Wars may be declared by governments, but they are fought by people. One of the purposes of Anzac Day is to remember, to name if possible, the people – the individuals – who did the fighting. The Humpybong Roll of Honour does just that, so let us take one of the 58 men named – Percy Southwell Frost – and remember him on this Anzac Day.
Percy was born in 1892, the son of Frank and Sarah Southwell. With reports of the horror and heroism of Gallipoli resonating in Australia, he, like many other young men, enlisted. In June 1916, the 24-year-old Redcliffe grocer became Private Frost, Service Number 6502, in the 15th Infantry Battalion. They sailed from Brisbane on the HMAT Boonat on 21 October. The ship arrived in Plymouth in January 1917, and the troops then embarked for France. In April, at the Battle of Bullecourt, he was wounded and taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war in German POW camps at Dulmen, Minden and Parchim.
His parents had been told in May 1917 that he was missing; imagine their joy when they learned that he was to be repatriated. Unsurprisingly, when he returned to Redcliffe on the Koopa in May 1919, as reported by the Brisbane Courier, “a large crowd assembled on the jetty and gave him a hearty welcome”.
A Legacy of Service: The Baker, Councillor, and Zoo Keeper
Following in the footsteps of his father, Percy became a baker. His bakery on the Esplanade boasted “EXCELLENT BREAD, TEA CAKES … BUNS ETC”, and promised delivery to all parts of the district. In 1922, he married Violet Ashmole, daughter of Arthur Ashmole, formerly head teacher at the Humpybong school, and Alice Cutts.
Percy did not return from war to rest on his laurels: his post-war life was one of service to the community. He was a stalwart of the Redcliffe Progress Association and the Returned Sailors’ Soldiers’ Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia (later the RSL). In 1933, he stood for and was elected to the Redcliffe council, a position he held until 1961, and during the Second World War, he was active in the Volunteer Defence Force, a part-time voluntary military force modelled on the British Home Guard.
Percy and Violet had no children, but they delighted scores of Redcliffe youngsters with the animals and birds at their private zoo, located behind their house in Margate.
Percy died in 1973 and is buried in the Redcliffe cemetery. He has not one but two streets named after him: Frost Street, Clontarf and Percy Street, Redcliffe, a well-deserved honour.
[With thanks to City of Moreton Bay, ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au; Image courtesy of City of Moreton Bay, reference number RMPC-100\100823]
Read more stories from our Redcliffe Guide print magazine here:
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