Oliver Hogue


Oliver Hogue was an Australian soldier and writer.

Early life

Hogue was born on 29 April 1880 in Sydney, Australia, the second son of James Alexander and Jessie. He had five brothers and four sisters. Hogue attended Forest Lodge Public School in Sydney and was active in shooting and equestrianism. In his youth, Hogue was also an avid cycler who logged thousands of miles cycling across the country's eastern and northern coasts.

Career

In 1907, Hogue joined the Sydney Morning Herald as a journalist. In September 1914, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as a trooper with the 6th Light Horse Regiment. He became a second lieutenant in November 1914, shortly after which he and the 2nd Light Horse Brigade were posted to Egypt. Hogue fought the Battle of Gallipoli but was sent to England midway after contracting typhoid fever. In May 1915, he was promoted to lieutenant and appointed as an orderly officer to brigade commander Colonel Granville Ryrie. Hogue sent articles under the pen-name "Trooper Bluegum" to the Herald, which he later compiled and had published as Love Letters of an Anzac and Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles. Having survived the war, he died on 3 March 1919 at the 3rd General Hospital in London during the influenza epidemic of 1919. Hogue was buried at the military section of the Brookwood cemetery. Hogue Place, in the Canberra suburb of Gilmore, is named in his and his father James Hogue's honour.