I am a new lister and I am seeking information on a man named Walter Joseph Mulligan. Walter is my Great Grand Father and a confounding brick wall in my research. He was probably born between 1892 and 1898. He variously gave his place of birth as Braidwood or Monaro. Some documents record his parents as John Andrew Mulligan and Margaret Ellen Daly (no such people have been found in the NSW BDM indexes). The earliest record that we have of Walter is his military record. He enlisted for service in 1915 and gave his next of kin as Mrs E. Tozer friend, Goondah, NSW. He latter changed his NOK to his brother Thomas Mulligan, c/ PO Albury. He appears to have enlisted with 2 brothers named Lewis and Robert Finley. There are also numerous inconsistencies in the information that they gave on enlistment and it is suspected that they were all under age. Walter married Alice Mary Cooke in Murrumburrah in 1920. The witnesses were Phyllis Tozer (probably the daughter of Mrs E.Tozer) and Edward John Leary. Alice died in 1923 and their infant daughter was unofficially adopted by Ellen Gearin (nee Blake) of Cooma. Ellen apparently ran a boarding house or pub in Cooma and Walter is believed to have boarded with her before and after the war. Ellen also took in another child, Laura Mary Phillips, who was probably born in 1909 in or near Cooma. Laura may have had a sister named Kathleen. Walter died at Sutherland in 1960. His grave strongly suggests that he had a wife and children after Alice, but this is curiously not recorded on his death certificate. Walter appears to have worked as a railway labourer most of his life and was known to have been working on the Moss Vale-Port Kembla line in 1935. He was also a Roman Catholic as were all of the families mentioned above. Any information on Walter would be greatly appreciated. We hold strong suspicions that Walter had a blood tie to one or more of the families mentioned and as such any information on the Tozers, Gearins or Phillips would also be appreciated. Belinda van der Mast Sydney, Australia