Sidney Charles Crisford Cupitt (1910-1955)

Sidney Charles Crisford Cupitt was born in 1910, when his parents—Andrew Augustus Cupitt and Lilly Frances (née Crisford)—were living in Thomas Street, Albion, Queensland. The family later moved to Dugandan (date unknown), where Sid spent much of his childhood. During his teenage years he became a member of the Light Horse Infantry in Boonah, marking the beginning of a lifelong association with discipline, service, and rural work.

One of Sid’s earliest jobs was at a sawmill in Boonah. He later moved to the Sunshine Coast region where he worked in sawmills near the Glass House Mountains, in the small country town of Kin Kin. While living in the area he also began working on banana plantations, eventually relocating to Upper Currumbin (now Currumbin Valley). There he purchased a parcel of land and established his own banana farm. Sid sold this property around 1933 and subsequently became manager of Dr Spence’s 108‑acre banana plantation. After marrying Lillian Isabel Gillis on 1 June 1935, Sid and Lillian lived on the plantation for the next four years.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Sid made the decision to enlist. On 17 June 1940 he received a formal Notice to Attend for Enlistment from the Australian Military Forces, advising that he had been accepted into the 2nd Australian Imperial Force. He was required to present for attestation at 8:30 a.m. on 20 June 1940. Enlisted men were instructed to bring personal items if they possessed them, including:

• Comb
• Hairbrush
• Shaving brush
• Razor
• Table knife, fork and spoon

On 7 March 1941, Sid sent a telegram to Lillian from Belmont, Western Australia, where she was staying in Limestone Street. He informed her that he would be arriving in Brisbane the following Thursday. Sid was later transferred to the Perth Regiment, where he served as an instructor for new recruits. A copy of the Farewell Dinner Menu for the 2/6 Field Park and 86th L.A.D. at Ascot Camp in Perth, dated 25 April 1941—Sid’s 31st birthday—records his menu choices, indicated by asterisks:

• Oyster soup*
• Fried whiting*
• Roast duck served with green peas & pickled pork*
• Roast beef
• Jelly and cream
• Fruit salad and cream*
• Savouries*
• Tea*
• Coffee
• Beer and wine

By 1942, uncertainty clouded Lillian’s world. A letter from P. D. Jones, Officer in Charge of Major Records at the Warwick Office of the Australian Military Forces, advised that no definite information was available concerning the whereabouts or fate of Sergeant Sidney Charles Crisford Cupitt. A subsequent letter dated 17 June 1942 confirmed that Sid “must now be posted as Missing.”

In reality, Sid had been captured and became a prisoner of war. He spent three and a half years at Changi and worked on the notorious Burma–Thai Railway under brutal conditions. Throughout 1942–1945, Lillian received sporadic correspondence from both Sid and the Australian Military, often delayed, censored, or incomplete.

Sid was finally liberated in 1945 and returned home aboard the R.M.S. Arawa, a 14,500‑ton ship of the Shaw Savill Line. His Prisoner of War Pass, issued by the Brisbane City Council Transport Department on 13 December 1945, listed his address as 41 Smith Street, North Ipswich and remained valid until 12 June 1946.

After the war he undertook training as a PMG Linesman and worked at the South Street Depot in Ipswich. Sid became a member of the Returned Soldiers League in Nicholas Street and frequently visited fellow Changi ex‑prisoners of war in hospital, maintaining strong bonds forged through shared hardship.

Having survived the war and years of captivity, Sid’s life was tragically cut short. He died on 13 August 1955 at the age of 45 in a car crash at Amberley. The following article appeared in the Queensland Times:

A former prisoner of war who had been prominent in Ipswich R.S.S.A.I.L.A. Sub-branch activities during the post-war years was killed when his car skidded and crashed into a tree on the Normanby Road, Amberley at 7p.m. on Saturday.

 

He was Sidney Charles Cupitt (45, P.M.G. employee) of 41 Smith Street, North Ipswich, who leaves a widow (formerly Miss. L. Gillis) and six children, the youngest of whom is three years old.

 

The impact was a severe one, and Cupitt was killed instantly. One of two passengers in the car Police Constable Norman Gillis (a brother in-law), was admitted to hospital in a serious condition. The other passenger, Keith Bowers, of 30 Harlin road, Ipswich, escaped injury.

 

Constable Gillis was reported to have suffered a fractured right thigh, fractured left leg and a possible fracture of the lower jaw.

 

The late Mr Cupitt was described by R.S.S.A.I.L.A. sub-branch members last night as having been a particularly active and loyal league worker and supporter.

 

During his membership of the sub-branch he served on the executive and on the social committee, and was Ipswich delegate to the West Moreton District Council for about four years.

 

Prior to being drafted overseas with an Army engineering unit as a sergeant, Mr Cupitt undertook the instruction of recruits in South Australia and Western Australia.

 

He was captured by the Japanese in Singapore and remained a prisoner of war for three and a half years, part of which time he was in a P.O.W. camp with the Mayor (Ald. J. T. Finimore). During his years in captivity Mr Cupitt worked on the Burma-Thai railway construction project.