Walter Thorpe Olding
25 September 1888 — 30 April 1912
Walter Thorpe Olding (5‑42‑7)
Walter Thorpe Olding was born in Queensland on 25 September 1888. When fire broke out in a city building on 30 April 1912 he was one of a party of sailors from the HMAS Gayundah who came to assist. Walter was killed by falling masonry from the burning building. He was accorded a Naval funeral. The officers and men of the Gayundah erected a memorial over his grave.
Warehouse destroyed by fire in Edward Street, Brisbane, 1912, from *The Week, 3 May 1912. — National Library of Australia.*
The 'Gayundah' gunship moored in the Fitzroy River, Rockhampton - State Library of Queensland
Headstone
Walter Thorpe Olding's headstone
Inscription
Honour the brave
Erected by the Officers & Men
of H.M.A.S. Gayundah
to the memory of
their late Shipmate
Walter Thorpe
Olding
Who was killed during operations
with Fire Brigade at Queensland
Agency Fire Brisbane April 30th 1912
aged 23 years