FIRTH, Keith Memory

Keith was born in Beech Forest, Victoria to Georgina May Firth (née McIntosh) and Joseph Memory Firth. Over the next seven years, Keith came to have three siblings: brother Marshall followed by sisters Jean and Betty.

In 1921, Joseph was a rising star in forestry, and to further his career, the Firth family moved to Scottsdale in northern Tasmania. Keith attended schools in Scottsdale and Launceston and qualified for matriculation at Launceston High in 1933. In 1934, he headed south to study at Hobart Teachers’ College. As a qualified teacher, Keith was posted to several far-flung small schools. Perhaps Keith’s most challenging posting was to Catamaran in 1939. He boarded 3 km away at Cockle Creek, Tasmania’s damp and chilly southernmost settlement, and commuted to and from Catamaran by bicycle.

On 8 July 1940, Keith volunteered to become a soldier in the 2/40th Battalion. As 1940 drew to a close, he had what would prove to be his last Christmas at home for five years. Army training was soon shifted from Brighton (near Hobart) to the mainland, and come mid-1941, the battalion was stationed in Darwin.

Then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. On 10 December, Keith was on board S.S. Zealandia in a convoy with the bulk of the 2/40th battalion, which was by far the single largest element of the recently formed “Sparrow Force”. The force was sailing north to Timor, ostensibly to defend a key airfield.

Read the full story in the obituary published in the Hobart Mercury on Saturday 25/03/2023: https://www.mytributes.com.au/obituaries/keith-memory-firth/4548656/