Bernard Edward Gibney

GIBNEY, Bernard Edward- – – – SPC 1906

DoB:– – 6 Jan 1887, Charlton, VIC

Father:- – Bernard Gibney

Mother:– – Mary, nee Murphy

Bernard Gibney was a boarder from Charlton, Victoria.

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Service No:- – 414

Rank:– – Lieutenant

Unit:- – 9th Light Horse

Bernard Gibney enlisted on 12 September 1914, at the age of 27 years and eight months. He was a single man whose occupation was Bank Accountant. He was five feet, seven and a half inches tall, with a fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair.

Private Gibney embarked from Australia early in 1915 aboard the Heuominee, and was amongst the Anzac forces at Gallipoli. He suffered a bout of influenza in late May, and was admitted to the 1st Stationary Hospital on Lemnos. In early June he returned to Gallipoli. He was provisionally promoted to Staff Quarter Master Sergeant (SQMS) on 27 September. In October he was suffering from jaundice and catarrh and admitted to the Hospital Ship Delta for treatment. Finally, by December 1915, he was discharged to the Convalescent Hospital at Suez, Egypt.

In February 1916, his promotion to SQMS was confirmed, and he returned to duty. By September of that year however, he was suffering from rheumatism and admitted to the 31st General Hospital. The following year, 1917, he was attached to the 9th Light Horse Regiment. In June 1918 he was awarded a Commission with the 9th Light Horse, and attended Cadet School at Zeitoun, Moascar (Egypt). He marched out from this school to his unit in July, and was further promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in September 1918.

Lieutenant Gibney remained with the 9th Light Horse Regiment until around July 1919, when he was detached from that regiment and attached to the AIF HQ in Cairo. On 10 July he boarded the Kantara for his return to Australia. He disembarked at Melbourne on 13 August 1919, and was formally discharged from the AIF on 10 October 1919.

On his return to Australia, Bernard Gibney resumed his career as an accountant in the banking field, working firstly in Bairnsdale, then moving to Kilmore. He married Louisa in 1922 at the age of 35, and they had three children.

Bernard Edward Gibney died on 13 December 1948 at the age of 62. He was buried at the Kilmore Catholic Cemetery, Victoria.