100 Days of Heroes: Double the pain for soldiers’ mother

AMONG the many memories on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue are the stories of more than 20 sets of brothers who lost their lives in World War I.

Members of the Wickins family members preparing a spot for one of the Wickins brothers’ trees on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue.

AMONG the many memories on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue are the stories of more than 20 sets of brothers who lost their lives in World War I.

Vernon and Rupert Wickins were two of the eight children of Mary and Vernon Wickins of Wellington St, North Hobart.

The boys both attended the Elizabeth St Practising School (now Elizabeth College) and both were keen runners and members of the Hobart Harriers.

Vernon was the eldest and worked as a clerk and porter with the Tasmanian Government Railways, while Rupert was a clerk with Tattersalls. By 1914, Vernon had married but Rupert was single.

MORE 100 DAYS OF HEROES:

CONFECTIONER’S SON WILLIAM CRAGG

BOMBARDIER RICHARD HIGGINS BURIED AT SEA

Rupert Wickins.

Vernon Wickins.

Rupert enlisted in August 1914 and left Australia that October, while Vernon joined up in February 1915 and left in April. Both went to Gallipoli and Rupert served from the landing on April 25 right through the campaign and was promoted to lance corporal in December 1915.

Vern, also a lance corporal, was killed in action near Hill 60 on August 8, 1915, and his body was never recovered.

Vernon Wickins’ plaque on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue.

After the evacuation from Gallipoli, Rupert was transferred to France and was killed near Boursies, France, on April 8, 1917. He buried by a roadside near where he fell. In the 1920s, a group of bodies were reburied in Hermies Hill British Cemetery, but they could not be individually identified.

Lieutenant-Colonel R.A. Rafferty wrote to the Wickins brothers’ mother in Hobart: “You have sent out four sons — you should, indeed, be a proud mother. Your sorrow must be great but think of the cause for which your boys have given of their best.”

Vern’s name is listed on the Lone Pine Memorial for the missing, and Rupert’s is on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. Their brothers Ray and Lyell also served, while Duncan was rejected on medical grounds.

While their final resting places are uncertain, lance corporals Vernon and Rupert Wickins are remembered at trees 32 and 222 respectively, on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue, as well as honour boards at the Hobart Town Hall, Elizabeth College and Holy Trinity Church.

[e-mail]

Rupert Wickins’ plaque on the Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue.