The AIF Project

Malcolm Allen RANKIN

Regimental number4777
Date of birth7 June 1882
Place of birthIrrewillipi, Victoria
Place of birthIrrewillipe, Victoria
SchoolIrrewillipi State School, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationVigneron
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation33
Next of kinWife, Mrs Anne Lilian Rankin, Lilydale, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date5 February 1916
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name21st Battalion, 12th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/38/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on 4 April 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll21st Battalion
FateKilled in Action 20 March 1917
Place of death or woundingBapaume, Somme Sector, France
Age at death35
Age at death from cemetery records34
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
94
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated in Colac Cemetery, Victoria.Parents: Malcolm and Mary RANKIN; husband of Annie RANKIN, Lilydale Post Office, Victoria. Photo: Ian Marr
Family/military connectionsBrother in law: T.H. Goodall, killed in action, Passchendaele, 25 October 1917.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Print format    


© The AIF Project 2024, UNSW Canberra. Not to be reproduced without permission.