Robert Henry GIBBINS
Year of Birth: 1892
Place of Birth: Thornborough, Queensland
Date of Enlistment: 3 February 1916
Date and Place of Embarkation: 8 August 1916, Brisbane, Queensland
Ship: HMAT Itonus A50
Rank: Private
Unit(s): 9th Australian Infantry Battalion
Regimental Number: 6024
Died: 7 May 1917
Robert Henry Gibbins was born 1 September 1892 in Thornborough, Qld to James Bartimus Gibbins and his wife Mary Ann Bemi. The couple had 6 children, Ethel Anne Maude born 1881, Alice Minnie 1885, Agnes May 1887, James Arthur 1891, then Robert 1892 and Ellen Evelyn 1893. His brother James died in 1892 and his father died in 1893 leaving his mother Mary with four young children. His mother had another daughter in 1896 with David Lyon and died in 1899.
Gibbins Lane Mareeba was named about 1978 after Robert Henry Gibbons
It appears Robert may have been raised by his older sisters as he named Ethel (Nellie) Evelyn Jones (Gibbins) as his next of kin when he enlisted on 3rd February 1916. He was 23 years 5 months of age, 5 feet 5 inches in height and weighed 129 pounds with a fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. He was Church of England.
He embarked on the HMAT Itonus from Brisbane on 8 August 1916 and arrived in Plymouth England on 18 October 1916. He arrived at Etaples, France on 11 April 1917 and was killed in action barely a month later, on 7 May 1917.
Robert Henry Gibbins is remembered on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France.
Online Resources
NAA: B2455, Gibbins, Robert Henry, National Archives of Australia
Photograph of HMAT Itonus A50, Australian War Memorial
Photograph of Private R H Gibbins – Northern Herald 7 March 1917
Queensland Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
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