The AIF Project

Richard Wesley ROWLANDS

Regimental number1877
Place of birthHomebush, Victoria
Place of birthLower Homebush, Maryborough, Victoria
ReligionMethodist
OccupationLabourer
AddressLower Homebush, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation23
Height5' 7.5"
Weight140 lbs
Next of kinFather, John Rowlands, Lower Homebush, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date9 August 1915
Place of enlistmentBroadmeadows, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name31st Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/48/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A55 Kyarra on 3 January 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll31st Battalion
FateKilled in Action 21 July 1915
Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll)*Stated to be Wesley Richard Rowlands on NR
Age at death from cemetery records24
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
179
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: John and Jane ROWLANDS, 1 Pine Avenue, Mildura, Victoria
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Embarked Brisbane, 3 January 1916; disembarked Suez, 31 January 1916.

Admitted to No 1 Australian General Hospital, Heliopolis, 7 February 1916 (enteric, serious); transferred to No 4 Auxiliary Hospital, Abbassia, 19 February 1916 (mumps and influenza); discharged from No 4 Auxiliary Hospital, 4 March 1916.

Posted to 8th Training Bn, Zeitoun, 7 March 1916.

Taken on strength of 31st Bn, Duntroon Plateau, 1 April 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 17 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 25 June 1916.

Reported missing, 21 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 1 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 21 July 1916'.

Handwritten note on B.103: 'Buried in vicinity of Fleurbaix, Sh.36 N.W.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Miscellaneous detailsName entered incorrectly on Embarkation Roll as Richard Westley ROWLANDS.
SourcesNAA: B2455, ROWLANDS Richard Wesley
Red Cross file 2370602

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