Theofil Volkofsky

Alias Theofil Thomas

Russian spelling Феофил Иванович Волковский

Born 5.11.1885      Place Lipki, Khodorkov, Skvira, Kiev, Ukraine      Ethnic/cultural origin Pole/Russian     Religion Roman Catholic

Father Volkofsky, John (Ivan)     Mother Wolkowsky (Volkofsky), Kornelia

Brother Cezar Wolkowsky

Arrived at Australia

            from Russian Far East via China and Japan     on 08.1909 or 25.06.1912     per Nikko Maru     disembarked at Brisbane

Residence before enlistment Brisbane, Sydney, Bourke, NSW

Occupation 1916 farmer, poultry farmer; 1917 Apiary at Mount Boppy, since 1927 grazier

Service

service number 34852     enlisted 8.06.1916     POE Dubbo, NSW

unit Dubbo Depot Battalion, Bathurst Depot Battalion, 33rd Battalion       rank Private

place Depot     discharged 8.12.1916, MU

Naturalisation 1917

Residence after the war 1919 Mount Boppy, 1927 Olino Station, Cobar, NSW

Family wife Thelma Volkofsky (née McKean), married 1928, at Cobar; children John b.1929, Anita b. 1931, Thomas b.1933

Died 6.06.1972

Materials naturalisation (NAA)

digitised service records (NAA)

Investigation Branch file (NAA)

application for assistance 1    2  (NAA) (Volkopsky)

application for admission relatives 1     2      3  (NAA)

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

Certainly, the suspicions people had were not always without some grounds. There was the case of Theofil Volkofsky, for instance, a former socialist sympathiser who learnt the taste of free enterprise at Bourke; he enlisted in the AIF in June 1916 and while at Bathurst Camp became involved in political discussions. One informant reported him saying that ‘he would sooner be under Germans than the present Labor government in Australia. … He also expressed an opinion that the tales about the atrocities committed by Germans was all inventions.’ And this wasn’t the only occasion on which he expressed such sentiments, according to another informant. Now, years later, his son remembers, ‘Dad did tell me that he upset some people through his political incorrectness and his honesty. They were talking about the Germans and those Australians who were there were very critical, and he said, “German soldiers are just humans like you and I, they are just ordinary men”. That was not exactly the thing you say in times like that in certain company. So they looked on him as pro-German and he got into strife. He was not pro-German, he was definitely not. He loved Australia and he would fight against the German government.’ The Bathurst Camp commander, to give him his due, treated Volkofsky’s case without prejudice: after talking to Volkofsky, he gave him a fatherly warning ‘to avoid discussion of politics’; meanwhile, he even assisted Volkofsky with his naturalisation application when he was hospitalised with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Back to home if you do not see frames