The AIF Project

Ernest Rewell DALZIELL

Regimental number2650
Place of birthPerth, Western Australia
OccupationWood Machinist
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation18
Height5' 6.5"
Weight138 lbs
Next of kinFather, Walter Parom Dalziell, Alfield Street, Waddington, West Australia
Previous military service89th Infantry (still serving)
Enlistment date1 May 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll22 May 1916
Place of enlistmentPerth, Western Australia
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll48th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 11 April 1917
Miscellaneous details (Nominal Roll)Name given on Nominal Roll as Ernest Rulle DALZIELL.
Age at death from cemetery records18
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
145
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Walter P. and L.J. DALZIELL, Attfield Street, Maddington, Western Australia
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Fremantle, 30 October 1916; disembarked Devonport, England, 28 December 1918; marched into 12th Training Bn, Codford, 28 December 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France, 4 February 1917; marched into 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 4 February 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 9 February 1917; taken on strength of 48th Bn, in the field, 10 February 1917.

Posted as missing in action, 11 April 1917.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, pronounces fate as 'Killed in Action, 11 April 1917'.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, DALZIELL Ernest Rewell

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