The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Treasure
- First Name:
- John
- Nick Name:
- Jack
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX9351
- Classification:
- Driver
- Company:
- Headquarters Company, No. 3 Platoon Administrative.
- Enlisted:
- 30.10.1940
- DOB:
- 5.04.1919
- Place of Birth:
- Perth, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- Leo Edward Treasure
- Mothers's Name:
- Victoria Regina Treasure (nee Jenkins)
- Religion:
- Roman Catholic
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Farmhand
- Memorial:
- Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Collective Grave, Plot 1, Row 0, Grave 58-59, Age 24.
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi, Pulau Blakang Mati, Adam Park, Selarang Barracks Changi
- Force:
- ‘D’ Force Thailand, V Battalion
- Camps Thailand:
- Kinsaiyok, Brankassi, Hindaine, Kuii
- POW#:
- 4/6728 & 2293
- Cause of Death:
- Cerebral Malaria
- Place of Death:
- Kuii
- Date of Death:
- 13.09.1943
- Buried:
- Grave No. 161, Kuii
General Description
John ‘Jack’ Treasure enlisted AIF Oct 1940 and later joined 2/4th’s HQ Company as a driver.
Jack survived the battle at Singapore – 2/4th Machine Gunners suffered heavy losses.
As POW Singapore he was accommodated with all Australians at Selarang Camp Changi. Later he went with a work party to Palau Blakang Mati and Adam Park before moving back to Selarang Barracks, Changi.
He left Singapore Railway Station with ‘D’ Force Thailand, V Battalion on 17 March 1943 headed for Thailand on a journey which was to take 4-5 days. Jack was 24 years old when he lost his life of cerebral malaria at Kuii Camp, Burma Thai Railway.
Please read about ‘D’ Force Thailand V Battalion and Kuii Camp.
Also please read about the boys from the Upper Great Southern
John or ‘Jack’ as he was known was the eldest of 4 sons and 3 or 4 daughters in the Treasure family. Parents Leo Treasure and Victoria Jenkins married in 1918.
Jack’s brother Ronald Edward also enlisted in WW2, WX13407 in 2/28 Battalion serving in the Middle East, New Guinea and Borneo. He returned to Australia and lived until 1986.
Jack’s father Leo enlisted in WW1, as did his 3 brothers. The four Treasure boys returned home – they were the sons of Jack and Emma Treasure, Kojonup. The Treasures a pioneering family in the Kojonup area.
Height 5′ 10 1/2″
Below: A young Leo Treasure
Below: Victoria Jenkins as a young woman.
Leo Treasure believed to be far Left.
News from Leo’s brother Henry Treasure from Cairo 1915.
The War Memorial commemorates those from the Muradup Football and Cricket Clubs who served in World War One, World War Two, the Malayan Emergency and the Borneo Confrontation. The monument was originally erected to commemorate those from the district who enlisted in World War One.
The memorial was refurbished and re-dedicated in 2005 and underwent another re-dedication ceremony on the 24th September 2016 to commemorate the centenary of the unveiling of the memorial.
A meeting of the Muradup Cricket Club was held on January 9, when nearly all members of the club were present, and, after the general business, the club decided to erect a “scroll of honor” with the names of all the members of the Muradup Football and Cricket Clubs who have left for the front. The names up to the present total 17, viz., Levi Treasure, Leo Treasure, Henry Treasure, A Chipper, H Hart, T Urquhart, G White, L A Coe, T Rogerson, W McFarlane, L Glover, E Ashe, J Ashe, C Lacine, W Meiklejohn, F Norrish and J Veitch. These names will be inscribed on the scroll with the consent of the relatives.
Great Southern Herald, 15 January 1916
Jack’s uncle Arthur and brother to Leo Treasure died 1931.
John (Jack) Treasure played in 2/4th MG football team. The footy team included some excellent players, many from the Goldfields and well known League players such as Joe Pearce, Lou Daley, Helmrich and Mussman.
He was also a talented cricketer, playing at Country Week Cricket and 2/4th.
Jack with his brothers Ron, Ken and father Leo were leading figures in local cricket around Broomehill/Gnowangerup, before the war and after.
Jack was a brilliant all-rounder who played Country Week cricket for the Northam AIF team in 1940/41, and played for Gnowangerup in Great Southern Cricket Carnival teams in 1937/38 and 1938/39, and was a regular representative player for Gnowangerup between 1935/36 and 1939/40. His local club in the Gnowangerup Cricket Association was East Broomehill.
We wish to acknowledge the above information was forwarded from Nicholas Cowell, www.ozcricketatwar.net
2/4th didn’t play out the season, as they departed for SA for further training.
Please read further about 2/4th’s football team.
Jack’s Grandfather John Treasure died 1947.
Above Jack’s Grandmother Emma Treasure died in 1948.
As well as his maternal Grandmother, Mrs Tester mother to Victoria Treasure.
Camp Locations:
- Pulau Blakang Mat - Singapore ***
- Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Kuii, Kui Yae, 185.6k - Thailand
