The defiant anti conscriptionist – the curious life of Ephraim Henry Coombe. Speakers: Pat Booth and Helen Hennessy

Ephraim Henry (Harry) Coombe was a ‘self-made man’ of strong principles. With no more than six years of formal schooling, he became a journalist, newspaper editor and member of parliament, representing the Barossa District for a total of 14 years. He advocated for proportional voting, women’s suffrage, the extension of the railway to country towns, and against the closure of Lutheran schools during the First World War.

But his steadfast anti-conscription stance led to his persecution, and many of his parliamentary colleagues labelled him a coward, a traitor to the men at the Front, and disloyal to King and country.

Helen Hennessy is a local historian based in Gawler having retired from a career spent in library management, education and community engagement. In 2019 she was named the South Australian Regional Historian by the History Council of South Australia.

BHS member, Patricia Booth retired after a career in Office Management. She is the great granddaughter of Ephraim Henry Coombe and grew up with her paternal grandparents, James and Alma Coombe.

In 2022 they were jointly awarded the Keain Medal by the Historical Society of South Australia for the most significant non-fiction book published in the previous year.