WILSON, James (1862-1954)
James was the fourth of ten children of John Burgess Wilson and Christina McPherson. Jim, as he was known, attended the Yarra Flats Common School. In 1900, at the age of 38 he was selected to join the 3rd Victorian Bushmen and went to South Africa to fight in the Boer War. He returned to a heros welcome at Yarra Glen in June 1901. For the next 15 years he worked in the district as a carpenter. Then on 1 February 1916, at the age of 54, he enlisted for military service once again: this time he dropped his age by ten years in order to qualify (the upper age limit for recruits was 45). Jim left Australia in July and arrived in England on 11 September 1916. He was sent to France on 16 November but 2 weeks later he was in hospital with lumbago and deafness. It appears that his age was against him and he was returned to England and hospital for several months. In March 1917 he was returned to Australia and discharged on 22 June 1917. His nephew Stanley Smedley was killed in action on 11 April 1917 at Bullecourt. His name is included on the Dixons Creek Honor Board Jim was a quiet man and after the War lived a reclusive life in a hut on the Williamson farm, High Bow Hill. In his latter years he moved to Lilydale where he died in 1954.
