Patrick COLLINS

Regimental number272
Place of birthListowel, Ireland
Place of birthListowel, Co Kerry, Ireland
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationLabourer
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation34
Height5' 8.25"
Weight145 lbs
Next of kinFriend, No 204 Pte Thomas Clarke, B Company, 9th Infantry, AIF
Previous military serviceServed in the Royal Munster Fusiliers, British Army; time expired.
Enlistment date21 August 1914
Place of enlistmentBrisbane, Queensland
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name9th Battalion, B Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/26/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board Transport A5 S.S. Omrah on 24 September 1914
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll9th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularEnlisted 21 August 1914; taken on strength 9th Bn 14 September 1914.
FateKilled in Action 23 July 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Date of death23 July 1916
Age at death36
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
55
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, 2 March 1915. Reported missing, Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli, 22 May 1915; rejoined unit, 23 May 1915. Admitted to hospital, Imbros, 24 Jyuly 1915 (septic finger); transferred to Camp, 26 July 1915. Rejoined unit, Tel el Kebir, 5 January 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 27 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 3 April 1916.

Wounded in action, 23 July 1916; reported missiing.

Court of Enquiry, 2 July 1917, determined fate as killed in action, 23 July 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, COLLINS Patrick