div ? W.A.1923 ? / Newdegate, W.A.? Adelaide ? / 29 Aug 1994 Seddon 16