Charles BAIRD #1234A

Indigenous Australian, Charles Baird, 5th & 11th Light Horse Regiments

Charles Baird (1890-1966) was born at China Camp, Bloomfield near Cooktown to Robert Baird and Dinah, a Gugu/Yuku Yalanji woman, he worked as a miner before he volunteered to serve for his country.

Baird enlisted in Cooktown in May 1915, age 26 and arrived in Egypt with the 9th Reinforcements for the 5th Light Horse Regiment, but after several months training in Moascar, was admitted to hospital with enteric fever. He returned to Australia to convalesce and later re-embarked, this time to serve with the 11th Light Horse Regiment in October 1916. Baird remained in Egypt until the end of hostilities and disembarked in Australia in January 1919.

His brother Norman Baird also served in the First World War, with the 9th & 15th Infantry Battalions.

Read more ...

• Service Record: BAIRD, Charles
• Embarkation Roll: 9th Reinf. 5th Light Horse Regiment
• Embarkation Roll: 11th Light Horse Regiment
• "Norman Baird: A Spark Within" by Kathleen Denigan (published in 2006)
• One of the soldiers featured in SLQ’s HistoryPin Collection
• Queensland’s Indigenous Servicemen [mp4]

The information in this blog post has been researched by State Library staff and volunteers, it is based on available information at this time. If you have more information that you would like to share or further research uncovers new findings, this post will be updated.