Digger's sons get pass to walk in his path
Stockman Albert Cornish was an expert horseman, so it seemed only natural that he join the WA-raised 10th Light Horse Regiment when he signed on to fight in World War I.
Aged 37, Cornish had been working at Yeeda Station, which his family had helped establish on WA's Fitzroy River, when he enlisted in February 1915.
The regiment had to leave its horses in Egypt when it set off for the rugged hills of Gallipoli.
Cornish reached the peninsula on October 2 that year and was straight into action.
His son Christopher, of North Perth, said Cornish was sent to scale a position known as Canterbury Slopes.
Albert Cornish was a non- smoker, but Christopher said it was believed that on October 5 a mate lit up a cigarette next to his father, which gave a Turkish marksman a target.
Albert was shot in the cheek and lower jaw, and his war was over.
He was evacuated for treatment in England where he was nursed by Edith Smith, who later became his wife.
It is unclear whether she returned to Australia with him but Christopher said she died prematurely of tuberculosis.
Albert ran a riding school and poultry farm at Innaloo and remarried at age 65 to Carma Nagel, 29, and had two sons, Christopher and Kimberley.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday surprised Kimberley by visiting him at his Melbourne home to hand over two tickets to attend the Anzac Day service at Gallipoli next month.
Kimberley said he felt honoured to receive the visit and he expected going to Gallipoli would be an emotional journey.
"My father must have been a matter of millimetres away from death," he said.
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of Anzac, Michael Ronaldson, who also visited Kimberley Cornish yesterday, said attendance passes for the Gallipoli commemorations would begin arriving from today for successful applicants.
Because of limited space at Anzac Cove, visitor numbers have been restricted to 3862 double passes for Australians.
All but about 250 passes have been formally accepted.
Christopher Cornish said he was looking forward to going to Gallipoli and expected it would be an emotional experience.
