NAME: DUUS, Hans Christian
SERVICE NO: 3723
UNIT: 4th Pioneer Battalion
PLACE OF BIRTH: Brisbane, Queensland
DATE ENLISTED: 8/11/1916
AGE: 39
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT: Rockhampton, Queensland
OCCUPATION ON ENLISTMENT: Miner
DATE OF DEATH: 19/8/1930
PLACE OF BURIAL: Lutwyche, Queensland
PERIOD AT KYOOMBA: 1925
NOTES: On Mrs Annie Wheeler’s correspondence file.
NAA File: Hans Christian DUUS
Read about Kyoomba here.
Hans Christian DUUS
By Kenneth Duus
… Numerous reviews revealed a continuous deterioration of Hans’s health and by October 1924 Hans had been examined and treated for a month at the Repatriation General Hospital ‘Rosemount’ in Windsor (situated between the city of Brisbane and the suburb of Wooloowin) and was recommended for admission to the tubercular Military Sanatorium ‘Kyoomba’ in Stanthorpe (200 kilometres south-west of Brisbane) for treatment of his active tuberculosis infection. The radiologist stated of Hans’s tuberculosis, “This is one of the most extensive cases I have seen for some time”.
Hans pleased to delay his admission to ‘Kyoomba’ so he could spend Christmas of 1924 and the New Year with family and was admitted on 10th January 1925 and treatment for his tuberculosis commenced. On admission, Hans was immediately placed on a special diet which lasted until his discharge to the Red Cross Convalescent Home ‘Ardoyne’ in Corinda (a Brisbane suburb several kilometres south-west of Wooloongabba) on 28th October 1925.
Hans’s health treatment at ‘Kyoomba’ also included the required extraction of twelve teeth costing 1 pound 16 shillings and provision of a full set of upper and lower dentures costing 6 pounds 6 shillings. When he was discharged for further convalescent recovery, orderly J. Terris accompanied Hans on his eight-hour first-class rail transfer from ‘Kyoomba’ to ‘Ardoyne’.
Hans had requested and been granted several short periods of leave from his convalescent treatment to visit family and friends in Beerburrum and in Mt Morgan and to deal with business matters. Hans’s ninth and final child, Walter John (Jock) Duus, was born at Beerburrum in 1922. Sadly, John died aged just two years eight months, the result of falling down the house steps and hitting his dead on a stump. Jock was buried at Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane in the same grave where his father was later buried in 1930 which is now an official Australian War Grave but carried no inscription regarding Jock. However, the Lutwyche cemetery record is clear on this point – Jock’s final resting place is with his father …
Source: Information supplied by Ken Duus.
Reference: Adopt a Digger www.adoptadigger.org
Whilst Hans Christian DUUS was overseas he had contact with Mrs Annie Wheeler at her London address and via mail. The following information has been sourced from the correspondence files of Mrs Wheeler which are held at the John Oxley Library, Brisbane.
13.6.18 France letter recd
27.6.18 “ “ 1.7.18 sent him full parcel
16.7.18 “ “ rec. parcel
16.10.18 Called, going back to Aust.
Returned to Australia
Source: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland