12. William Piercy Austin 1892 [1439]

PARENT 11 Mary Harriet Peerman 1860 [1109]

WILLIAM PIERCY AUSTIN (BUNT) was born in Geelong, Victoria on te 7 April 1892 and died in Heidelberg, Victoria in July 1964, aged 72.

He was buried at the Springvale Necropolis cemetery on the 11 July 1964- Joshua Jordanlan Grave Row AT Grave 17.

He was educated at King’s School, Adelaide, the Ararat Church of England Grammar School and Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. Like his father and grandfather, he rowed for his school, and in 1927 for Victoria. on the 17 August 1914, he enlisted in the armed forces, posted to the 5th M.G.B and participated in the landing at Gallipoli. He returned to Australia on the 2 March 1919, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. With his brother John Piercy, he took up a soldier’s settlement property near Sale in Victoria, but the property could not support two families after the brothers had married.

William Piercy married GERTRUDE ELIZABETH HOGG at the All Saint's Church, St Kilda, Victoria on the 23 September 1923. Gertrude, daughter of Campbell Hogg and Edel Mina Louisa Dawson, was born at Daylesford on the 28 May 1897 and died on the 14 August 1986, aged 89. She was buried in the same grave as her husband at te Springvale Necropolis cemetery on the 18 August 1986.

William and Gertrude lived firstly on an orchard property near Melbourne, where their two children were born. The family later moved to Griffith, New South Wales where William Piercy worked as an engineer for the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission. William Piercy enlisted on the 24 June 1940 at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in the Second AIF (NX35677). He was living in Leeton, New South Wales at this time.He was a gunner in the 2/15 Aust Field Artillary Unit and landed in Singapore in 1941. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942 and interned in Changi jail. Later, he worked on the infamous Burma railway line. He survived this, returned to Australia in late 1945 and was discharged from the military on the 7 March 1947. He worked for some years before retiring in 1950. He died in Melbourne.

# William's 1940 military enlistment gives his birth date as 7 April 1900. Perhaps he altered the date in these papers, fearing that he may otherwise be rejected as too old for service.

Children of WILLIAM & GERTRUDE AUSTIN

i WILLIAM PIERCY AUSTIN [1660] b.1924

ii STELLA ELIZABETH PIERCY AUSTIN [1659] b. 1927