During Christmas 2024, Warrant Officer Class Two (WO2) Mark Phillips was visiting family in Sydney when a conversation about military service prompted his father to retrieve an old watch case.
Inside were three World War I campaign medals. Two belonged to WO2 Phillips' great-uncle, 'Wild' Bill Knuckey, but the third was engraved with an unfamiliar name: Private Bert Hobday.
"My father didn't realise that service medals have the recipient's name and service number stamped on the bottom edge," WO2 Phillips said.
"My grandfather had received them after Knuckey's death in 1953, and they were handed to my father when my grandfather died in 1967. So they had been in the family's possession for over 70 years."
Until that moment, WO2 Phillips had been unaware there was a history of military service within his family beyond his own, yet it was the medal bearing an unfamiliar name that captured his attention.
"I love solving puzzles," he said. "And I think medals are important in recognising people's service and wanted to try to return this medal to the family."
WO2 Phillips knew World War I service records had been digitised through the National Archives of Australia (NAA).
An NAA search for Private Hobday revealed he had served overseas with the 13th Battalion, spent time as a prisoner of war in Germany, and at one stage had even been sentenced to 90 days of hard labour in Cairo for theft.
Determined to reunite the medal with its rightful family, WO2 Phillips began searching for surviving relatives. He combed through the Defence Image Gallery and the Defence Corporate Directory, followed leads and made inquiries, but kept hitting dead ends.
"I'd almost given up," he said.
"But his service record contained his date of death, so I went to the National Library in Canberra and looked up the Sydney Morning Herald death notice to see if there were any family names that might provide some clues to find a living relative. The obituary suggested he may have lived in Berowra."
'I think medals are important in recognising people's service and wanted to try to return this medal to the family.'
Further online searches eventually led WO2 Phillips to a Berowra history page, maintained by Hornsby Shire Councillor Nathan Tilbury.
A phone call with Councillor Tilbury before Anzac Day this year confirmed not only that Private Hobday was a former resident of Berowra, but that his 96-year-old daughter, Shirley Collins (née Hobday), was alive and well.
After purchasing a new ribbon and presentation box, WO2 Phillips and his father drove to Berowra on May 16 to return the medal to Shirley.
WO2 Phillips also arranged for Private Hobday's service records to be printed in A3 format after receiving high-resolution copies from the NAA.
Mrs Collins expressed gratitude for WO2 Phillips' determination in tracking her down and returning her father's medal.
"I am just so happy that someone cared enough to ensure the medal was returned to the Hobday family," she said.
WO2 Phillips said it was lovely meeting Shirley.
"She shared many colourful stories about her father and his life," he said.
WO2 Phillips was surprised to learn that, despite Private Hobday's expressed dislike for senior officers, he went on to marry a general's niece after returning to Australia.
As for how Private Hobday's medal found its way into the Phillips family's possession, that mystery remains unsolved. But for WO2 Phillips, the experience has highlighted the benefit of exploring family history.
"I'd encourage everyone to look up their relatives through NAA," he said.
"You never know what stories you might uncover."
The National Archives of Australia has a RecordSearch function available to the public on its website.
