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== Biography ==
Address : 126 Clarke Street, Northcote
Rank and Unit : Lieutenant, 16th Battalion (Infantry)
Embarked : HMAT Ceramic
Ship number : A40
Date of embarkation : 22 December 1914
Place of embarkation : Melbourne
Service Number :
Enlisted : 03/11/1914 At :
Born at : Northcote
Educated At :
Date of Death : 09/05/1915
Aged : 22
Place of Death : (of wounds, Quinn's Post, Gallipoli)
Buried At : Lone Pine Memorial, Turkey
Occupation : Officer, Citizen's Military Forces
Marital Status : : Single
Religion : Methodist Next of Kin/Family : Parents Sidney Frederick and Ellen Durston (nee Foreman) Eyewitnesses : "Witness states that volunteers was asked for to charge a certain Turkish trench at Quinn's Post. Capt. Townsend, Lieut. Durston and 25 men, of which witness was one, made the charge during which he saw Mr. Durston fall badly wounded. He was carried down and witness was told that he had died the same night on a hospital ship" (Pt. H. P. Wilson, 157) "Lt. Durston was sent by Col. Cannon of the 15 Batt. in company of witness to establish communications with a captured Turkish trench. As he got there, he was shot through both legs. He was left in the trench in an impossible position owing to the Turks being able to enfilade and bomb them. Witness was the last man to see him alive and when he had to leave the trench to get ammunition which was running short he laid Lieut. Durston comfortably on the ground". (Harwood, Captain, A.I.F).
Notes : Durston's parents married in 1884 [?1889?], and by 1893 were living with Sidney's brother, Henry at 126 Clarke Street, Northcote (just east of the railway gates)
before moving to Poowong in Gippsland.
A brother Sidney (1891) was also born in Northcote.
Raymond (1897[actually 26 Jul 1899]),
Beryl (1896) and
Vera (1906) were born in Poowong. Sidney senior was listed as a grazier, but at time of his son’s death, the family also had a property at 91 Tennyson Street, St. Kilda.
Henry senior died in 1903, the Clarke Street address in 1904 then appearing under the name of Frank Durston, thought to be Henry's son - a Death Notice showed Henry as having three nephews, Frank, Nellie and Emma at 106 Clarke Street, possibly the same house after re-numbering. Of the brothers, Sidney and Raymond also enlisted suggesting 91 Ackland Street, St. Kilda. Durston passed the Military Staff Clerk's examination in February, 1911 and was employed at District Headquarters, Melbourne until March, 1912 when he was appointed to the Royal Military College at Duntroon The official history of Australia's participation in the Great War suggests that Durston was a graduate of the College. He gave his occupation on embarkation as "C.M.F" (Citizen's Military Forces) and was one of the few professional soldiers in our archives. Durston was killed in a raid at Quinn's Post on 9 May, 1915, the attack mentioned at length in the official history. That he died of wounds is not open to question, but other reports suggest Durston was buried in a beach cemetery, perhaps casting doubt as to whether he made it to the hospital ship.
== Sources ==
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1893 - 
, d. 1955, Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia