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Allan Fleming CONOCHIE
| Rank | Reg/Ser No | DOB | Enlisted | Discharge/Death | Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gunner | 31913 | 19 Jul 1889 27y1m | 19 Jun 1916 | 19 Apr 1919 | 2 |
Gunner Allan Fleming Conochie (1894 - 1968)
The Conochie Family from Victoria
Robert and Agnes Conochie were married in 1860 in Melbourne. Both were of Scottish birth. Robert Conochie was a draper in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe. Seven children were born in Victoria before the family moved to Brisbane in about 1903, among them the two boys, William Stewart and Allan Fleming Conochie whose names are on the honour boards at Saint Andrew’s Uniting Church.
Link to Saint Andrew's
The family lived at Woolongabba where Mr Robert Conochie managed a warehouse. Their mother, Mrs Agnes Conochie died in 1906. After Mr Robert Conochie’s second marriage in 1908 to Jesse Reid Meikle, Mr and Mrs Conochie moved to live at New Farm. Their farm at Tingoora, a small town near Wondai in the South Burnett Region also claimed the Conochie family’s interest and time. They were listed as communicant members of Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in 1921 and 1923.
Enlistment
The youngest son in the Conochie family was Allan Fleming Conochie born at the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe on 19 July 1894. Before the First World War he was a farmer at Tingoora. His mother died in 1906 when Allan was 12 years old. He was six feet in height (183 cm), when at the age of 21 years and 11 months, he enlisted in Brisbane to serve in the AIF on 19 June 1916. His father, Robert Conochie of Brookland, Tingoora was named as next of kin. Gunner Allan F. Conochie, regimental number 31913 was assigned to join 9th Field Artillery Brigade, 8th Reinforcements for active service abroad.
Overseas service
His unit embarked from Sydney on board Royal Mail Ship Osterley on 10 February 1917 and arrived at Plymouth on 11 April 1917. Gunner Conochie spent the next few months in artillery training at Lark Hill. He overstayed leave on one occasion, forfeiting five days’ pay (£1/5/-) as an “award”.
At the beginning of August he proceeded overseas to Rouelles in France where he was assigned to the 6th Field Artillery Brigade which was an army brigade, not allotted to any particular division. Gunner Conochie joined 106 Howitzer Battery. He was engaged in the campaigns on the Western Front till the Armistice on 11 November 1918. He was permanently attached to the 4th Australian Field Artillery Brigade before return to Australia on SS Sardinia in April 1919.
Post war
Allan Conochie returned to his family’s farming property at Tingoora. For a short period his sister Edith Mary Conochie was a teacher of music there. On 26 April 1926 he married Dorothy Henrietta Moore at All Saints Church, Brisbane. Their only child, Dorothy Elaine Conochie was born on 19 February 1925 at Wondai near Tingoora.
In 1935 and 1936 the family was living at Texas, New South Wales where Allan managed Gunyan Station and in 1943 they had moved to Norman Park in Brisbane. Like his elder brother William, Allan enlisted for service in the Second World War1.
Allan was employed as a clerk in New South Wales in the 1950s and his wife Dorothy died in Brisbane on 5 July 1960. Allan Conochie married Evelyn Maude Mills in Sydney in 1961 and they returned to Queensland, living in retirement at Mount Gravatt.
Passing
Allan Fleming Conochie died on 14 December 1968 aged 74 years. He is remembered with honour in the Merrington Anzac Memorial Peace Chapel and on a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance at Bridgeman Downs.
Compiled by Noel E. Adsett, Brisbane. March 2016 ©
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