December 31, 1918
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A very successful day. We managed to get a piano, for the dance, and I had a lot of sandwiches prepared, putting on for the supper biscuits as well, with coffee and nip of rum, besides a 100 litre barrel of beer. The fun started at about 6 p.m., the cards being neglected for the sake of the dancing which the lads enjoyed every bit as much as if girls were present.
At 8.30 I issued out the rum and the whole crowd had a wonderful glow up inside 5 minutes, and carried on the good fun until the New Year. At 9 p.m. I left for our own celebration in our mess, to which we had invited Major Wesley and Major Birch, to start at 9 o’clock. We had a royal time, good supper, etc. with the ladies of the house as guests.
We cleared the room and had a most enjoyable dance, also singing “Auld Lang Syne”. At midnight and departing homewards at 1.30 a.m. A most successful night – about four stretcher cases. In the afternoon went along to Baths and obtained clean underclothing for the men, also drew some pay office in case leave to Brussels should come through.
NOTE: This is the last entry from Harry Gissing’s diary to be published in The Daily Advertiser in this series, although he continued to write entries until May 10, 1919.
Harry Gissing sailed from England bound for Australia on board the ship The Kildonian Castle on March 18, 1919, arriving in Sydney on May 9.
“A tug boat met us, on board of which were representatives of the Comforts Funds, and they wildly cheered us whilst their band played ‘Home Sweet Home’. Many a silent tear was dropped,” he wrote.
The next day was his last in the AIF.
...”I proceeded to the Office where my discharge was written out, after which I was given my civilian clothes, a poor affair, and then walked out a free man,” he wrote.
Harry Gissing soon after his discharge moved to Wagga to relieve pharmacist Frank Saunderson, and after the death of Mr Saunderson during the Spanish Flu epidemic bought a business next to the Australian Hotel (now the Australian Arcade).
He married Ethel Booty in 1920 and they had three sons – Morris, George and Henry – and a daughter, Judith.
Harry Gissing was elected to the Wagga council in 1920 and was an alderman until 1923 and then from 1934 until his death in 1953.
He was mayor from 1937 to 1944 and from 1949 to 1951.
He served as president of the Wagga branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League from 1920 to 1921 and was vice-president in 1923.
He was chairman of the committee which established the ambulance service in Wagga and was associated with the boy scout movement.
Other community service included being a charter member of the Wagga Rotary Club in 1930 and foundation member of Wagga Legacy.
Harry Gissing died on February 23, 1953, aged 65.
His 10-volume war diary has been described by NSW State Library Curator Elise Edmonds as one of the most reflective in the library’s collection.
The Daily Advertiser wishes to thank the Gissing family for permission to reproduce Harry’s diaries as part of the newspaper’s four-year commitment to commemorating the centenary of World War I 1914-18.