Colin Ernest Perkins was born in 1892 in East Melbourne to Alfred Joseph Perkins and Alice Ethel Swifte. His family, however, were not inclined to stay in one place long: the child before him was born in Prahran and the one after in Kew. The child before him was Eric and the two were very close. In 1910 when the family was in Hawthorn they had become a pair of tearaways and were in the Richmond Court on a variety of charges: the most serious being arson. They had set fire to a residence in Swan Street, ‘just for fun’ they said later. As well they had stolen 4s 7d worth of pennies from the money-in-the-slot gas meter inside the house. On another occasion they had broken into a house and smashed several mirrors. The doctor who examined them described Colin as being of weak intellect and recommended that he be placed on a training ship or on a farm. He should certainly not go to gaol. The two were fined a small amount and no other reports of bad behaviour followed. Their father died six months later. Perhaps this made them see life more seriously.
Colin enlisted on 11 January 1915 and agreed to allot not less than two fifths of his pay towards the support of his mother. He gave his occupation as packer and stated that he had had military experience with the 49th Infantry, Prahran. He was appointed to the 7th Battalion 5th Reinforcements at Broadmeadows as a private.
He embarked on the Hororata on 17 April 1915. After training camp in Egypt he joined his battalion on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 5 August 1915. In September he had three days in hospital with gastro-enteritis. On 7 January 1916 he arrived back in Alexandria and on 24 February 1916 he was transferred to the newly formed 59th Battalion, B Company at Serapeum. On 12 May 1916 he was admitted to hospital with flat feet and corns but rejoined his unit on 16 May. He embarked from Alexandria on 18 June and disembarked at Marseilles on 29 June. On 19 July he was reported missing. He had in fact been killed in action. In an awful coincidence on the same day, his brother, Eric, was also killed in action.
Eric had enlisted on 31 May 1915, was appointed to the 6th Battalion, 7th Reinforcements and embarked on 6 July 1915 for Egypt. Like Colin he was later transferred to 59th Battalion and sent to France.
The battalion’s unit history describes the day,
On 19 July 1916, the 59th became embroiled in its first major battle on the Western Front, less than a month after it arrived in France. The battle of Fromelles was a disaster for the 59th. Attacking in the first wave, the 59th suffered heavy casualties at the hands of German machine-gunners, and its advance faltered far short of its objective.