Robert Gauld played soccer for Bulimba in 1915. The Daily Standard of 16 July reported, “Forward, the Bulimba’s were well served, Gauld in the centre, being always on the move, and his shots were always dangerous.”
How long the Aberdeen-born player had been at the club is unknown, as match reports and team listings were an irregular feature of the sport’s newspaper coverage at the time. Gauld had been in Brisbane as early as 1913, when he appeared on the Brisbane electoral roll as a labourer. His subsequent movements are also hazy.
He enlisted at Roma, in Western Queensland, and gave his profession as schoolteacher. But when he had a few days leave from military training in Brisbane in November, he gave his address as Mooloolah on the Sunshine Coast.
Arriving in Plymouth in March 1917, he was allocated to the 31st Battalion. Instead of heading to France, Gauld was sent to Hurdcott, Wiltshire for machine gun training. One curious entry in his records from 22 July 1917 states he was transferred to the 15th Training Battalion in Hurdcott “for rations and accommodation only (isolation)”. No further explanation was given, though other records show isolation in the British-based camps was often to stop the spread of illness amongst the soldiers.
Gauld finally joined the 31st Battalion in France in November. Here he fought until being gassed in September 1918, leading to recovery in Havre. He remained in France after armistice, except for some leave, until May 1919. He started back for Australia in July.
Gauld married Lily Bell in Caboolture in 1920, and the couple had three children, though their first died on the day of birth. By 1924 they were living in Rockhampton, where Lily later died in January 1932. Gauld subsequently married Henrietta Baxter in September the same year. He was appointed as the Deputy Superintendent at the Mercantile Marine Office in Rockhampton in 1938, having been a clerk at the Department of Trade and Customs in the same city. The Morning Bulletin of 5 February 1941 reported Gauld and his family were living at Thursday Island, where he had the job of sub-collector of customs.
The same paper on 8 May 1942 reported Gauld had been transferred to Brisbane. The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette of 5 March 1953 listed Gauld retired from his position as an Examining Officer from the Department of Trade and Customs.
Gauld was living in Kedron by the 1950s and died in Brisbane in 1962. Henrietta died in 1971.