Malcolm Edward Augustus McCallum

Malcolm Edward was born on 12 June 1882.  His parents were Malcolm Purvis McCallum and Sarah Ann Jarmyn. * Sarah came from Suffolk, England when she was two years old with her brother George and her parents George and Emma Jarmyn.  They arrived on the H.M.S.  Sultana to Adelaide on 10 August 1851.  They settled in Peachey Belt where George was a horse breeder, trainer and a farmer.  He insisted on the family giving food to the aboriginal people who came to visit them.

The family grew to include another three girls and three more boys who often helped reap wheat by hand with a sickle for their uncle.  Sarah Ann later worked at Para Vinery and her mistress taught her to read.  Sarah had no other schooling and could not write.  However she was a very knowledgeable person.

On 24 January 1870 she married Malcolm Purvis McCallum [who was born in Edinburgh in 1846] at St. John Church, Salisbury.  His father was John had been a midshipman in the Royal Navy but left his ship when it came to South Australia.  They had eight children.  Sarah helped many women as a midwife and was a friendly person remembered with affection.  She died on 11 January 1933 aged 84 years.  Her husband died on 26 June 1909 at Virginia.

Malcolm joined the Australian Infantry Force on 16 April 1915 and was placed in the 7^th Reinforcements of the 12^th Infantry.  He was 31 years old and described himself as a bushman and storekeeper.  His mother was listed as his next of kin who lived at Virginia.  Malcolm was 5ft  9ins tall with blue eyes, brown hair and had a tattoo on his left forearm and a scar on the lower  part of his jaw.

The 12th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. Half of the battalion was recruited in Tasmania, a quarter was recruited in South Australia, and a quarter from Western Australia. With the 9th, 10th and 11th Battalions it formed the 3rd Brigade.

The battalion was raised within three weeks of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving in early December. The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915 and so was the first ashore at around 4:30 am. The battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the Anzac position. The 12th served at Anzac until the evacuation in December.  However Malcolm had not enlisted at this time.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the 12th Battalion returned to Egypt and, in March 1916, sailed for France and the Western Front. From then until 1918 the battalion took part in bitter trench warfare. After Pozières, the battalion fought at Ypres in Flanders and then returned to the Somme for winter.

In 1917 the battalion took part in the brief advance that followed the German Army’s retreat to the Hindenburg Line. The battalion subsequently returned to Belgium to participate in the offensive that became known as the Third Battle of Ypres.

In March and April 1918 the battalion helped to stop the German spring offensive, and later participated in the great allied offensive of 1918, fighting near Amiens on 8 August 1918. The battalion continued operations until late September 1918.  At 11 am on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent.  Soon after, the members of the AIF began to return to Australia for demobilisation and discharge.

He proceeded to join the Middle East Forces from Zeitoun on 19 September1915 and was taken on the strength at Gallipoli on 2 October 1915.   He fought there until January 1916 when he boarded the Michigan and disembarked at Alexandria.  He went into hospital at Serapium with mumps .  He was moved to Ismailia, Abbassia and then to Heliopolis.  A medical report stated that he developed rheumatic fever which gave him a valvular decease of the heart causing an enlarged heart.  It was decided that he was totally incapacitated and should be discharged as medically unfit.  He left from Suez on the Karoola on the 12 April  1916 and was  discharged on 2 June 1916.

On his return to Adelaide, he married Emily May Kranz on 8 March1917 at Adelaide Registry Office.  She was 19 years old, the daughter of August Kranz.   They had four children, all born at Virginia.

Gladys Margaret             born 15 October 1917

Blanche                             born 5 August 1920

Priscillla May                    born 16 May 1922

Ronald Purvis                  born 5 Nov 1923

Malcolm was awarded the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the 1914/15 Star.

Malcolm died on 3 June 1926 and was buried at West Terrace Cemetery, AIF section.