Makar Markoff

Russian spelling Макар Николаевич Марков

Born 1894 (application to enlist), 1896 (information from his father)

Place Melikhovo, Belogorod, Kursk, Central Russia

Ethnic origin Russian       Religion Church of England

Father Markoff, Nikolai      Mother -

Residence before arrival at Australia in 1912 left Moscow for Cardiff employed on Zigrida

Arrived at Australia -

Residence before enlistment

Occupation fireman, miner

Service

service number 15662   enlisted 13.09.1915   POE Warwick Farm, NSW

unit 1st FAB, 2nd DAC, 4th FAB   rank Driver

place Western Front, 1916-1917

final fate RTA 14.01.1919       discharged 14.06.1919

Naturalisation served as Russian subject

Residence after the war Sydney, in the 1920s returned to Russia

Materials digitised service records (NAA)

Makar Nikolaievitch Markoff (Investigation Branch file) (NAA)

‘Russians fight. Why not a Bolshevik?’, Sun (Sydney), 7 May 1919

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

The Russian Anzacs were returning to Australia into the midst of the turmoil brought about by the Russian revolution and radical ideas in general. They had to choose whose side they were on; sometimes they had scores to settle, even among themselves. In May 1919 the Sun reported that two returned soldiers, ‘Makar Markoff and Roman Ilupmaggi, who came from the land once ruled by the Czars, were settling their differences by means of fisticuffs yesterday afternoon in George St when Sgt Shakespeare came along and put his finger in the pie’. At the police court Ilupmaggi said that he came from the Baltic. ‘Is that where the Bolsheviks come from?’ Ilupmaggi was asked, to which he said, ‘That’s what the argument was about. Markoff asked me why I didn’t speak Russian. I said I preferred to speak English, and then there was a fight.’ They were each fined £1 for riotous behaviour. Ilupmaggi, a shoeing-smith, fought with the AIF from Gallipoli until almost the end of the war, when he was wounded; he remained in Australia and spoke English, which obviously stood for something more to him than just the language, as this conflict shows. Markoff, who was suspected of having bolshevist tendencies, stayed for a while in Sydney, becoming a regular visitor to the Domain on Sundays. His father, a peasant in central Russia, was meanwhile looking for him and, astonishingly, his appeal eventually reached as far as Winston Churchill and the Australian prime minister’s office. Markoff finally returned to Russia, to his family — and to an unknown fate.

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