Thank you to our readers who responded to our call for information regarding Trooper Joseph Pascoe who drowned at Illbogan Lagoon at a picnic which we now know took place on New Year’s Day 1919.
In a strange coincidence, a recent visitor to the Museum requested information regarding the Pascoe and Massam families.
As part of her request, we were given a family chart for the Pascoe family and there was our Joseph.
Joe Pascoe was born on 15 May 1898. He was the son of Joseph Henry Pascoe and Emma Mary West.
As a result of our request for information we discovered that there was an inquest in to Joe’s death, although this was not available to us.
At the time evidence was given that Joe’s companion, M Wright, tried desperately to save Joe’s life but was unable to do so.
Mr Wright himself, ended up lying exhausted on the bank of the Lagoon.
When World War I broke out, the Government set the enlistment age as 19-38. Joe was unable to enroll until he turned 19 in May 1917.
The National Archives Nominal Rolls are a list of the soldiers who served overseas. Joe was not on that list.
From his uniform, Joe was a member of the Light Horse, presumably the 5th.
Many thanks to another reader who was unable to find him in an Australian Infantry Forces Data base. The conclusion is that, given his age, Joe enrolled under a false name, or perhaps he never served overseas.
The family chart lists his date of death as 1 January 1919. A sad start to a new year.
