Graeme Bryan ARGUS
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 1 Oct 1952
Christening:
Death: 30 Sep 2014 - Yarroweyah, Victoria ( at age 61)
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Keith William ARGUS (1930-2001)
Mother: Kathleen CARROLL (1928-2010)
Spouses and Children
1. *Sherylyn McDOWELLGraham Brendon ARGUS
Sex: M
Parents
Father: Ronald James ARGUS
Mother: Glenys Margaret HAYES
Spouses and Children
1. *Deborah Louise CHRISTIE
Children:
1. Dale Cole ARGUS
2. Blake Kade ARGUS
Graham Reginald ARGUS
Sex: M
Parents
Father: Reginald Arnold ARGUS (1904-1972)
Mother: Mayvis Claremont GRAY (1913-2003)
Marriage Did Not Marry
Greg ARGUS
Sex: M
Parents
Father: John ARGUS ( - )
Mother:
Spouses and Children
1. *Noella Jean (1948 - 6 Jun 2010)
Marriage:
Status:
Gregory Charles ARGUS
Sex: M
Parents
Father: Francis Charles (Chas) ARGUS (1909-2000)
Mother: Pearl Mary HART (1914-1994)
Spouses and Children
1. *Nola
Children:
1. Michelle ARGUS
2. Leanne ARGUS
3. Christopher ARGUS
Harold ARGUS
Sex: M
Parents
Father: William John ARGUS (1880-1967)
Mother: Ruby MANWARING (1892-1953)
Spouses and Children
1. *Shirley Jean BATE (29 Oct 1925 - 3 Sep 2007)
Marriage:
Status:
Children:
1. Susanne Lynette ARGUS
2. Geoffrey John ARGUS
2. Beryl Aileen HOLMES
Harold ARGUS
Sex: M
Spouses and Children
1. *Margaret McGANN
Children:
1. Jenifer May ARGUS ( -1959)
Harold Arnold ARGUS
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 1901 - Saint James, Victoria, Australia
Christening:
Death: 1975 - ( at age 74)
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: William CHURCH
Mother: Annie ARNOLD (1862-1901)
Spouses and Children
Notes
General:
He was registered both as Harold Arnold
Argus and Harold Arnold Church but the Argus family must have claimed him as he died in
1975 aged 74 and was registered then as Harold Arnold Argus. He does not appeared to have
Married from what I can find.
Harold Arnold ARGUS
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 1902
Christening:
Death: 1975 - Victoria, Australia ( at age 73)
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Rex Lawrence Duval ARGUS (1902-1978)
Mother: Phyllis May LUCAS ( -1968)
Harold Ernest ARGUS
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Feb 1887 - Tallygaroopna, Victoria, Australia 11
Christening: in Tallygaroopna, Victoria, Australia
Death: 4 Jun 1917 - Ypres, Belgium ( at age 30)
Burial: in Strand Military Cemetery, Ploegsteert, Belgium
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: William Bassett ARGUS (1844-1910)
Mother: Mary Anne TREWIN (1846-1891)
Spouses and Children
Notes
General:
Birth: Registration No 7192
ENLISTMENT.
Enlisted - 28 December 1915
Occupation - Clerk
Religon - Congregational
Next of Kin - Sister, Mrs Henrietta Walsh, Allan Street, Kyabram, Victoria.
Single
KYABRAM FREE PRESS. 22/6/1916.
SARG.HAROLD ERNEST ARGUS NO. 1134 43RD BATT. 1ST A.I.F. KILLED BY SNIPER. KYABRAM FREE PRESS. 22/6/1916. KILLED IN ACTION. ON MONDAY LAST REV. J. ROGERS OF KYABRAM, CONVEYED THE SAD MESSAGE TO HIS FRIENDS THAT SERGEANT ARGUS HAD BEEN KILLED IN ACTION ON JUNE 4TH. HE WAS A BROTHER OF MR L. ARGUS WYUNA, AND MRS. WALSH KYABRAM, FOR WHOM MUCH SYMPATHY HAS BEEN EXPRESSED. SERGEANT ARGUS ENLISTED AT ADELAIDE. HE WAS WELL KNOWN IN KYABRAM, HAVING ATTENDED THE LOCAL STATE SCHOOL IN HIS BOYHOOD, AND AT THE AGE OF 12 HE STARTED OUT TO EARN HIS LIVING. HE WAS PROMINENTLY CONNECTED WITH THE METHODIST CHURCH, HAVING STUDIED FOR THE MINISTRY AND TOOK SERVICES HERE ON THE OCCASION OF HIS LAST VISIT.
ADELAIDE CONNECTION:
His name appears on the Firsrt World War Roll of Honour in the Brougham Place Uniting Church (previously Brougham Place Congregational Church), Brougham Place, North Adelaide, South Australia. His name also appears on the First World War Roll of Honour originally at Parkin College (Congregational Church Theological College) North Terrace Kent Town, Adelaide, South Australia but later moved to the South Australian Archives when the College combined with the Wesley College to become the Parkin Wesley Uniting Church College.
CASUALTY DETAILS:
Name: ARGUS, HAROLD ERNEST
Initials: H E
Nationality: Australian
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: Australian Infantry, A.I.F
Unit Text: 43rd Bn.
Age: 30
Date of Death: 04/06/1917
Service No: 1134
Additional information: Son of William Bassett Argus and Mary Ann Trewin. Native of Victoria, Australia.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: III. D. 11.
Cemetery: STRAND MILITARY CEMETERY PLOEGSTEERT BELGIUM
Memorial Panel No: 136
EXTRACTS FROM "The Forty-Third: The Story and Official History of the 43rd Battalion AIF". Colliver, E.J.; Richardson B.H. (1920) Adelaide, South Australia. Rigby Limited.
Page 34
the 4th [of June 1917], Lieutenant Colman and thirty other ranks attempted a daylight raid into the enemy line at Broken Tree House, but as only a few hours' notice had been given previous reconnaissance and preparation was impossible. The party was conveyed by lorry to Ploegsteert Wood, then filed along C.T.s [communications trenches?] to the front line, from which they commenced at 2 p.m. to move across No Man's Land.
Heavy rifle and machine gun fire was directed against them on leaving the parapet, and after proceeding one hundred yards they suffered casualties and were definitely checked. The process of returning the wounded proved most difficult, as enemy fire covered any attempted movement, necessitating some remaining in shell-holes until nightfall. The officer and one sergeant were killed, and eleven other ranks wounded.
Page 235
Sgt. H.E Argus
with the Battalion in June, 1916, and remained with D Company throughout his service in France. He acted as Platoon Sergeant, and did splendid work in the trench warfare around Armentieres and Ploegsteert Wood. For two or three days before the opening of the great battle of Messines practice barrages were put down, under cover of which daylight raiders issued from our front lines and "put it across" Fritz. The idea was to secure identification, discover if the Boche were changing his order of battle and to destroy the morale of his front line troops. Going over in daylight, even under a barrage, was no child's play, but required great nerve.
It was in one of these daylight raids that Sergeant Argus was killed. He was a fine type of man, splendidly built, whose courage seemed to rise as the danger increased. A born leader, he inspired confidence in his men and ever was in the place where the work was hottest and a leader most needed.
He lies buried in the famous Ploegsteert Wood.
Sergeant Harold Ernest ARGUS (service no. 1134)
Harold Ernest Argus was the youngest son of William Bassett Argus and Mary Anne Argus
(nee Trewin). He was born at Tallygaroopna, Victoria, in February 1887. At the outbreak of
World War I, he was in Adelaide where he was training to become a minister of religion.
On 28th December 1915, he enlisted in the 43rd Infantry Battalion which was South Australia's
contribution to the formation of the AIF's 3rd Division. After showing outstanding ability in
training, he quickly rose from his enlistment rank of Private to that of Sergeant. He was
reputed to be so good at training that his superior officers had wanted him to stay in Australia
and assist in training new recruits. He believed that it was his duty, however, to go overseas
with the Battalion and "do his bit".
On 9th June 1916, he embarked at Adelaide with the rest of D Company of the 43rd Battalion
on HMAT Afric. On this troop transport ship, they travelled to Marseilles in southern France
via Albany, Colombo and the Suez Canal. After landing at Marseilles on 19th July, they
travelled by train to the French port city of Havre on the English Channel. From here they
crossed the Channel to England to undertake further intensive training on the Salisbury
Plain.
On 25th November 1916 they were back in France, fit and ready for action. The Battalion
spent four months engaging the enemy in trench warfare around the French village of
Armentieres, not far from the border with Belgium. Between 29th April and 21st May 1917,
they were withdrawn from the front line to billets in the village of Journy where days were
filled with further intensive training. On 21st May, they marched back to Armentieres where
the 3rd Division was preparing for what would become the historic Battle of Messines,
planned to start on 7th June.
In preparation for the battle, one of the three artillery corps would undertake a practice
barrage for ten minutes each day. Using the artillery barrage as cover, daylight raiding
parties would emerge from the Australian front line trenches and proceed across No Man's
Land to identify the enemy positions, engage the enemy and, if possible, take prisoners from
whom further strategic information could be gleaned.
On 4th June, Sergeant Harold Argus was assigned to a raiding party of thirty led by young
Lieutenant Fred Colman. The party was to leave their position at Armentieres in lorry
transport, cross the Belgian border and, under cover of an artillery barrage, raid the enemy
positions at Ploegsteert Wood. Due to the short notice given to the raiders, previous
reconnaissance and preparation had not been possible.1 This was further complicated by
the lorries carrying the diggers being blocked for a time at a road junction known to the
soldiers as Hyde Park Corner. After dismounting from the lorries, the members of the raiding
party made their way along communication trenches to the front line. By the time they
arrived there, the practice barrage had been completed.2
Lieutenant Colman decided that they would proceed without artillery cover and, at 2.00 p.m.,
led his men over the parapet and towards the enemy positions in Ploegsteert Wood. They
had barely gone one hundred yards (approx. 91 metres) when the staccato action of enemy
machine guns, accompanied by rifle fire, barked out across the flat space of No Man's Land.
The result was the immediate loss of Lieutenant Colman and Sergeant Harold Argus, both of
whom lay dying, and eleven others who were wounded. The ground was flat and featureless
1 Colliver, E.J. et al page 34
2 Bean, C.E.W. page 586
and any attempt to recover the dead and wounded was met by a hail of bullets. Some took
cover in shell-holes until nightfall made evacuation possible.3
Senior officers of Harold Argus later described him in the following way: " He acted as
Platoon Sergeant, and did splendid work in the trench warfare around Armentieres and
Ploegsteert Wood. For two or three days before the opening of the great battle of Messines
practice barrages were put down, under cover of which daylight raiders issued from our front
lines and "put it across" Fritz. The idea was to secure identification, discover if the Boche
were changing his order of battle and to destroy the morale of his front line troops. Going
over in daylight, even under a barrage, was no child's play, but required great nerve.
It was in one of these daylight raids that Sergeant Argus was killed. He was a fine type of
man, splendidly built, whose courage seemed to rise as the danger increased. A born
leader, he inspired confidence in his men and ever was in the place where the work was
hottest and a leader most needed."4
Sergeant Harold Ernest Argus lies in the Strand Military Cemetery at Ploegsteert, Belgium.
The grave reference is III. D.11. His name is recorded at position 136 in the
Commemorative Area of the Australian War Museum in Canberra.
REFERENCES
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918: Volume IV '96 The Australian Imperial
Force in France, 1917. Bean, C.E.W.
The Forty-Third: The Story and Official History of the 43rd Battalion AIF. Colliver, E.J.;
Richardson B.H. (1920) Adelaide, South Australia. Rigby Limited.
3 Colliver 11,16,29