After the War

On his return Bert resumed working as a PMG postal assistant, joined the Returned Soldiers’ Association (now RSL), and volunteered as Secretary of the West Perth sub-branch.

On 21 October 1921 he married Guildford-born Eva Brookes (23) and their son, Mervyn Charles, was born on 6 August 1922. Daughter, Leita Eva, followed on 24 October 1923, and the Turners soon moved to 39 Kent Street, Victoria Park.

In 1927 Bert was appointed a PMG clerk (Class V) and, suddenly, the date of his WWI enlistment was significant: if he enlisted before 16 January 1915, it counted for up to a year’s clerical seniority. He wrote to the army saying he had attested on or about 4 January 1915, but his discharge papers showed he attested on 30 January. He complained this was ‘palpably wrong’, but hadn’t queried the dates at the time as he couldn’t have foreseen the significance. Bert’s medical was conducted on 15 January 1915, but his attestation was signed on 18 January. One can imagine his frustration.

In February 1942 the Japanese bombed Darwin and, on 3 March, Broome, motivating many who had already served in the First World War to enlist in the Second, but Bert, now 48, was overage. Instead, at Claremont on 24 April 1942, he enlisted in the Australian Military Forces (Militia). After training at Leighton, Bert was assigned to WA’s Lines of Communication (Signals) and promoted to corporal on 1 July 1942. He served through the rest of the war and beyond, and was discharged in 1947.

His children had grown: Mervyn married in 1946 and raised a family of his own; Leita, who kept her father’s precious diaries safe and whose final wishes were that they be donated to the Battye Library, married later in life but had a stellar career as a primary state school teacher and, from 1956, spent the next two decades as the well-respected headmistress of several state schools. 

After a lifetime of service in the PMG, Bert retired in the early 1960s. He died on 30 July 1969, aged 75, followed by Eva, on Christmas Day 1973, aged 79. They are buried together at Karrakatta Cemetery.

By Shannon Lovelady
Story from A Signaller’s Story Exhibit