The great nephews of Alby Paterson – David and Rob Paterson - have made a pilgrimage to the Carlton ground to view the memorial to the football club’s fallen soldiers, Alby amongst them.

What became of Alby only became known after the memorial by the main entrance was unveiled on the Centenary of the Gallipoli landing in 2014, when David Paterson contacted Carlton Media to confirm that his great uncle was also lost as a result of injuries incurred in the Great War. 

Alby’s name was subsequently added to the plaque affixed to the stone memorial – as fate would have it in a single space between the 11^th Carlton player to have been killed and an inscription - and last Sunday David and his brother Rob made the trek from Tura Beach near Merimbula to view the memorial en route to the MCG to see the Blues take on West Coast. 

“I always try to make it down to go to the football, and on this occasion it was particularly special to see the memorial and appreciate that Alby has gained a little recognition, given his contribution to football and the circumstances surrounding his death,” David said. 

“Alby was one of 11 children all born at Happy Valley, but there’s only myself, my brother Rob and my other brother Geoff who still carry the name Paterson . . . and we carry the name as a badge of honour.” 

Having uncovered his great uncle’s story through Paterson family research, David contacted the club via email a few months ago to ask whether Alby could be recognised as a former Carlton footballer who made the ultimate sacrifice in wartime. At the time Alby’s service record was not known to this club’s or the AFL’s historians, as his surname was incorrectly recorded as Patterson with two ts rather than one. 

The great nephews of Alby Paterson – David and Rob Paterson - visit their great uncle's memorial at Ikon Park.

David advised that Alby, who was born in 1875 and originally hailed from nearby Ascot Vale, represented Carlton in the then VFA years through the winters of 1892-’96, and turned out for his one and only League appearance for the old dark Navy Blues in the second round of 1897. 

That came against South Melbourne at the Lakeside Oval, when Paterson A. took his place in the pivot. 

On parting company with Carlton, Alby, together with his wife Sarah Gazzard and daughter Amy, relocated to the Western Australian goldfields town of Kalgoorlie. There, from 1900 until 1915, Alby and Sarah parented three more children - Laura, Kenneth and Jessie - and Alby chased the leather for the Mines Rovers Football Club, later home to the 184-game former Carlton forward Eddie Betts.

Alby was 41 when he answered the nation’s call, enlisting for wartime duties on December 31, 1916. Service records show that he stood five feet seven inches in the old measurement and tipped the scales at 180 pounds. His was a fair complexion, with hazel eyes and brown hair, and he carried a scar on the left side of his upper lip (no doubt obscured by the handlebar moustache). He also stated his occupation as miner.

In August 1917 in Melbourne, Alby hauled his kitbag up the gangway of the Southampton-bound ship Themistocles en route to France.

At the Australian General Base Depot in Rouelles some three months later, he joined members of the 3^rd Australian Tunnelling Company, which was aligned with the Royal Australian Engineers for the course of the war. Each tunnelling unit was occupied in offensive and defensive mining which involved the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.

During the Allies’ great advance to victory in Autumn of 1918, the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company was responsible for the construction of a road bridge at Moudit under shellfire. What exactly happened to Alby is unclear, but what is known is that by July of 1918 he was admitted to hospital with lobar pneumonia –a form of pneumonia that affects a large and continuous area of the lobe of a lung.

Alby was still in hospital when the Armistice was declared and four days later, on November 15, 1918, was transferred to the 3^rd Aust Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford.  Not until late December did he board a hospital ship bound for home.

The H.T. Marmara departed the Liverpool docks on December 21, 1918 with Sapper Paterson invalided home for discharge due to pneumonia.  Urine test was conducted during the voyage and Sarah was advised by Base Records of her husband’s impending return. 

The Marmara finally docked in Fremantle on January 27, 1919. On March 2 of that year, Alby was discharged from the Military due to medical unfitness and awarded a pension.

Twelve months later, on April 16, 1920 Albert Henry Paterson died at Trafalgar, a goldfields town some three kilometres east of Boulder. He was laid to rest in Kalgoorlie Cemetery, and his name on the grave is acknowledged by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Alby’s wife Sarah is buried with him.

The British War Medal and the Victory Medal were posthumously awarded to Alby for service to his King and country. His name was also recorded on the Roll of Honour for World War I as his wartime service contributed to his death.

Alby’s medals remained uncollected and were returned to Base Records on September 20, 1924.

A month later they were forwarded to Sarah at 40 Lake Street, Trafalgar.

Albert Henry Paterson became the 157^th VFL footballer to have died on active service and the 95^th to have died on active service in World War I. His name was included as a new entry in Barbara Cullen’s recently-released book “Harder than Football”, which documents the service records from 1897 of nearly 2500 players (235 Carlton players amongst them) who served in the Boer War, WW1 , WW2, Korea and Vietnam, or completed National Service.

Alby is one of 12 former Carlton footballers known to have made the ultimate sacrifice in the war to end all wars. He joins George Challis, Harold Daniel, David Gillespie, Albert Gourlay, Tom McCluskey, Fen McDonald, Stan McKenzie, Charlie Oliver, Jim Pender, Willie Rogers and Alf Williamson in Carlton’s Great Fallen.