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TUBB,
Lieutenant Frederick Harold
7th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF

9 August 1915, at Lone Pine Trenches, Gallipoli Peninsular

CITATION: For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at Lone Pine Trenches, Gallipoli Peninsular, on 9 August, 1915. In the early morning the enemy made a determined counter-attack on the centre of the newly captured trench held by Lieutenant Tubb. They advanced up a sap and blew in a sandbag barricade, leaving only one foot of it standing, but Lieutenant Tubb led his men back, repulsed the enemy and rebuilt the barricade. Supported by strong bombing parties the enemy succeeded in twice again blowing in the barricades, but on each occasion Lieutenant Tubb, although wounded in the head and arm, held his ground with the greatest coolness and rebuilt it, and finally succeeded in maintaining his position under very heavy bomb fire.

( London Gazette 15 October 1915. )

DUNSTAN,
Corporal William
7th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF

9 August 1915, at Lone Pine Trenches, Gallipoli Peninsular

CITATION: For most conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine Trenches, on the 9 August, 1915. In the early morning the enemy made a determined counter-attack on the centre of the newly captured trench held by Lieutenant Tubb, Corporals Burton, Dunstan and a few men. They advanced up a sap and blew in a sandbag barricade, leaving only one foot of it standing, but Lieutenant Tubb, with the two Corporals, repulsed the enemy and rebuilt the barricade. Supported by strong bombing parties, the enemy twice again succeeded in blowing in the barricade, but on each occasion they were repulsed and the barricade rebuilt, although Lieutenant Tubb was wounded in the head and arm and Corporal Burton was killed by a bomb whilst most gallantly building up the parapet under a hail of bombs.

( London Gazette 15 October 1915. )

BURTON, ALEXANDER STEWART (1893-1915), soldier, was born on 20 January 1893 at Kyneton, Victoria, son of Alfred Edward Burton, grocer, and his wife Isabella, nee Briggs, both Victorian-born. The family moved to Euroa and, after attending the state school, Burton followed his father into the firm of A. Miller & Co', working in the ironmongery department. He was a chorister in the Euroa Presbyterian Church, a member of the town band, and was active in sport. In 1911 he began his period of compulsory military service. On 18 August 1914 Burton enlisted in the 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and embarked for Egypt in October. On 4 April 1915 his battalion embarked for Lemnos and on the 25th took part in the landing at Anzac. Burton, who was ill with a throat infection, watched the landing from a hospital ship but a week later he was in the trenches. The 7th Battalion was then fighting near 400 Plateau; on 5 May it left Anzac beach to participate in the attack on Krithia, then returned to serve at Monash Valley and Steele's Post. Burton was slightly wounded in action and in July was promoted lance corporal for having volunteered for and taken part in a dangerous operation; he was later promoted corporal.

Burton was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery in the trenches at Lone Pine on 9 August. Early that morning the Turks launched a strong counter-attack on a newly captured trench held by Burton, a personal friend Lieutenant F. H. Tubb, Corporal W. Dunstan [qq.v.] and a few others. The Turks advanced up a sap and blew in the sandbag barricade but Burton, Tubb and Dunstan repulsed them and rebuilt it. Supported by strong bombing parties, the enemy twice more destroyed the barricade but were driven off and the barricade was rebuilt. Burton was killed by a bomb while building up the parapet. Tubb and Dunstan were also awarded the Victoria Cross. Burton's award was gazetted on 15 October and on 28 January 1916 he was mentioned in dispatches.

His kind and manly nature had won him many friends; even before Lone Pine he was frequently mentioned in soldiers' letters for various daring acts. He has no known grave, but his name is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, and by an oak tree and bridge at Euroa. In 1967 his family presented his V.C. to the Australian War Memorial. He was unmarried.

C.E.W. Bean, The Story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924); A. Dean and E. W. Gutteridge, The Seventh Battalion, AIF (MeIb, 1933); L. Wigmore (ed), They Dared Mightily (Canb, 1963); London Gazette, 15 Oct 1915, 28 Jan 1916; Age, 15 Oct 1915; Western Mail (Perth), 19 Nov 1936.

Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Burton, Alexander Stewart

DUNSTAN, WILLIAM (1895-1957), soldier and newspaper manager, was born on 8 March 1895 at Ballarat East, Victoria, fourth child and third son of William John Dunstan bootmaker, and his wife Henrietta, nee Mitchell. At Golden Point State School he was a very bright pupil. He left school at 15 to join the clerical staff of Snows [q.v.], drapers at Ballarat. He served under the compulsory training scheme as a cadet gaining the cadet rank of captain, Australian Military Forces, and in July 1914 was commissioned lieutenant in the militia with the 70th Infantry (Ballarat Regiment).

On 2 June 1915 Dunstan enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a private and a fortnight later embarked for Egypt as an acting sergeant of the 6th Reinforcements of the 7th Battalion. From 5 August he was an acting corporal with the 7th on Gallipoli where four days later he won the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine. Early on 9 August the Turks made a determined counter-attack on a newly captured trench held by Lieutenant F. H. Tubb [q.v.] and ten men. Two men were told to remain on the floor of the trench to catch and throw back enemy bombs or to smother their explosions with overcoats; both were soon mutilated. Tubb, with Corporal Dunstan, Corporal A. S. Burton [q.v.7] and six others, kept firing over the parapet. Several bombs burst simultaneously in the trench killing or wounding five men. Tubb continued to fight, supported only by Dunstan and Burton until a violent explosion blew down the barricade. Tubb drove the Turks off and Dunstan and Burton were rebuilding it when a bomb burst between them, killing Burton and temporarily blinding Dunstan. He was invalided to Australia and discharged on 1 February 1916 having been twice mentioned in dispatches. He then rejoined the Citizen Forces, serving in the rank of lieutenant as area officer, Ballarat, and acting was brigade major, 18th Infantry Brigade. army career concluded when he transferred to the 6th Infantry Battalion in Melbourne in 1921, the unattached list in 1923 and the reserve officers in 1928, retiring as lieutenant.

On 10 June 1916 he was presented with the V.C. by governor-general on the steps of Parliament House, Melbourne. This was the occasion for an outburst of exceptional public fervor. ‘A reserved man disliking fuss’, Dunstan found it a great ordeal. 

On 9 November 1918 he married a Ballarat girl, Marjorie Lillian Steward Carnell, at St Paul's Church of England, Ballarat East. Two sons and a daughter, all of whom served in World War II, were born of this marriage. Dunstan moved to Melbourne to take a position in the Repatriation Department and in 1921 joined the staff of the Herald and Weekly Times Ltd as an accountant under (Sir) Keith Murdoch. He gradually took over the administration of the Herald group as chief accountant, company secretary, and general manager from 1934.

He was a considerate staff manager, conscientious and upright, with a gift for readily making friends in all walks of life. He was allowed a great deal of freedom in the administration of the Herald and was highly regarded in business, judicial and parliamentary circles. He had a particular interest in Australian Newsprint Mills Ltd, the consortium which established Australia's first plant to make newsprint from hardwood at New Norfolk, Tasmania, and was well known to businessmen in England, the United States of America and Canada for his work in the industry.

In 1953 the effect of his war wounds forced his resignation as general manager and he then became a director of the Herald and several other companies. He was a member of the Naval and Military, Australian, Athenaeum, the Royal Melbourne and Metropolitan golf, and the main racing clubs.

Survived by his wife and children, Dunstan died suddenly of coronary vascular disease on 2 March 1957 and was cremated after a funeral service at Christ Church, a South Yarra, attended by over 800 people including seven V.C. winners.

C.E.W. Bean, The Story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924); A. Dean and E. W. Gutteridge, The Seventh Battalion, AIF ((Melb, 1933); L. Wigmore (ed), They Dared Mightily (Canb, 1963);  London Gazette, 15 Oct 1915, 28 Jan, 24 Mar 1916; ISMH, 23 Oct 1915; Mufti, Oct 1935; Herald (Melb), 3 Jan 1948, 18 Jan 1951, 9 Dec 1953, 13 Aug 1956, 4, 5 Mar 1957; ReveilleI (Syd), Apr 1957.

Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Dunstan, William

TUBB, FREDERICK HAROLD (1881-1917), soldier and grazier, was born on 28 November 1881 at Longwood, Victoria, fifth child of Harry Tubb, teacher, and his wife Emma Eliza, nee Abbott, both English born. His father, head teacher at the local school, subsequently took up a selection in the area. Fred obtained his merit certificate and left school to manage the farm; he later worked his own land. He was 5 ft. 5 3/4 ins. (167 cm) tall, an extrovert and a born leader. After volunteer service with the Victorian Mounted Rifles (1900-02) and the Australian Light Horse (1902-11), he joined the 6Oth Battalion, Australian Military Forces, and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1912. He transferred to the 58th Battalion in 1913.

Appointed to the Australian Imperial Force on 24 August 1914 as a second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Tubb was promoted lieutenant on 1 February 1915. He reached Gallipoli on 6 July and was gazetted captain on 8 August. On the same day he took over a vital sector of captured trench at Lone Pine, with orders to 'hold it at any cost'. Early on the 9th the Turks launched a furious attack, advancing along a sap which had been barricaded with sandbags. From the parapet, with eight men, Tubb fired at the enemy; two corporals in the trench caught enemy bombs and threw them back or smothered them with greatcoats. Although Tubb was blown from the parapet and the barricade repeatedly wrecked, each time it was rebuilt. He inspired his men, joking and shouting encouragement. A huge explosion blew in the barricade and killed or wounded most of the defenders. Wounded in the arm and scalp, Tubb was left with Corporals A. S. Burton and W. Dunstan [qq.v.7,8]; he led them into action, shooting three Turks with his revolver and providing covering fire while the barricade was rebuilt A bomb burst, killing Burton and temporarily blinding Dunstan. Tubb then obtained additional help, but the Turks did not renew the attack.

Evacuated that evening, Tubb was taken to England to convalesce. For his gallantry at Lone Pine he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

An emergency appendicectomy left him with an incision hernia and he was invalided to Australia; he arrived home in April 1916 to a hero's welcome. Having persuaded an AIF medical board that he was fit, he rejoined his battalion in France in December and was promoted major on 17 February 1917. His company had an important role in the Menin Road attack, 3rd battle of Ypres, on 20 September. Before the battle he was troubled by his hernia, yet refused to he evacuated. With dash and courage he led his company to its objective, but was hit by a sniper; while being taken out on a stretcher, he was mortally wounded by shell-fire. Tubb was buried in the Lijessenthoek military cemetery, Belgium, and is commemorated by Tubb Hill, Longwood, and a memorial tree in the Avenue of Honour, Euroa, Victoria. His V.C. is on display in the Hall of Valour, Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Three of his brothers, Arthur Oswald (lieutenant, 60th Battalion), Frank Reid, M.C. (captain, 7th Battalion) and Alfred Charles, a signaller, also served in the AIF

C.E.W. Bean, The Story of Anzac, 2 (Syd, 1924) and The AIF in France, 1917 (Syd, 1933); A. Dean and E. W. Gutteridge, The Seventh Battalion, AIF (Melb, 1933); L. Wigmore (ed), They Dared Mightily, second ed revised and condensed by J. Williams and A. Staunton (Canb, 1986); London Gazette, 15 Oct 1915; Euroa Advertiser, 4 Sept 1914; Euroa Gazette, 1 Sept 1915; Tubb personal diaries (held by author, Brighton, Melb); personal information.

Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography - Online Edition, Tubb, Frederick Harold