
Collinsvale’s boy soldier
During World War I, some Australian soldiers returned home with children from the areas they had served in. Children, under a Parliamentary Act, could be adopted by a soldier, married or otherwise. Typically known as unit mascots or boy soldiers, period newspapers gave some coverage, but their lives often went unrecorded. An exception is the boy from the Middle East who was brought to Collinsvale in 1919 by a returning Tasmanian soldier.