Stanley William Gorrell

Stanley William Gorrell (Service No 3634), son of James William (Mayor of Wollongong 1912, 1913, 1920-1922, 1925-1928, 1931-1933) and Amelia Gorrell was born in Berkeley, “Sunnyvale.” He was a bank officer prior to enlisting and remained in his profession following his return from the war.

He enlisted at the age of 21 (14 March 1917), joining the Light Horse Brigade 1st Regiment after prior involvement in the 28th Light Horse Brigade. He embarked on HMAT Commonwealth A73 from Melbourne.

My Dear Mother,

We spent a very pleasant Xmas here yester-day. There was Turkey and ham for dinner. Cake for tea. To day we have been having sports. For three days before Xmas it was terribly windy but as luck would have it the wind died down for Xmas.
Well we are both well and making the best of our time. We have not seen Kingsley yet but have heard from him and he is well...
Egypt- 26 December 1917.

“We have got a good place to learn to swim in now. That place is the Dead Sea. It is that salty that one cannot sink in it even if they try… The Jordan Valley is also noted for its oil wells, which experts say will be offered up after the war.
A[t] present our Regiment is back having a spell in some vine-yard. The grapes are just ripe, so you can depend we have been having a good time. I wish we could only take the grapes back with us when we go back to the Valley…
Letter to (brother) Harold dated 7 August 1918.

In October 1918 he was injured with “slight superficial abrasions and scorching of skin of left hand. Not serious.” This was a result of accidental misuse of a detonator.

He left Antara to Australia and was officially discharged from the AIF at Sydney on 17 May 1919 which thus terminated his period of enlistment.

Stanley did not marry but instead carried on with his career. He became a successful banker in Bourke and was noted in a numerous amount of newspaper articles.

Stanley and his brothers are commemorated on the Unanderra Public School Honour Roll.