Walter Hubert Downing (10 December 1893 – 30 October 1965) was an Australian soldier, lawyer and writer. He wrote extensively on his wartime experiences, but is perhaps best remembered for his book ''Digger Dialects'', a survey of the

argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...

of Australian soldiers serving in Europe during the First World War.

History

Downing was born in

Portland, Victoria Portland ( ) is a city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, and is the oldest European settlement in the state. It is also the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg and is located on Portland Bay. As of the 2021 Australian census, 20 ...

, a son and one of seven children of bank clerk and one-time pastor John Downing (died 1939) and

Cecilia Downing Cecilia Downing ( Hopkins; 1858–1952) was an Australian temperance and women's rights activist and leader. She was one of Australia's first child-probation officers. A devout Baptist, she was an influential leader in the Woman's Christian Te ...

, née Hopkins (1858–1952), prominent member of

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

, Travellers' Aid Society of Victoria, the Baptist Women's Guild, Melbourne Ladies' Benevolent Society and Victorian Baptist Women's Association, and others. Downing was educated at local state schools and Scotch College, then the University of Melbourne, where he studied Law, interrupting his career in 1915 to enlist in the First Australian Imperial Force. He served in the 57th (Victorian) battalion in France and Belgium and was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

in recognition of his conduct and leadership. He returned to Australia in 1919 by the ''

Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought ...

'', and resumed his university studies, living at Queen's College, completing the course in 1920. In early 1921, Downing took up a position at

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 t ...

, Solomon Islands, as secretary to F. B. Phillips, Commissioner of Lands in the Solomons, so was absent for the presentation of his LLB. The tropical climate did not agree with him however, and he was living at Clifton Hill when he applied to the Board of Examiners to practise as barrister and solicitor in the Supreme Court of Victoria; he was admitted on 3 October 1921. He joined with Hylton Ernest Williams in the firm of Downing & Williams, with offices in Collins Street, dissolved October 1928. He was a partner with H. E. Elliott in the 1920s. Elliott died in 1931, but his name was perpetuated in the firm of H. E. Elliott, Downing and Oldham in Collins Street in the 1930s and in H. E. Elliott and Downing, with offices in Queen Street in the 1940s.

Writing

Downing was assistant editor of ''Melbourne University Magazine'' (MUM) in 1913, and in 1919 edited a magazine published on the ''Balmoral Castle'' taking soldiers back to Australia, then was elected by the SRC as editor of the MUM. He wrote several articles for ''The Herald'' on the

Fleurbaix Fleurbaix (; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France about northeast of Béthune and west of Lille, at the border with the department of Nord. A stream, the Becque du Biez, flows through the com ...

and

Polygon Wood In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon' ...

campaigns, published to coincide with their anniversaries. These and other essays were collected and published in 1920 as ''To the Last Ridge'', with a foreword by Elliott. In 1921 that book was awarded the University of Melbourne's Dublin Prize.

Personal life

On 11 May 1929, Downing married Dorothy Louise Hambleton; they had four sons.

Works

*''Fleurbaix, a Sepulchre of Heroism'' (July 1919) ". . . finest pieces of sheer literature that Australian heroism . . .", and *''Polygon Wood'' (September 1919), article both first published in ''The Herald''. *''Digger Dialects'' (1919), collection of sayings invented by Australian servicemen overseas. A recent edition, with notes by J. M. Arthur and W. S. Ramson, was published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(1990) . *''To the Last Ridge'' (1920) (2002) , a collection of essays, including "Fleurbaix" and "Polygon Wood". A recent reprinting received glowing reviews.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downing, Walter Hubert 1893 births 1965 deaths Lawyers from Melbourne 20th-century Australian male writers Australian lexicographers Australian military historians