For the 2024 Lane Cove Remembrance Day Service Lane Cove RSL Sub Branch featured a presentation about Private John Canham Hackett, who has served in the Australian armed forces. The presentation was fascinating as it provided an insight into Private Hackett’s military life and their life after their time in the armed forces.
This year Lane Cove RSL Sub Branch asked Ian Longbotton to share the story of Private John Canham Hackett.
“Good morning. My name is Ian Longbottom, and the family has asked me to read the biography of Private John Hackett, who was always known as Jack.
Jack was one of nine children and grew up on the Clarence River upstream of Grafton, New South Wales. In March 1915, he enlisted in the 15th Infantry Battalion.
Along with his brother Bill, Bill embarked on a trip to England in June 1915.
Their younger brother Charles enlisted in June 1917 but did not deploy until July 1918, so he arrived just before the Germans surrendered four months later.
After training in Egypt, Jack arrived in Gallipoli in August 1915, just in time for the attacks by the 4th Brigade, under the command of the then Colonel John Monash, on Hill 971 and Hill 60.
After Gallipoli, Jack served with the 15th and 42nd Infantry Battalions along the Western Front in France and Belgium until he returned to Australia in April 1919.
During his military service, Jack was admitted to hospital on numerous occasions, some for lengthy periods, as he recovered from Gunshot Wounds, Trench Foot, Mustard Gas, and other diseases/ailments. It was in 1917, while admitted to a hospital in England that he met Peggy, who was to become his future wife.
The wounds he suffered from the gas attack in May 1918 were such that he had to apply ointment and bandages to his lower legs every day for the rest of his life.
When the “boys came home” in 1919, The Copmanhurst Patriotic Society threw a “Welcome Home” party at the community hall which was illuminated by the latest technology – Arco lamps. Each veteran was presented with a gold medallion.
Jack sent for Peggy and over the following years they went on to have 8 children, which was the norm for those days.
Before we cover Jack’s life post war we should take a moment to recall that before we had airplanes, railways and dual carriageways we had to rely on coastal steamers and rowing boats to get around.
Professional sculling was the biggest sport in Australia years prior to World War I. Due to the need for water transport and hence professional watermen, the sport was centred in Sydney and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.
It was reported that the Victorian Football League always made sure that football matches were not played on the same days as regattas because the regattas would always draw the crowds.
For example, the race in 1884 on the Parramatta River between Edward Harlan (Canada) and Bill Beach (Australia) drew crowds of over 100,000 – Sydney’s population at the time was only twice that number.
A Grafton rower, Henry Searle was the World Champion – yes, world champion, having won his title in Sydney in 1888 and retaining it in London in 1889.
It is against this background that Jack was supplementing his income by racing professionally on the northern rivers.
Prior to the war, Jack won sculling races at Maclean, Chatsworth Island and Harwood Island and post war he was a serious competitor in events at Grafton and other communities on the Clarence River.
Jack’s biggest event was the one scheduled at Ulmarra in Easter 1924 against Jack Casey. The race would be rowed over five (5) kilometres – for a side bet of Two Hundred pounds (£200) which in todays money is equivalent to $20,000.
By early April the Gladstone skiffs – made by George Towns at Henley Point – had arrived.
Ulmarra Council declared the day a Public Holiday.
After lunch a fresh north-easterly breeze sprang up which made the water very choppy. Casey won the toss and elected to row alongside the southern bank.
Hackett, being the heavier man, struggled in the conditions and before long he had taken much water and after being caught up in some weeds was some 12 lengths behind Casey at the half way point, a lead which Casey maintained to the finish line
Throughout the race Casey warned Hackett of the need to keep a lookout for logs.
After the race, Casey said that he was advantaged by winning the toss and that the choppy water was against Hackett and that he (Casey) was able to ride his boat better over the waves.
When Hackett pulled his boat into the shed it was estimated that it held 50kg of water which made for a total weight difference of 66kg – almost as much as having to carry a passenger.
After the race Jack dropped out of sight and never raced professionally again.
His ability to find meaningful work was hampered by his war wounds so it is not surprising that he, as did many returned servicemen, turned to alcohol as a means of pain relief.
Jack moved to Lismore and found work as a labourer, although they lived in a tent, as support for Returned Servicemen was minimal.
To earn additional money, he would go to the annual agricultural show and fight in Jimmy Sharman’s Boxing Tent—the spruiker’s catch cry was “a round or two for a pound or two.”
The family eventually moved to Ballina, where Jack had a business supplying firewood to residents. His draught horse, Prince, pulled the cart. When his son Paul was old enough—at the expense of his schooling—he would assist Jack.
On completion of the daily delivery, Jack would have a few beers at the Ballina Hotel, climb onto the cart and fall asleep. Prince knew the way home and when Paul heard the “clip clop” of the hooves he would go outside, open the gate, put Jack to bed and then look after Prince.
Jack passed away in 1966, aged 75.
This biography is a reminder that physical and mental wounds can stay a lifetime.
The biography is also a reminder that Lane Cove and surrounding suburbs were a leading player in the sport of professional sculling and have contributed to our success as a nation of rowers, as demonstrated in the Paris Olympics.
On behalf of the Hackett family, thank you for this opportunity to remember.”
Last week, the North Shore Rowing Club lost John James – a man who was a champion on and off the water – rowing is indeed still a strong sport in Lane Cove. You can read more here.
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