William Thomas Hitchen

William Thomas Hitchen was the captain of the local Rifle Club in Gilgandra, New South Wales, Australia. He organised a recruiting march, called the Coo-ee March, from Gilgandra to Sydney in late 1915. The march was an enormous success, with 263 recruits at the end.

Early years

Hitchen was born in Mudgee. In 1915 Hitchen was a married plumber of Gilgandra as well as being captain of the local rifle club. He is credited with originating the idea of the snowball march together with his brother R G Hitchen, as well as organizing the march. He also assisted in organizing the Kookaburra March.

Work

He enlisted in October 1915 but attestation forms were only signed at Bathurst in February 1916. W.T. Hitchen’s AIF number was 1677, his unit as the 45th Infantry Battalion, which was in the 12th Brigade, of the 4th Division. He declared his age at attestation as being 44. However, at this death less than a year later, his age was given as 52. Pte William Thomas Hitchen died of "Melanotic Sarcona" ( he was ill with diabetes) on 3 September 1916 and is buried in the Harefield (St Mary) churchyard in Middlesex, England.

Family

William Thomas's son, William James had joined the AIF in July 1915. At that time, he was just over 19 years old and his occupation at enlistment was plumber.

References

• "Recruiting Marches 1915-1916". Australian War Memorial Encyclopaedia. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 2006-03-03.
• "The Coo-ee March". Gilgandra and District. Archived from the original on 2007-02-21. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
• Digital copy of World War I record for W T Hichen
• Digital copy of World War I record for W J Hitchen