Angus’ occupation and marital status on enlistment, was detailed as a carrier, who was single.
- Date of Birth – 18891NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Birth – 16573/1889, Parents Lynn and Annie, Registered in Braidwood. Accessed 10 January 2025.
- Parents – Lynn Shepherd and Annie McDonald, Araluen Road, Braidwood, New South Wales.
- Enlisted – 4 November 1916, Goulburn, NSW. Unit embarked from Sydney, NSW on board HMAT A72 Beltana on 25 November 19162University of NSW AIF project https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=272916 Accessed 10 January 2025.
- Regimental Number – 28983National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B2455, Shepherd Angus John, Item ID– 8081674, Accessed 7 January 2025.
- Aged at embarkation – 274Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1997333. Accessed 10 January 2025.
- Military service – 33rd Battalion, 6th Reinforcement. Rank – Lance-Corporal5Virtual War Memorial Australia, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/276209. Accessed 10 January 2025. Angus served on the Western Front and was awarded the Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.
- Returned to Australia October 1919.
- Died 9 May 1971 at Moruya.6NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Death 47703/1971, Moruya, Parents Lynn and Annie. Accessed 4 July 2025.
- Buried Batemans Bay7Find a Grave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200065881/angus-john-shepherd. Accessed 12 January 2025.
Newspaper reports on escapes from floods in the Braidwood district in 19148Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW : 1881-1940), Tuesday, 31 March 1914, p 4 and Bathurst Times (NSW : 1909-1925), Tuesday, 31 March 1914, p 4. detailed ‘that much damage was done by the rain. Two carriers, John Rogers and Angus Shepherd, plying between Nelligen and Braidwood…occupied an old hut, and were awakened in the middle of the night by feeling water entering the bunks. The water was several feet deep in the house, and the men escaped through the window. Three of Rogers’ horses were carried away by the flood waters and drowned; also one of Shepherd’s. All the loading on the wagons was washed off, although it included some heavy articles of merchandise. It is estimated that over £300 worth of goods was on the wagons’.
Angus was the eldest son of Lynn Shepherd and Annie McDonald (1869–1955). Lynn and Annie married in 1885 and they had eleven children–Margaret Ada (1886–1970), Angus John (1889–1971), Malcolm Michael (1892–1932), Matilda (1895–1979), Sylvester (1898–1898), Victoria (1900–1982), Donald (1903–1956), Annie C. (1906–1964), Muriel (1909–1913), Albert (1911–1974) and Norman (1913–1958).
Angus’ brother Malcolm (Mac) Michael Shepherd (1892-1932), Service Number – 3315, enlisted when aged 23 years, at Casula on the 4 February 1916. Malcom was noted as single, with his occupation given as a carrier.9National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B2455, Shepherd Malcolm Michael, Item ID – 8081747. Accessed 10 January 2025. Malcolm served in the 30th Infantry Battalion and returned wounded to Australia in 1918. Malcom died aged 37, in January 1932, succumbing to injuries sustained in March 1931 ‘while engaged in bush work, a tree falling on his head’,10Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1889; 1895; 1897-1954), Friday, 8 January 1932, p 2. occurring as ‘Mac and his brother Angus were carting timber at the time’.11Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1889; 1895; 1897-1954), Friday, 13 March 1931, p 2.
In November 1916 the Braidwood Review12Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1914-1954), Tuesday, 14 November 1916, p 7. reported ‘Angus John Shepherd – Private Angus Shepherd has enlisted. He was in town last week on final leave. He went to the Goulburn camp with the Braidwood contingent of Hughesitiers [Hughesiliers].’ 13Hughesiliers were men who, under Prime Minister Billy Hughes government, were sent into training camps between 1915 and 1916. These men had not enlisted for service yet, but were trained in preparation for conscription to pass through the Federal Government’s referendum. As the referendum did not have a successful outcome, compulsory conscription did not pass.Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C291467. Accessed 10 January 2025.
The Braidwood Review14Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1914-1954), Tuesday, 21 November 1916, p 2. reported in November 1916 on the Hughesiliers. ‘The Braidwood contingent of conscripts are returning one by one from the Goulburn camp. Some of them put in six weeks, (although the Defence authorities promised to release them after a month’s training). … Speaking to a returned conscript yesterday, he informed our reporter that every morning the men were asked to enlist as regularly as they were invited to breakfast. When granting their discharges, he added, the doctor “put the final acid on them”. So far the only enlistee from this district has been Private Angus Shepherd.’
The Goulburn Evening Penny Post15Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW : 1881-1940), Thursday, 7 December 1916, p 1. added in December 1916 on reporting on Goulburn recruiting and detailing ‘The following have enlisted locally:… Henry Harman, Araluen; … A. J. Shepherd, Araluen;’.
The Braidwood Review16Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1914-1954), Tuesday, 3 September 1918, p 2. reported in September 1918 that ‘Mr. Lynn Shepherd, of the Araluen road, has also been advised by the Defence authorities that his son, Private Angus Shepherd has also been wounded in France.’
In September 1919 the Braidwood Review17Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1914-1954), Tuesday, 30 September 1919, p 5. reported ‘During the past few weeks three more of the Valley soldiers who saw the war brought to a successful conclusion arrived home, in the persons of Privates F.[A] Shepherd, J. Gardiner, B. Mathison, the latter being accompanied by his wife, who, by the way, is an English bride.’
In October 1919 the Braidwood Review 18Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW: 1914 – 1954), Tuesday 7 October 1919, page 2 detailed ‘Mr. Lynn Shepherd, of Braidwood has been advised by the Defence authorities that his son Lance-corporal A. J. Shepherd, of the 33rd Battalion is returning by the troopship ‘Plassy,’ which is expected to arrive at Melbourne at about the 16th inst [October 1919]’.
Angus married Gladys Irene Gowen (1898-1983) in Braidwood, in October 1920.19Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1889; 1895; 1897-1954), Friday, 22 October 1920, p 2. Their children included Heather Mary (1920-), Neville Angus (1922-1945), Lynn Henry (1928-2009), Kevin Leslie (1931-1994) and Norman (-).
Angus’ son Neville Angus Shepherd, Service Number – NX152875, born on 20 December 1922, at Braidwood, and enlisted aged 19 years, at Batemans Bay on the 4 December 1941. Neville was noted as single, with his occupation given as a factory hand.20National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B883, Shepherd Angus John, Item ID – 5636091. Accessed 10 January 2025. Neville was wounded in action in Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Pacific Islands and died 5 May 1945.