Harry Clifton Wishart was born on 4 November 1879 in Angaston, South Australia. He was the fifth of nine children of Thomas Wishart, a local farmer, and his wife, Fanny Plush. By 1894 the family had moved to Penrice and after leaving school Harry trained as a butcher.

On 4 January 1916 Harry enlisted in Adelaide with the 15th Reinforcements, 9th Light Horse but was transferred to the 16th on 16 March and left with them from Adelaide on board the HMAT Bakara on 29 April. At the start of June, Harry was based in Egypt where he was transferred to the 3rd Light Horse Training Regiment at Tel El Kebir. A month later, on 8 July, he was attached to the Imperial Camel Corps and sent to join No.13 Company at Abbassia on the outskirts of Cairo the following day. Part of the 3rd Camel Battalion, the company was formed with reinforcements from the Light Horse.

It seems likely that Harry would have been involved in patrolling the Libyan Desert and may have been present at the Battle of Romani in August. On 12 September Harry was admitted to hospital suffering from tonsilitis which led to the development of a peritonsillar abscess and consequently it was decided to send Harry back to Australia.

On 21 November Harry was admitted to the hospital ship Ayrshire in Suez and sailed for home – arriving in Melbourne on Christmas day. He was eventually discharged as medically unfit on 13 April 1917 and after the war, on 4 November 1920, he married Gertrude Ortela Haines in Adelaide. In 1928 the couple moved to Poochera in the Streaky Bay district where Harry ran his own butcher’s shop until 1936. His war debilities were later said to have had a significant effect on his life and on 7 December 1939, following a period of poor health, he died aged 60 in the Streaky Bay Hospital. He was afforded a semi-military funeral at which, during the conclusion, old comrades each dropped a poppy on the casket.

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