Stephen Richard BETHERAS
Year of Birth: 1894
Place of Birth: Emmaville NSW
Date of Enlistment: 20 October 1916
Date and Place of Embarkation: 25 November 1916, Sydney
Ship: HMAT Beltana A72
Rank: Lance Corporal
Unit(s): 4th Australian Pioneer Battalion, 2 to 11 Reinforcements
Regimental Number: 3312
Died: 29 March 1918
Stephen Richard Betheras was born in 1894 in Emmaville NSW to Stephen Robert Betheras & Minnie Georgina Love, the eldest of their 7 children. William S. born 1897, Ada M. 1899, Charles Arthur 1902, Thomas Edward 1904, Ethel May 1907 and James Elliot 1913. Emmaville is a small village on the Northern Tablelands in the New England district of NSW.
Tin was discovered in 1872 and from 1882 tin and arsenic were mined at Tent Hill not far from Emmaville. Stephen Betheras Snr was a miner. He moved his family from Emmaville to the Herberton area on the Atherton Tablelands prior to 1908 where he continued working as a miner.
When Stephen Richard Betheras enlisted on 20 October 1916 at Cairns he was a Labourer and listed his father Stephen Robert Betheras, c/- S Ramage, Court House Hotel, Cairns, as his next of kin. He was 21 years 11 months of age, 5 feet 8 ½ inches in height, weighed 144 pounds and had a fair complexion, grey eyes and dark hair. He was Church of England.
He embarked from Sydney on 25 November 1916 aboard HMAT Beltana with 4 Pioneer Battalion, arrived in England on 29 January 1917 and proceeded to Havre, France on 9 June 1917. He was appointed a Lance Corporal o 11 November 1917. He was admitted to hospital sick on 17 March 1918. He received burns to his face and body that same day when a fire caused by sparks from an open fireplace ignited the lining. The subsequent enquiry found the fire was accidental and the soldier was not to blame in any way. Stephen Richard Betheras was buried at the Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension, Bailleul, Nord Pas de Calais, France.
Online Resources
Photograph of S R Betheras, State Library of Qld
NAA: B2455, Stephen Richard Betheras, National Archives of Australia Australian War Memorial
Photograph of HMAT Beltana A72, Australian Military History Northern Herald (Cairns) – 11 April 1918 p 6
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