Fallen ANZACs,
Territory ANZACs,
First World War, 1914-1918,
Place of birth
Mount Morgan (Qld.),
Place of enlistment
Cairns (Qld.),
Date of enlistment
1916-06-06,
Age
28,
Occupation
Miner,
Service
Australian Imperial Force,
Unit
4th Pioneer Battalion, 5th Reinforcement,
Rank
Lance Corporal,
Service number
2659,
Next of kin
Florence Eva Linde - Wife.
John Joseph Eric Linde - Son ; off Campbell Street, Rockhampton, Qld.,
Date of death
1917-10-15,
Place of death
Belgium,
Place of burial
Menin Road South Military Cemetery (Belgium),
Memorial
Darwin Cenotaph,
Biographical notes
Photo description: John Alfred Robert Linde is standing on the far right of the photo with the trumpet.,
John Alfred Robert Linde, ‘Alf’, was born 19 January 1888, son of John Jochem Linde, a miner, and Charlotte Margaretha Dorethea Linde (registration number 011533). His mother was listed on the electoral rolls alternatively as a nurse or undertaking "domestic duties". There appears to have been a number of siblings or family members of some affiliation. The evidence of the electoral rolls suggest that the family moved around quite a bit throughout northern Queensland with both father and sons and their partners or sisters, living together while the males of the family pursued their mining activities.
By 1913, Alf Linde, was living in Irvinebank in Queensland and listed on the electoral roll for that year in the division of Kennedy. In common with family practice a number of family members are also listed as living there, but not Alf Linde’s father although he was still living and in fact, outlived his son, not dying until 1920. Presumably the absences were part of the fossicking economy of the miner following the latest strikes, and Alf Linde’s own life story suggests a similar pattern.
On 2 July 1913 Alf Linde married Florence Eva (nee Trezise) on 2 July 1913 in Queensland (registration number 002929). They had one son, John Joseph Eric Linde.
Alf Linde does not appear much in Territory records, although he is listed as donating to part of the 1914 Pine Creek residents’ donations to the Red Cross Christmas Fund for Australian Soldiers. His donation of 2/6 is in his name only, and not his wife’s suggesting he may have come to the Northern Territory to mine in Tennant Creek on his own, leaving his wife and son back home in Queensland. Alf Linde’s son John lived a long life in Queensland and does not appear in Northern Territory records.
While none of this evidence is conclusive, the extant records suggest that at some point in or about 1914, Alf Linde travelled to Pine Creek to the diggings there to try his luck. The Territory was known to be a rough sort of place, and Linde may have thought it safer to leave his wife and young son within the close family ties in Queensland. Frank Geddes records that Linde enlisted from Darwin, leaving Darwin on the SS ‘Montoro’ on 8 February 1916. He was 28 years old.
Although Linde’s time in the Territory was brief, probably a year and a half or so at most, he made a number of close friends here. When Jack Irwin wrote to the Northern Territory Times and Gazette to advise of Linde’s death, published in January 1918, Irwin noted poignantly that Linde had been “killed instantly … one of the finest fellows I had ever met”.
His name is remembered in Linde Street and Linde Park, both located in Moil, Darwin.,
History
Alf Linde departed Brisbane on board HMAT A49 ‘Seang Choon’ on 19 September 1916 and arrived in Plymouth 9 December.
Soon after his arrival in England, Linde became ill which turned out to be mumps and he was treated at the hospital at Larkhill. He remained in England until 27 February 1917 when he left for France. He was treated again at Etaples, on the right bank of the estuary of the Canche,a bit less than 5km from the Straits of Dover. While only a small village before the War, the town become a large Allied military camp sometimes referred to as the “hospital city” for soldiers en route home or to the Front. He had probably not completely recovered from his earlier illnesses because he remained there from the 1 March until the 10 March after which he was returned to his unit at the 4th Pioneer Battalion. On 28 July 1917, Linde was promoted from Private to Lance Corporal.
Linde was fighting in Belgium when he was reported killed in action on 15 October 1917. His death was reported as instantaneous. His personal effects included photos, post cards, letter, diary, note in German and metal wrist watch.
Alf Linde was buried Plot 2, Row H, Grave 22, off the Menin Road, South Military Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium.,
Subject
Australia. Army. Australian and New Zealand Army Corps,
History,
World War, 1914-1918,
Northern Territory,
ANZAC,
Related links
http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=8203391&I=1&SE=1,
http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/nominal_rolls/first_world_war/page/R1553772/,
http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/items/ACCNUM_LARGE/RCDIG1066900/RCDIG1066900--135-.JPG,
http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1048147--1-.PDF,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3287288,
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/38686275,
http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=6890,
http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1638218/,
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/96524/LINDE,%20JOHN%20ALFRED%20ROBERT,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3287288 ["Roll of Honour", Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 19 January 1918: p.4.],
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/38686275 [Darwin Returned Servicemens' League (RSL) : A Concise History of its Conception and Development by Clive Francis Geddes. Darwin : Clive Francis Geddes, 2011: p.50.],
http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=6890 [NT Place Names Register : Linde Street],
http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1048147--1-.PDF [Red Cross Wounded and Missing],
http://static.awm.gov.au/images/collection/items/ACCNUM_LARGE/RCDIG1066900/RCDIG1066900--135-.JPG [Embarkation Roll - HMAT 'Seang Choon' A49.],
http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=8203391&I=1&SE=1 [Service Record],
http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/nominal_rolls/first_world_war/page/R1553772/ [Nominal Roll],
http://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1638218/ [Roll of Honour],
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/96524/LINDE,%20JOHN%20ALFRED%20ROBERT [Commonwealth War Graves - Menin Road South Military Cemetery - John Alfred Robert Linde],