The AIF Project

Gordon Kenneth CAMERON

Regimental number3059
Place of birthByaduk North, Victoria
SchoolState School, Pigeon Ponds, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationLabourer
AddressKonongwootong, Coleraine, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation23
Height5' 6"
Weight133 lbs
Next of kinFather, W. Cameron, Konongwootong, Coleraine, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date16 July 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll15 July 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name5th Battalion, 10th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/22/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board RMS Osterley on 29 September 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll5th Battalion
FateDied of wounds 22 April 1917
Place of death or woundingBetween Bullecourt and Lagnicourt, France
Age at death25
Age at death from cemetery records25
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
43
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: William and Annie CAMERON, Coleraine, Victoria. Born at Byaduk, North Victoria
Family/military connectionsBrother: 3700 Pte Alexander Donald CAMERON, 6th Bn, killed in action, 10 February 1917; Foster-brother: 932 Warrant Officer (Class II) William Berend HATTON DCM MM, 3rd Bn, killed in action, 4 October 1917.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Admitted to No 4 Auxiliary Hospital, Heliopolis, Egypt, 19 January 1916 (mumps).

Taken on strength of 5th Bn, Serapeum, 22 February 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 25 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 30 March 1916.

Wounded in action, 20 August 1916; admitted to I Anzac Rest Station, 20 August 1916 (blistered feet); transferred to No 5 Field Ambulance, 20 August 1916; discharged to duty, 21 August 1916.

Attached to Canadian Tunnelling Company, 23 August 1916; rejoined unit, 26 August 1916.

Evacuated to Field Ambulance, 12 December 1916; admitted to Anzac Rest Station, 14 December 1916 (strained back); discharged to duty, 26 December 1916.

Admitted to No 3 Australian Field Ambulance, 20 January 1917 (impetigo); transferred to No 36 Casualty Clearing Station, 20 January 1917; to No 10 General Hospital, Rouen, 22 January 1917; to No 2 Convalescent Depot, 23 January 1917; marched into 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 29 March 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 4 April 1917; rejoined 5th Bn, 10 April 1917.

Wounded in action, 22 April 1917.

Died of wounds, No 2 Australian Field Ambulance, 22 April 1917.

Buried at Sheet 57C 1/40,000, approx D25 d1.1.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, CAMERON Gordon Kenneth

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