Charles Chesworth Burgess
9 May 1883 — 11 April 1939
Charles Chesworth Burgess (10‑76‑15)
Charles was the son of Thomas Chesworth Burgess and Jane (née Gilbert). He was born on 9 May 1883 at the family property, Foxley at Christmas Creek near the Qld/NSW border. Charles enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in June 1915, serving in Gallipoli, Egypt and France where he received a severe gunshot wound to his head in November 1916. After treatment in England, he returned to Australia in May 1917 and discharged three months later.
Suffering from what was then termed 'shell shock', he was denied assistance in resettling and treatment. He retired to Glen Lamington in the Lamington National Park where he became known as the 'Hermit of Lamington'. Charles was an expert bushman and was brought into the limelight in February 1937 when he was involved in the rescue of the survivors of the Stinson plane disaster in the Macpherson Ranges. Just over two years later, on 11 April 1939, Charles died in the Brisbane General Hospital less than a month before his 56th birthday.