BOULDER WAR MEMORIAL
SPONSORED BY MR DAVE DONALDSON
Dave Coutts Donaldson, his wife Helen (nee Taylor) and their three children came to Western Australia from Scotland in 1906. In a short time they moved to the Goldfields where they had two further sons.
Initially Donaldson leased the Trafalgar Hotel, and within time he purchased the leasehold of the Boulder City Hotel which he thereafter managed for 20 years, and most successfully.
He was treasurer of the Boulder Racing Club for many years.
The eldest son enlisted in WW1. Tragically he was KIA 9 May at the Somme, France 1918.
It was after this tragedy Donaldson gifted the Boulder WW1 War Memorial to the community.
Dave Donaldson (Snr) was highly regarded within the community, a keen member of the RSL and always did his best for the soldiers. It was said all returned soldiers on the Goldfields knew of him and respected him. Donaldson always said the Australia’s soldiers had done right for us, and as such he would do right for them.
His first son died aged 18 years had enlisted underage. Named after his father, Private Dave Donaldson (Jnr) was KIA at the front 29 April 1918. He enlisted July 1916 with 11th Battalion Reinforcements. Young Dave celebrated his 17th birthday on the voyage to England.
He was a former student at the Boulder Central School and a member of senior Cadets. After leaving school Dave was employed at the Boulder Electric Light Station.
1918 • Villers-Bretonneux, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France
Following his departure from Coolgardie, Dave Donaldson (snr) relocated to the city. He then built the Balmoral Hotel in Victoria Park, which he managed for several years before retiring.
On 29 August 1954 Dave and Helen Donaldson died at their home in West Perth. They were both 78 years old and were buried at Karrakatta. They left three sons and one daughter.
Below: Bruce and Helen Donaldson.
Below: Their son Private Dave Donaldson .
Above: Boulder City Hotel in later years – Harry Walker Publican
Bare-headed, with an open shirt and a bayoneted rifle, the digger at Boulder’s war memorial stands as a symbol for the Goldfields’ fallen.
Dave Donaldson’s Boulder City Hotel is no longer there, but the statue will forever look with a steely gaze at where it used to stand.
Mr Donaldson asked the statue be made hatless and with a partly unbuttoned shirt.
When plans were first discussed for the monument in 1916, initial plans were for it to be a soldier in full kit.
However, a change was requested by Mr Donaldson two years later.
The reason was because his son, also named David, was killed on May 9, 1918, at the age of 18, near Ypres in northern France.
When his comrades came to his aid, he was found without a helmet and the top buttons undone on his shirt.
He was buried hastily the next day on what was a moving battlefront.
The record of his death sent on to the Australian Government by his company commander stated:
“Pte Donaldson was killed instantaneously by a bullet through the heart during a night operation in the vicinity of Moolenacker on May 9, 1918.”
Above: Dave Donaldson and his wife Helen.
Below: in 1919 Dave Donaldson with his wife and children depart Boulder for a trip to England. Dave’s brother William is also travelling to England with them.
Below: 1929 Valedictory for Dave Donaldson.
Below: Boulder Race Course 1907
Below: Boulder Race Course 1925
Above: Boulder Race Course today – which holds about 20 meets per year.
Below: William Donaldson brother of Dave, died 26 Jan 1932.
Below: Death of Dave Donaldson & his wife on the same day in 1954.
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Please read about both the Kalgoorlie and Boulder War memorials, sculptured by same artist.
Also read about artist Porcelli and his model Bill Hackfast.
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Below: Some WW2 enlistments from Boulder – published early 1941.
