Joseph Arnold Kelly

Joseph Kelly was born at Alma in the Lower North on to a farm pioneered by his paternal grandfather. Joseph expected to make his life there but in about 1910 his father was invalided and the extent of his debts were revealed. In the first interview Mr Kelly speaks of his childhood and leaving the farm to work in New South Wales. He talks then of his return to Adelaide where he became a demonstrator for the Duncan and Fraser motor vehicle agency and, in 1916, drove the Birdsville publican and his family home via the Birdsville track in a Model T Ford. Mr Kelly speaks further of this trip in the second interview and then of his enlistment in the Motor Transport Division, arrival in France, injury on fatigue duty, and driving ambulances in London. In 1919 he married the daughter of an Italian immigrant. On their return to Adelaide he began market gardening west of the City, experiencing hard times until after the Depression. Mr Kelly had six children.

View the South Australian Red Cross Information Bureau records associated with this oral history:

https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/soldier/joseph-arnold-kelly