Veteran Story: Fred Collins (1891-1932) was born at Bonus Downs Station, Mungallala, south of Mitchell, to Harry Collins and Dinah Smith. Fred and his younger brother Edward volunteered in June 1917 and trained at Rifle Range Camp, Enoggera before embarking aboard HMAT Ulysses in December 1917 with the 20th Reinforcements for the 11th Light Horse Regiment. This unit later became known as the Queensland Black Watch as all but two members of the 32 strong unit were Aboriginal. They joined their unit in the field in May 1918 when the regiment was operating out of the ancient city of Jericho and patrolling the Jordan Valley. Like his brother Edward, Fred contracted malaria and was hospitalised several times, rejoining his unit in May 1919; he returned to Australia with his brother in July 1919. After the war Fred resided in the Mitchell district, where he married Norah Jean Evans in 1925, sadly he died in 1932 of tuberculosis, age 41.
