Coogee Media

Returned World War One serviceman, Edwin Arthur Hollinworth, eagerly showed his war-time souvenirs to his daughter and a friend at his Bundock Street Coogee home in 1936, when it exploded with devastating consequences.

Artist impression of the terrible event

War Service: Souvenirs
Edwin Hollinworth was born in 1890 and came from an old naval family who had extensive grazing holdings at Stanthorpe in Queensland. He enlisted in the Army in 1915 and served with the illustrious 7th Australian Light Horse Regiment in the Middle East. He was wounded in action and eventually repatriated to Australia, being medically discharged in April 1918. He married Ellen Bonarius in 1918, and they evenually settled in Coogee at 128 Bundock Street.

During his time in the Army, he saw a lot of action against the Turks, and acquired many personal war trophies : bits and pieces of war memorabilia, weapons and grenades. They were grisly, yet deadly, reminders of his war service. He had brought these with him to his new home, even though Defence authorities often warned veterans of the dangers of keeping explosive items.

Grenade Explodes
Hollinworth was fond of showing his souvenirs to family and friends. His elder daughter Joan recalled "bowling" an old hand grenade along their living room floor. Then came the fateful day of May 28th, 1936 when Hollinworth and his 12 year old daughter, Willa, were entertaining a young 19 year old visitor, Ernest Dickson of 15 Dudley Street Coogee. Edwin Hollinworth began to regale them with stories about his wartime exploits and fetched some of his souvenirs. Wanting to show Dickson how a grenade worked, he found it inoperable, and so inserted a rod into it to try and rectify the problem. With that, the grenade exploded.

Died Almost Immediately
Edwin Hollinworth was frightfully mutilated about the head and body, and died almost immediately. The sound of the explosion was heard many hundreds of yards away and a crowd of neighbours and onlookers quickly gathered to see what had happened.

Lucky Escape
Luckily for the family, Mrs Hollinworth and another daughter Joan had been to see a movie and had just returned home. Mrs Hollingworth let her daughter into their house and went off by herself to visit a neighbour. So neither were in the room and escaped injury. Joan was busying herself with what she had to do on returning home, and heard the explosion. It was up to her to race into the room, the first to respond to the terrible sight of the dead and injured, and to raise the alarm.

Ambulances were called and the three were transferred to St Vincent's Hospital in the City. Nothing could be done for Edwin Hollinworth, but the other two were able to receive medical treatment. Dickson sustained severe lacerations of the head, mutilation of the right eye, and powder burns on the body and legs. He would ultimately undergo many operations over months and lose the sight of his eye. Willa Hollinworth suffered lacerations of the face, abdominal wounds, and powder burns. Although her condition was not considered serious, she did recuperate after many months of care.

Despite the human carnage the explosion caused, surprisingly little damage was done to the building - only a crack in the ceiling and a broken window, and a few cracked window panes in nearby houses.

Postscript
Edwin Hollinworth was buried in the Church of England section of Rookwood Cemetery. Joan Hollinworth would marry Leonard Warrington Wickins at Liverpool in 1942 and her sister, Willa Hollingworth, would marry Peter Manias at Liverpool in 1948. So it seems the family moved to the Liverpool district after the tragedy. Joan died in Brisbane on 31 October, 2004 and Willa died at Hornsby on 5 March, 2009, aged 85

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