Robert was a 28 year-old engine driver/fireman at Clyde Engineering
works when he was one of the earliest to volunteer his services 22 August 1914. He was listed as being born in Parramatta but was actually from New Zealand and his next of kin was his brother D Bethke, of Pitt and Argyle Streets Parramatta. Five foot five with Brown eyes and a tattoo on his left forearm he took part in the Gallipoli campaign where he was wounded in the eye in August 1915, and sent back to Australia on the 12 December, 1915.
Geoff barker, Research and Collection Services Coordinator, Parramatta City Council Heritage Centre, 2014