John’s occupation and marital status upon enlistment, was detailed as a farm labourer, who was single.
- Date of Birth – 1892 in Araluen.1NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Birth – 7892/1892 Parents Robert and Matilda. Registered in Braidwood Accessed 28 June 2026.
- Parents – Robert Hunt and Matilda Patton.
- Enlisted – 16 August 1916, Sydney, New South Wales. Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on 25 October 1916. 2University of NSW AIF project https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=147147 Accessed 28 June 2026.
- Regimental Number– 60913National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B2455, Hunt J., Item ID– 7023670, Accessed 28 June 2026 and Karen Nelson, Marching Home to Braidwood. Braidwood RSL. UPS, Ulladulla, NSW. 2016. p 78.
- Aged at embarkation – 22 years and 9 months4Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1849732 Accessed 28 June 2026.
- Military service – 18th Infantry Battalion, Rank – Private5Virtual War Memorial Australia, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/365354 Accessed 28 June 2026.
- Serving at the Western Front, John was awarded British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.
- Killed in action 20 September 1917 in Belgium.6Find a Grave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/249804090/john-hunt. John Hunt’s name is located at panel 85 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
- Commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.7Commonwealth War graves. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/924375/john-hunt/ Accessed 28 June 2026.
John was the tenth child from the marriage of Robert Hunt (1849-1931) and Matilda Patton (1861-1938). Robert and Matilda married in 1880 in Braidwood, NSW, and had sixteen children.
John’s father Robert was the second son of William Hunt (1810-1891). William was convicted of Highway Robbery, sentenced to Life transportation, and arrived in Port Jackson, Sydney on 9 July 1829 on the ship ‘Waterloo’. William married Maria Halliday on 21 October 1846 in Parramatta, and they had nine children.
The Hunt family were longstanding and successful miners at Bells Creek, before moving to Bodalla. In September 1865 the Goulburn Herald8Goulburn Herald and Chronicle (NSW : 1864-1881), Saturday 30 September 1865, p 4 FATAL MINING ACCIDENT. reported ‘On Friday last, Poi Lep Ah Mow, a Chinaman, engaged in Hunt and Co.’s claim, at Sheep-station Creek, Bell’s Creek, in blasting operations, was engaged in drawing a charge, when it burst, and an explosion took place… It appears that a son of Mr. Robert Hunt was also severely injured’.
In September 1872 the Manaro Mercury9Manaro Mercury, and Cooma and Bombala Advertiser (NSW : 1862-1931), Saturday 7 September 1872, p 3. described ‘Another Fine Crushing at Bell’s Creek… A parcel of stone from Messrs. William and Robert Hunt’s claim was finished at Mr. Forsyth’s machine on Tuesday last. The yield from 25 tons 18 cwt. was 165 ozs, 18 dwts…. The claim from which this gold was taken is close to Mr. Tart’s, at Golden Gully, from which 11 tons of stone gave a yield of 160 ozs. 11 dwts. the other week. Like Tart’s, this was an abandoned claim also, a shaft having been sunk upon it, and given up as a ‘duffer.’ The Hunts took up the ground … At forty feet, they got a small leader, but it was devoid of gold. This was followed till it joined the reef from which the rich stone alluded to was obtained. They believed the last ton contained more gold than all the rest put together. This was got out at a depth of 56 feet, and 6 feet through, the hard rock where the vein is pinched into about 4 inches. There is also a micaceous reef close to the other 18 inches in width, which gives good prospects. The Hunts had a good crushing from another claim in the neighbourhood a short time since, which went 21/2 ozs. They are deserving of all the luck they get, however, for they have, with their father, Mr. W. Hunt, been a long time at variance with Dame Fortune. They stuck to the reefs at Little River until…they had to abandon the place … Since then, they have been at Bell’s Creek. They intend going deeper in the hard rock.’
John Hunt married Elsie Baldwin on 2 April 1916 in Moruya, NSW 10NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Marriage – 16242/1916 Hunt John and Elsie L Baldwin Registered in Moruya Accessed 28 June 2026. and they had a son Christopher John (April 1917-1963).11NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Birth – 23556/1917 Parents John and Elsie L. Registered in Moruya Accessed 28 June 2026. John enlisted on 16 August 1916, in Sydney and embarked for service overseas in October of that year.
In 1917, the 2nd Division including 18th Battalion was involved in the follow-up of German forces after their retreat to the Hindenburg Line, and was one of the four battalions engaged in the defeat of a German counter-stroke force at Lagincourt. The battalion also took part in Second Bullecourt (3-4 May 1917) in France, in which the AIF Divisions sustained very heavy casualties. The AIF relocated to Belgium for the Third Ypres Offensive in July, and the 18th Battalion was heavily engaged at Menin Road (20-22 September 1917).
The Battle of the Menin Road was the first major Australian involvement in the series of attacks which began on 31 July 1917 and which are collectively known as ‘The Third Battle of Ypres’. On 20 September 1917, the Australians sustained 5,000 killed and wounded across the First and Second Divisions.
The Land12Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911-1954), Friday 9 November 1917, p 7. in November 1917 published ‘the 349th List. New South Wales. Killed In Action… P’te. J. Hunt, Bodalla;’ with the Southern Star13Southern Star (Bega, NSW : 1900-1923), Wednesday 7 November 1917, p 2. adding ‘The name of Private John Hunt, of Bodalla, appears in the latest list of soldiers killed at the front.’