WALTER Rupert Tink was a 24-year-old grazier of Benalong, Dubbo, when he enlisted on March 14, 1916 at Menangle Park, Sydney. He was allocated to the 20th Reinforcements for the 7th Light Horse Regiment (NSW).
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Not long after he arrived in Egypt, on August 25, 1916, Rupert was admitted to the isolation camp at Moascar with mumps. He was moved to the 24th Stationary Hospital on September 12 and stayed there until October 3, when he rejoined the 2nd Light Horse Training Regiment. However, Rupert was returned to the isolation camp between November 15 and December 10 for reasons unknown.
Trooper Walter Tink was taken on strength of the 7th LHR on December 11, 1916.
On March 26, 1917, Walter was reported killed in action at Gaza. A note on his service record states that "this man was not buried on account of retirement of regiment".
The 7th LHR history on page 43 states: "Our own casualties were, one man killed and two wounded [in the First Battle of Gaza]" - this single death must have been Walter Tink.
However, in reading the Official History, Volume VII (Gullett), another possible explanation of Walter's death appears.
"When the order to break off was received by the 7th LHR, on the extreme right, Onslow concentrated his men upon the beach. Ryrie stood firmly to his declaration that he would not move as long as a single man was unaccounted for. The bodies of the few Anzacs who had been killed were strapped to limbers and carried back to Belah; and so thorough had been the search, that at dawn only one man of the 2nd Brigade [which included the 7th] was missing - and it was remembered that he had been asleep close to the point of re-assembly."
After two nights without sleep, had Walter fallen sound asleep and been missed in the dark, to be captured and shot by the Turks? Unfortunately, no Red Cross Wounded and Missing file exists for Walter Tink to provide further information on his death.
Walter Tink has no known grave and is commemorated in the Jerusalem War Memorial Cemetery.
In 1927 a spectacular and unusual stained glass window was unveiled in St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Wingewarra Street, Dubbo, now St Andrew's Chapel.
The Tink family had arranged for a magnificent stained glass window to be installed in their family church to honour their dead son and brother.
The window shows Jesus preparing to crown Walter Tink as Walter kneels before him, .303 rifle in hand. Angels appear to be welcoming Walter to heaven, while a child holds his slouch hat, replete with emu feathers.
The biblical verse on the window states: 'Be Thou Faithful unto Death and I will give Thee a Crown of Life [Revelation 2:10] and To the glory of God.' At the bottom of the window is: 'In loving memory of Walter Rupert Tink, killed in action at Gaza, March 27th, 1917. Presented by his mother, brothers, and sisters 1927.'
The unveiling of the window and the opening of the church took place 10 years after Walter's death.
