Rupert Coleman Curnow

Biography taken from "Light Horsemen of the Upper Murray", Year 5 and 6, Corryong College, 2018

Rupert Coleman Curnow was born on 30 October 1898, at Ballarat, Victoria, to Josiah and Florence Curnow. Rupert was an only child. He was initially educated at a Ballarat Primary school, then later at Ballarat Grammar School. In 1916, he enrolled at the University of Melbourne and began a degree in Medicine.

When Rupert enlisted, he was a single, 18-year-old university student living in Melbourne. His enlistment records state that he was 5 feet 10 inches tall (178 cm) and weighed 140 lbs (64 kg). His complexion was described as fresh, his eyes blue, and his hair brown. Rupert's previous militia service included three years in the cadets and six months with the Melbourne University Rifles. His religious denomination was given as Church of England.

An interesting note in his service records indicates that his parents had provided conditional consent to enlist and that he was not to embark for overseas service until he attained the age of 19. The OC (Officer Commanding) of the 3rd Military District included a further note stating that Rupert was to go to the Light Horse, providing he passed the riding test. Rupert clearly passed the test, as he was taken on strength with the 30th Reinforcements of the 8th Light Horse Regiment on the 5 January, 1917. However, he did not embark until 1 November 1917, therefore satisfying his parents' conditional consent.

Rupert embarked on HMAT A73 Commonwealth at Melbourne, Victoria and joined the EEF (Egyptian Expeditionary Forces) at Moascar on the 10 December, 1917. Upon arriving, he was admitted to the hospital suffering from bronchitis. Rupert was wounded in the Jordan Valley and spent some time in a military hospital in Jerusalem. On being discharged, he returned to his unit to take part in the advance to Damascus, and later Aleppo. He was promoted to Corporal in late 1917 and served with the force that remained in Palestine until late 1919.

On 8 July 1919, Rupert embarked on the SS Malta for a return to Australia. For his service during the war, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Upon returning to Australia, Rupert decided against continuing his medical studies and instead applied for land under the Soldier Settlement Scheme. In August 1922, he was granted 400 acres at Biggara, east of Corryong.

Rupert’s son, Ken Curnow O.A.M, takes up his father’s story

On the 16 November 1923, he married Eileen Adeline Purcell, originally from Limavady Northern Ireland, at St John’s Church of England in Camberwell, a suburb of Melbourne.

​There were no buildings on the land so he and Eileen lived in a tent for the first eighteen months while building a two-room slab cottage in which to live.  In 1929, while living in the cottage, Rupert and Eileen had a daughter Kathleen Mary who died shortly after birth.  In 1932 a son, Kenneth Rupert Murray, was born.

Rupert was elected to the Upper Murray Shire Council in 1929.  Five years later, in 1934 ill health due to general debilitation through war service and severe asthma attacks, which first became evident in the deserts of Palestine through 1917-1919, and compounded at Biggara, caused he and Eileen to leave the Biggara property.  It was to be for a period to seek medical attention, and a neighbour was left to share farm the dairy.

They moved to his father’s residence at “The Olives” in Buckland Street (now known as Rosanna Road) Heidelberg, a suburb of Melbourne.  With medical attention, his health improved and he was appointed to the board of the Army Repatriation Commission, assisting returning military personnel being repatriated from service in the Second World War 1939-45.

 In 1944 Rupert contested the Federal Parliamentary seat of Corio, in Geelong Victoria, as the United Australia Party candidate.  At that time, the United Australia Party was led by Sir Robert Menzies who later became Prime Minister of Australia from 1949 until 1965.

 The United Australia Party changed its name to the Liberal Party in 1946, and it still bears that name today.  The sitting member for Corio was John Dedmann, Deputy Prime Minister in the Curtin war time Labour government, who eventually retained the seat at the 1944 election.

 In 1947, Rupert contested the Victorian State Government seat of Ivanhoe as the Liberal Party candidate, winning the seat by a large majority, and he entered the Victorian State Parliament.

 Rupert was an active member of the Ivanhoe branch of the Liberal Party.  His friends of this period were many of the ex-servicemen and women he had assisted in their repatriation from military service. Some of the people he helped became noted identities in both the civilian and the political fields through the years following the war.

Rupert assisted Sister Vivian Bullwinkle who was a lone survivor from a Japanese massacre and internment. On her return to Australia, he helped with her repatriation into post war rehabilitation. She later became matron of the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and a noted hospital administrator during the latter part of the last century.

As with all members of Parliament, he would get calls from the general public to rectify the large and small complaints that they had, ranging from blocked sewers to trains running late, or streets that had not been swept. People believed the local Member of Parliament ought to have influence with every Government institution and local municipal council!

  He did much to increase the size of the Austin Hospital which today is a huge complex and many patients from around the state of Victoria are sent there for specialist treatment.

In late 1949 Rupert’s health declined rapidly as a legacy of his war service and other health problems that manifested from lung infections and asthma, and he died on the 18th of December 1950 at the age of 52.  Rupert was interned in the Warringal Cemetery Heidelberg.

(Permission has been given by Ken to include this information. The complete account can be found on the Chauvel Foundation website in the Anthology section)