The AIF Project

Military Medal

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.

Military Medal

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Embarked Alexandria, 6 August 1916.

Taken on strength of 42nd Bn, England, 23 September 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France, 25 November 1916.

Admitted to No 2 Field Ambulance, 11 December 1916 (sprained ankle); transferred to No 34 Divisional Rest Station, 12 December 1916; discharged, 14 December 1916; rejoined unit, 14 December 1916.

Found guilty, 19 May 1917, of drunkenness while on active service: awarded 4 days' Field Punishment No 2.

Wounded in action, 10 June 1917; admitted to Australian Field Ambulance, 11 June 1917 (shrapnel wound, chest); transferred to No 2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 11 June 1917; to No 22 Ambulance Train, 11 June 1917; to No 2 Australian General Hospital, Wimereux, 13 June 1917; to England, 17 June 1917; to Lakenham Military Hospital, 17 June 1917; to No 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield, 30 June 1917; discharged, 4 July 1917, and marched into No 2 Command Depot, Weymouth, 4 July 1917.

Marched into No 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 28 July 1917.

Classified 'B1A1', 29 July 1917.

Classified B1A4, 23 August 1917.

Found guilty, 6 September 1917, of disobedience of orders in that he did not clean up mess tent when ordered to do so: award, admonished.

Classified 'A3', 22 September 1917.

Marched into Overseas Training Bde, Longbridge Deverill, 10 November 1917.

Proceeded overseas to France, 10 November 1917; marched into 3rd Australian Divisional Base Depot, Rouelles, 11 November 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 15 November 1917; rejoined 42nd Bn, 22 November 1917.

Admitted to No 9 Australian Field Ambulance, 24 January 1918 (scabies); discharged, 29 January 1918, and rejoined unit the same day.

Promoted Lance Corporal, 1 July 1918.

Killed in action, 12 August 1918.

Buried at 62d NE L11 C 314 62d SE R1SA.