"Jack" John Joseph LYNCH

Born 28 April 1901 in Kells, County Meath, Ireland ^[16]
Son of Philip LYNCH and Sarah MCENROE ^[201]
Departed London, England with his parents on the Omrah and arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on 25 March 1909 ^{[201] [203]}
After residing with his parents in North Perth for a few months shifted with them to Three Springs in later 1909 ^[201]
Resided with his parents on Shamrock Farm in Three Springs ^{[19] [24]}
Manager of his uncle Senator Patrick J. LYNCH's  Mount Leonora Farm in Three Springs 1918 and 1919 ^[201]
Won the Victoria Cross and Gretna Green races at the Red Cross Gala Day in Three Springs on Thursday 23 May 1918 ^{[10: 31-May-1918]}
Winner of the Sheffield Handicap race at the Three Springs Day held in Three Springs on Thursday 26 September 1918 ^{[10: 4-Oct-1918]}
Attended and competed in the sports events at the Peace Celebrations held in Three Springs on Saturday 19 July 1919 ^{[10: 25-Jul-1919]}
     Won the High Jump, came 2nd in the 120 yard Sheffield Handicap, and with George PETTIT won the Horseback Tug of War ^[10]
Member of the Three Springs Football Club in 1919 ^{[10: 19-Sep-1919]}
Came 2nd for Three Long Jumps in the sports at the Three Springs Day held on Thursday 25 September 1919 ^{[10: 3-Oct-1919]}
Virgin land had been taken up in Hyden for he and his brothers by their uncle Senator Patrick J. LYNCH ^[201]
He decided not to settle in Hyden as the prospect looked to be a harder struggle then they had already endured in Three Springs ^[201]
By 1921 he had left Three Springs and was working as a Drover in Kalgoorlie ^[187]
Drover in Kalgoorlie 1921-1923 and Miner in Kalgoorlie from 1924 ^[187]
Had mining successes at the Perseverance Mine and then at the Great Boulder Mine on the Kalgoorlie-Boulder goldfields ^{[4: 22-Dec-1945]}
Member of the Eastern Goldfields Tributers Association - served as Secretary and then President ^{[4: 22-Dec-1945]}
He was later the Managing Director of the Consolidated and Blue Spec Mines in Kalgoorlie ^{[4: 22-Dec-1945]}
Resided in Kalgoorlie until enlisting in the Australian Army on 13 July 1940 ^[16]
Corporal WX6317 in the Australian Army's 2/6 Field Park Squadron during the Second World War ^[16]
During his time in the Army he wrote letters to his brothers, however none were received after he was captured by the Japanese ^[201]
Along with many other British and Australian prisoners of war he died during the infamous Sandakan death march ^[201]
Died from illness on 20 June 1945 while a Prisoner of War in Borneo; memorialised on the Labuan Memorial in Malaysia ^{[4] [17] [18]}


From The Irwin Index newspaper, Saturday 22 December 1945:
Obituary - The Late Corporal J. J. Lynch - Prominent Mining Personality
"News was received recently of the death, whilst a prisoner of war, of Corporal John Joseph Lynch, formerly of Three Springs and Kalgoorlie and it would now appear that he was one of the victims of that barbarous and tragic "death march" in Borneo when so many of his fellow Australians met a similar fate. At an early age the late Corporal Lynch came with his parents from Ireland to Three Springs, and until his early twenties he worked in that district on the farming property of his deceased uncle (Senator P. J. Lynch). Attracted by the gold mining industry, he then went to Kalgoorlie, and almost immediately he "struck it," the Perseverance Gold Mine giving him his first success. When the Great Boulder Mine went on tribute in 1926 he went on to that lease with many others, and locating some of the richest blocks worked there, this venture proving most profitable. Then in 1930, largely due to Corporal Lynch's initiative and perseverance, the Eastern Goldfields Tributers' Association was formed to fight the mining companies on the rights of the miners to the extra price for gold, which had risen from the fixed price of £4/4/11 to £8/10/- per ounce. Acting as secretary and later as president of this Association for the next few years, it was during this period that the law case between the tributers and the companies was commenced in Australia and finalised three years later, when before the Privy Council in London the verdict was given in favour of the tributers� Forced to relinquish his position as president on account of ill health, the late Corporal Lynch nevertheless still took an active part in all matters pertaining to mining and at the time of enlistment he was managing director of the Consolidated and Blue Spec Mines. At the time of his death he was forty six years of age."

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