From the Maitland Mercury report:
The Keppies is a pioneering family of the Paterson district and one of the most respected for a long history of contributions to the development of the town.
James Keppie arrived in 1831 as engineer of the Sophia Jane, the first paddle steamship seen in Sydney Harbour.
When war was declared on August 6, 1914, Arthur Ernest Keppie was one of the first to enlist with the 4th NSW Battalion AIF – service number 205.
Arthur (Podge) was born at Paterson on March 3, 1883, the eighth of 10 children born to William and Salome Keppie.
Private Keppie’s battalion became part of the first contingent of Australian and New Zealand forces that assembled in a large flotilla in King George Sound on the south coast of Western Australia.
He was aboard the SS Euripides that sailed for Egypt on November 1, 1914.
Private Keppie kept an articulate diary and his writings to family and friends provided detailed records and impressions of army life.
Full article available at Maitland Mercury, Feb. 28, 2015.
