Private David Andrew Allison, 11th Battalion
Australian War MemorialDavid Andrew Allison was born on 3 December 1872 in Murphy’s Creek, Queensland, to Samuel and Elizabeth Allison. He went to the local school before training as a plumber, and at some point moved to Western Australia.
In 1896, Allison married Elizabeth Waterhouse in Busselton, Western Australia, and the couple went on to have four children.
In 1901, he became a policeman in the Western Australian police force and two years later, while working as a constable, was stabbed while trying to protect a young woman in Perth. He then worked in Boulder and Fremantle but in 1909, left the police force after fracturing his leg. He received compensation, with which he bought a team of horses and began working as a teamster.
In early 1915, his eldest son, David Samuel Allison, tried to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He was not quite 18 years old and was discharged shortly afterwards but tried again and successfully enlisted in December of that year. He was posted to the trench mortars, and went on to serve on the Western Front.
In August 1916, David Allison senior followed his son by enlisting in the AIF. His acceptance was deferred because he had a shortened left leg from his old fracture. He was eventually accepted and sent overseas with the field ambulance, later transferring to the 11th Battalion.
Private Allison underwent an extended period of training in England. During this time his fractured leg caused him significant problems, and he was put on light duties. He was found to be unfit for active service but continued serving in training camps in England. Even so he continued to struggle, and towards the end of 1917, he fell seriously ill.
On 16 December 1917, David Andrew Allison died in hospital in Weymouth, England, of pleurisy and heart complications. He was 45 years old.
His son served until 1918, surviving serious gunshot wounds in 1917, and was repatriated to Australia for family reasons.
Meleah Hampton, Historian, Military History Unit
- Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2278451
