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Below I have shared two photographs of unknown Anzac soldiers found in a family photo album that belonged to a cousin of my mother.
I have limited information about the soldiers in the photos, as the original owner – my great aunt – is deceased, but perhaps someone might recognise the soldiers.
This photo is labelled: Dick Cawthorn, Sydney Dunn & Fred Westren
Dick CAWTHORN
There are several records found online for a Richard Clive CAWTHORN, born in 1895 in Tasmania, who later lived in the Daylesford area of Victoria.
His details are on the AIF Project, his service record is in the NAA collection, and TROVE digitised newspapers have several news items on him and his family, including a news item about his death in 1950.
I hope one of his descendants from Tasmania or Victoria finds this photo, firstly, in case they don’t have a copy, and secondly, in case they know anything about the other two chaps.
Sydney DUNN
This soldier seated is potentially my relative, given his surname – and I think he resembles my grandfather DUNN, whose sister had the photo in her family album.
The NAA service records, AIF database and Trove digitised newspapers contain records for a number of different Sydney/Sidney DUNNs that I am exploring to see how Sydney might fit into my Dunn family. My great-great-grandparents had 13 children, so Sydney Dunn likely descends from one of their children.
Fred WESTREN
There are no records on the AIF website for any WESTRENs. Perhaps the surname has been mis-transcribed and should be WESTERN or WESTON?
The AIF site includes records for Frederick Clyde WESTERN from Marion in South Australia, Frederick WESTON from Shelford, Victoria, and Frederick Harold WESTON from Mundaring, WA.
NAA also has records on a number of WESTRENs from NSW, but no Fred, Frederick, Alfred or similar.
TROVE has a few results for ‘Westren’, but nothing obvious that leads me to Fred.
If you can share this photo to anyone they know by the surname of Westren, Western or Weston, that would be appreciated.
I do not know the identity of any of the men in the above photo, nor where it was taken.
The tents are similar to those at the Mena Camp in Egypt. A Google Images search for ‘mena camp’ results in many similar photos, but it may have been taken at a training camp located elsewhere.
If you can share any information about this photo, please do comment below.
Lost Medals Australia shared a story about my mother’s great uncle, Private Alfred Dunn, whose WWI medal was found and presented to my mother in 2017, after they discovered Alfred in our Ancestry family tree just days after my sister added his name!
Useful Resources
This top part of this post was first published on Anzac Day 2014, as Anzac photos to share or identify (the old post is archived on the Wayback Machine).