Postcard inspires historian’s hunt for Oatlands’ lost soldiers

A YOUNG soldier killed in battle nearly 100 years ago has reached out through history to touch the heart of a Tasman­ian woman.

Steph Burbury is compiling an amazing history of local Oatlands war legends in time for Anzac Day Picture Byline - Richard Jupe

A YOUNG soldier killed in battle nearly 100 years ago has reached out through history to touch the heart of a Tasman­ian woman.

Steph Burbury, a local historian from Jericho, has been so moved by the writing of Private Norman Eric Beard that she is now researching the histories of hundreds of Tasman­ians who served during World War I.

“It was like he was reaching out from the grave,” Mrs Burbury said.

She said it was heart­breaking reading the words of a young man who didn’t know whether he would return home.

The postcard that moti­vated Mrs Burbury to go on to research the history of all of the 250 soldiers named on the Oatlands World War I honour roll was addressed to a distant relative, another Mrs Burbury.

Pte Beard wrote to Mrs Burbury to say that he would look out for her son Tom Burbury, who was a close mate also fighting in the war.

Most poignantly, the postcard includes a premonition of the fatal events to come.

“Well, I wonder how much longer the war will last Mrs Burbury?” he wrote.

“If it goes through this summer it will be very fierce over here and there will be a lot of us have to stay in France and push up flowers I guess.”

The postcard was written on January 6, 1917. On April 6, three months later, Pte Beard was killed in action in France.

Mrs Burbury, who is a past president of the Oatlands ­Historical Society, was first ­handed a plaque with Pte Beard’s name because it was one of the many plaques that had been lost from the Jericho Avenue of Honour.

“First someone handed in his plaque, which was found in a shed in Oatlands, with his name on it,” Mrs Burbury said.

“Then someone handed in a photo of him, and then someone else sent in this postcard.”

She said the line about being left in France to “push up flowers” compelled her to find out the story of Norman Beard, since it seemed important his story was not lost there.

“Men should not be forgotten, their stories should be told,” Mrs Burbury said.

She began by compiling names of those 27 remembered on the Jericho Avenue of Honour, one of many created by communities in Tasmania during 1918 and 1919 after the war ended to remember the ­efforts of those who enlisted.

Mrs Burbury has been integral to helping organise the ­rebuilding of the Jericho ­Avenue. The project, which is continuing, involves replacing lost trees, plinths and plaques.

Pte Beard was one of more than 2400 Tasmanians who were either killed during the war or died later because of their wounds.

A postcard from fallen soldier Norman Beard inspired Steph Burbury’s research the Oatlands district’s WWI Diggers.

A faded photograph and the rediscovered memorial plaque of Private Norman Eric Beard, of Jericho.

And he was one of seven on the Jericho Avenue who died in action.

He was 22 when he enlisted as soldier No.4287 in the 12th Battalion on September 27, 1915. He was the son of Helen and James Beard and a farmhand at Northumbria property in Jericho before joining the battalion.

“The army loved the boys from the country,” Mrs Burbury said.

“They could ride horses and they knew how to use a gun.”

Pte Beard was killed at Boursles, France, and has no known grave.

Mrs Burbury has dedicated herself to tracking down the stories and photos of the 250 soldiers acknowledged on the Oatlands honour roll, and so far has 130 photos.

The stories are coming to her through the mail and over the phone. Among some of the items included with them are medals, diary entries, letters and postcards.

She said the proud photos of the soldiers, taken just ­before they set off to fight in the Great War were extremely moving.

● Anyone with information about soldiers in the Oatlands area can contact Steph Burbury by email: [e-mail]

Originally published as Postcard inspires historian’s hunt for Oatlands’ lost soldiers