Woodings: George William
The son of John and Susan Woodings. George was born in Minyip, Victoria on 7th September 1892.
After attending the Coromandel Valley Public School for some six years from about 1899, he worked as a farm labourer prior to enlisting as Private (Pte) 3973 in the 10th Battalion on 19th August 1915.
George was 5’8” (173cm) tall, weighed 139lbs (63kg), had grey eyes and brown hair, and was a member of the Coromandel Valley Methodist Church. He departed for overseas service from Adelaide on the RMS Malwa on 2nd December 1915.
As a reinforcement arriving in Egypt in early 1916, George would have been put through several weeks before being sent on to France. His group was departed from Alexandria on the HM Transylvannia on 29th March and arrived at Marseilles on 4th April.
Assigned again to the 10th Battalion on 19th May, George and his unit went into action in the Somme battles of July 1916. He was listed as wounded on 22nd July, but four days later this was changed to a diagnosis of Shellshock. It was not until November that George went back to his unit.
After a dreadful winter, George and his Battalion were again in action at the second battle at Bullecourt, France, in May 1917. Here against the German forces, the Australian troops broke the Hindenburg Line.
George was initially listed as wounded on the 6th May 1917 but this information was later changed to killed in action. As his body was not recovered and he has no known grave, George is listed amongst the missing of the 10th Battalion on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France.
His medals and memorial plaque were sent to his father in 1921-22.
George Woodings is listed on the Coromandel Valley Public School’s Roll of Honour and the War Memorial. A photograph of him is included on the Coromandel Valley Methodist Church’s Roll of Honour now displayed at Blackwood RSL.
Research by Geoff Lock, 2015
