Arthur’s occupation and marital status upon enlistment was detailed as a bridge carpenter who was single.
- Date of Birth – 25 November 1886, at Nelligen. Attestation papers detail that Arthur was born near Araluen, while his death records show Araluen as his place of birth.1NSW Birth Death and Marriages, https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/ Birth – 20274/1886, Parents John A and Elizabeth A, Registered in Moruya. Accessed 21 June 2026.
- Parents –Son of John Alfred Dayball and Elizabeth Ann (Fensom) Dayball.
- Enlisted – 1 September 1915, Sydney, New South Wales. Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on board HMAT RMS Mooltan on 11 December 1915.2University of NSW AIF project https://aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=75798 Accessed 14 June 2026.
- Regimental Number – 23843National Archives of Australia. https://www.naa.gov.au/. NAA: B2455, Dayball A.J., Item ID– 3494414, Accessed 14 June 2026 and Karen Nelson, Marching Home to Braidwood. Braidwood RSL. UPS, Ulladulla, NSW. 2016. p 50.
- Aged at embarkation – 284Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1727213 Accessed 14 June 2026.
- Military service – 1st Field Company Engineers, Rf 12, Rank – Sapper.5Virtual War Memorial Australia, https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/191519 Accessed 14 June 2026.
- Serving at the Battle for Pozieres, Arthur was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and the Victory Medal .
- Killed in action on 25 July 1916 aged 29 years. A Court of Enquiry held in the field on 10 October 1916, pronounced his fate as ‘Killed in Action, 25 July 1916’.6Find a Grave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16181798/arthur_joseph-dayball. Arthur Joseph Dayball’s name is located at panel 23 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
The Dayball family were long standing Araluen residents. Arthur’s grandfather, William Dayball (1828-1899) and Sarah Holdsworth (1829-1894) had ten children following their marriage on 4 November 1853 in Sydney; Martha Dayball (1854-1854), John Alfred Dayball (1855-1924), William Dayball (1857-1870), Ellen Dayball Austin (1860-1936), Alice (Abt 1861-1881), Fanny Dayball Eckley (1862-1947), Arthur (1864-1910), George Edward (1866-1966), Emily Dayball Nix (1869-1937) and Charles (1872-1872).
Following the death in Araluen of Arthur’s Uncle William, aged fourteen years in August 1870,7Goulburn Herald and Chronicle (NSW : 1864 -1881), Wednesday 24 August 1870, p 2 FATAL ACCIDENT IN ARALUEN an inquest was held ‘at Mr. Chynoweth’s, Maltsters’ Arms, into the circumstances attending the death of a boy named William Dayball, a driver in a claim, who was killed by a horse and cart running over him. George Scherf deposed: —I am a boy working in the Tommy Dodd claim; I know deceased William Dayball; he was driving a horse and cart in the claim; about eight a.m., the deceased was driving a horse in a cart from the top of the tip to the bottom; he fell down and the horse went over him, … A verdict was returned of accidental death. – Braidwood Dispatch’.
Arthur’s father John Alfred Dayball (1855-1924) and Elizabeth Ann (Fensom) Dayball (1854-1929) had eleven children following their marriage in 1878. William John Dayball (1879-1937), Thomas Edward Dayball (1881-1958), Alice Esther Dayball Aikens (1882-1951), Martha Sarah Dayball (1883-July 1919), Mary Ellen Dayball Ryan (1885-1940), Arthur Joseph Dayball (1886- July 1916), Alfred J Dayball (1889-1889), Frederick Holdsworth Dayball (1890-1960), Albert George Dayball (1892-1917), Philip Francis Dayball (1894-July 1919) and Margaret Dayball West (1897-1954).
In August 1929, the Sydney Morning Herald8Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Tuesday 27 August 1929, p 12 NELLIGEN reported ‘Mrs. John Dayball [Elizabeth Ann Fensom], a well-known resident of Nelligen, died on Thursday, aged 74. Her husband predeceased her five years ago. With her late husband she came from Araluen to Nelligen in 1879.’
Arthur enlisted in September 1915 in Sydney. In September 1916 the Goulburn Evening Penny Post9Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW : 1881-1940), Thursday 7 September 1916, p 4 WAR CASUALTIES. reported ‘Pte. Phillip Dayball, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Dayball, Nelligen, has been wounded. Another son, Sapper Arthur Joseph Dayball, is missing, and the third, Pte. Albert Dayball, is now on his way to the front’.
Private Fleming from the 1st Field company Engineers in June 1917 recounts ‘I knew Dayball. He was working in “No Mans Land” at Pozieres when he was killed… He was a big stout fellow, with reddish hair and came from Sydney. He was a very decent chap and very popular. I came over with him’.10Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file No:1DLR0428. Accessed 21 June 2026.
In July 1940, the Braidwood Review11Braidwood Review and District Advocate (NSW : 1914-1954), Tuesday 9 July 1940, p 3 PASSING OF OLD NELLIGEN IDENTITY reported on the death of ‘Mrs. Mary Ryan, wife of Mr. Ernest Ryan, of Nelligen. The late Mrs. Ryan came of a great family of the Nelligen district, her parents being the late Mr. and Mrs. John Dayball, … Three of her brothers fought in the great war, one of them, Joe [Arthur Joseph], being killed in action, [in 1916] and Albert was killed in a tram accident [in 1917] a few weeks after his return to Sydney. The third brother, Phillip, died [in July 1919] at Nelligen later, as did also a sister’, Martha who also died in July 1919.