The Ballarat Courier,
Tuesday, August 18 1914, p. 4, gives a
splendid description of the 70th regiment in camp in
Queenscliff. Its wonderful reading,
very Boys Own, chin up, what-ho stuff.
They must have been having a
lovely time. There was a footy match between
the Infantry and the AMC*, and as the Infantry had in its ranks many prominent
League, Association and school players, the results were foregone, the AMC
going down by 33 points. There was the
first lady visitor to the 70th Regiment Officers’ Mess “at the first
camp while on active service”. Importantly,
there was duty in Melbourne guarding various institutions, as well as
the cordite factory and artillery magazines.
And here is the blot on the
landscape. Those on duty returned to
Queenscliff unexpectedly early, and dinner had been ‘off’ for some hours. Were the troops to go without their tea?
Not at all! Here steps up “the dauntless Sgt-cook J.
Wiles” and utilising his patent cooker he had a hot meal ready for the 150 men
in 15 minutes!
James F. Wiles was born in
Clunes in 1883, and was educated in Ballarat.
He definitely sounds like a “character” eventually getting himself to
the Boer war by subterfuge, having been rejected 3 times. In South Africa he had
many adventures including working as a rough rider to break remounts, and
surviving the Woolmarannsrust disaster. (I don’t know what that was but I am
going to have to look it up!)
Back in Ballarat in 1903 he
joined the 7th Australian Infantry Regiment, retiring years later
with the rank of sergeant. It was during
this time that he determined that the system of cooking in the field needed
improvement, and this led him to invent and patent the Wiles Travelling Kitchen
– an object which gave “keen satisfaction to brigade and battalion C.O.s and
men.” It was utilised for the troops
throughout WW1, but was also very useful to farmers. He established a cooker manufactory in
Doveton St South in order to keep up supply to the Federal Government during
the War.
From “Citizens and Sports
at Home and Abroad” in the Australiana Research collection, Ballarat Library
Wiles evidently had a fine
baritone, and won prizes at various competitions, and he sang at charity
concerts. As could be expected, he was an excellent shot with the rifle,
winning many shooting matches. He also
served with the City Fire Brigade.
However, after the First World
War, his life became rather complicated.
James Fletcher Wiles died in Adelaide in 1939, just prior to the Second
World War. WW2 saw further adventures of
his family with steam cookers; it is a wonderful story and you can read more
about James, his sons, and steam cookers here. James Wiles is undoubtedly one of Ballarat’s
heroes.
You can read the article ”With
the Troops at Queenscliff” from the Ballarat Courier, August 18 1914, here
* I think AMC stands for Army
Medical Corps, but please do correct me if I’m wrong
