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.

War service: Western Front

Embarked Sydney, 7 February 1917; disembarked Plymouth, England, 11 April 1917, and marched into 7th Training Bn, Rolleston, the same day.

Admitted to Parkhouse Hospital, 9 June 1917 (mumps); discharged, 29 June 1917; marched into 7th Training Bn, Rollestone, 30 June 1917.

Proceeded overseas to France, 17 October 1917; marched into 2nd Australian Divisional Base Depot, Le Havre, 18 October 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 22 October 1917; taken on strength of 25th Bn, 24 October 1917.

Wounded in action, 29 October 1917; admitted to No 3 Australian Field Ambulance, 30 October 1917 (conjunctivitis and gassed); transferred to No 2 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, 30 October 1917; to No 47 General Hospital, Le Havre, 31 October 1917; to England, 15 November 1917; to War Hospital, Bath, 16 November 1917; to No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, 5 December 1917; discharged to furlough, 10 December 1917, and to report to No 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 24 December 1917.

Marched out of No 4 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 7 February 1918, and marched into Overseas Training Depot, Longbridge Deverill, 7 February 1918.

Proceeded overseas to France, 21 February 1918; marched into Australian Intermediate Base Depot, Le Havre, 22 February 1918.

Proceeded to unit, 24 February 1918; rejoined 25th Bn, 26 February 1918.

Killed in action, 10 June 1918.