The AIF Project

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: Egypt, Western Front

Admitted to No 1 Australian Dermatological Hospital, Abbassia, 4 March 1916 (venereal disease); discharged to Overseas Base, 18 March 1916; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 15 days.

Discharged to Overseas Base from No 3 Australian General Hospital, 12 April 1916.

Marched into 5th Training Bn, Tel el Kebir, 19 April 1916.

Taken on strength of 55th Bn, Ferry Post, 20 April 1916.

Found guilty, 9 May 1916, of breaking camp, and remaining absent without leave from 0445 hours, 5 May 1916, until 0756 hours, 9 May 1916: awarded 6 days' Field Punishment No 2, and forfeits 5 days' pay.

Admitted to No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital, Ismailia, 13 June 1916 (gonorrhoea); transferred to No 1 Australian Dermatological Hospital, Abbassia, 16 June 1916; discharged, 14 July 1916; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 32 days.

Marched into 14th Training Bn, Tel el Kebir, 15 July 1916.

Embarked Alexandria, 29 July 1916; disembarked Southampton, England, 9 August 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France, 1 September 1916; marched into Australian Base Depot, Etaples, 6 September 1916.

Rejoined 55th Bn, in the field, 23 September 1916.

Promoted Corporal, 7 November 1916.

Wounded in action, 14 December 1916; admitted to No 15 Australian Field Ambulance, 14 December 1916 (gunshot wound, scalp); transferred to No 38 Casualty Clearing Station, 14 December 1916; to No 1 Australian General Hospital, Rouen, 16 December 1916; to England, 19 December 1916; to Reading War Hospital, 20 December 1916; discharged to furlough, 21 February 1917, and to report to No 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 8 March 1917.

Marched out of No 1 Command Depot, 19 March 1917; marched into No 4 Command Depot, Warham, no date stated.

Transferred to 61st Bn, 23 March 1917, and taken on strength of 61st Bn the same day.

Found guilty, 17 July 1917, of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline in that he created a disturbance: award, severely reprimanded.

Transferred to 55th Bn , 19 September 1917, and marched in to 61st Draft Bn, Fovant, the same day.

Admitted to No 16 Field Ambulance, 23 September 1917; transferred to Fovant Military Hospital, 23 September 1917; to No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, 24 September 1917; discharged to No 2 Command Depot, Weymouth, 26 September 1917.

Marched into No 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 27 October 1917.

Classified 'B1A2', 31 October 1917.

Classified 'B1A4', 6 November 1917.

Marched into Overseas Training Depot, Longbridge Deverill, 24 November 1917.

Admitted to Bde Hospital, Longbridge Deverill, 3 December 1917 (adenitis); discharged, 18 December 1917, and marched into Overseas Training Bde, Longbridge Deverill, the same day.

Proceeded overseas to France, 10 January 1918; marched into Australian Intermediate Base Depot, Le Havre, 11 January 1918.

Proceeded to unit, 12 January 1918; taken on strength of 55th Bn, 15 January 1918.

Detached to 2nd Army Cookery School, 8 March 1918; rejoined unit, 28 April 1918.

Killed in action, 4 July 1918.