Hugo Throssell


Hugo Vivian Hope Throssell, VC was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Early life

Hugo Throssell was born in Northam, Western Australia on 26 October 1884, the son of former Premier of Western Australia, George Throssell. He was educated at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide from January 1896 to December 1902, where, nicknamed "Jimmy", he was a noted athlete, captain of three intercollegiate sports teams. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, he joined the Australian Imperial Force and was allotted to the 10th Light Horse Regiment. His brother, Frank Erick Cottrell Throssell, known as Ric, also served in the war and died near Gaza. Hugo Throssell's son Ric Throssell was named after him.

First World War

As a second lieutenant Hugo Throssell fought at Gallipoli, where he had landed on 4 August. He saw action in the desperate Battle of the Nek. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography:
A few weeks later, he fought at Hill 60:
Whilst recuperating from his wounds in London he was introduced to Katharine Susannah Prichard, an Australian journalist who had recently won a significant novel competition and would go on to be a famous author and socialist. He eventually returned to active service, rejoining the 10th Light Horse in the Middle East where he fought in a number of engagements, and achieved the rank of captain. He returned home in 1918 and in 1919 married Prichard.

Post-war, socialism and death

In the following years Throssell was an outspoken opponent of war, and claimed that the suffering he had seen had made him a socialist. His stance on the futility of war outraged many people, especially as it was being expressed by a national war hero and the son of a respected and conservative former premier. His very public political opinions badly damaged his employment prospects, and he fell deeply into financial debt. On 19 November 1933, he killed himself.

Memorials

He was buried with full military honours in the Anglican section of Karrakatta cemetery, Perth. In 2014 the grave was refurbished and a new grave stone placed.
In 1954 an octagonal stone gazebo was dedicated to Throssell in Greenmount at the intersection of Great Eastern Highway and Old York Road. It stands opposite the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre.
The Hugo Throssell ward at the former Repatriation General Hospital, Hollywood was named in his honour.
Throssell's Victoria Cross is displayed in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. In 1983 his son Ric Throssell presented it to People for Nuclear Disarmament. The Returned Services League of Australia bought the medal and presented it to the Australian War Memorial.
A statue of Throssell was unveiled in the Avon Mall in Northam on Anzac Day 2015.