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: Western Front

Embarked Adelaide, 13 July 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 9 September 1916.

Admitted to Fargo Hospital, 18 September 1916 (influenza); marched into 13th Training Be, 26 September 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France, 28 November 1916; marched into 4th Australia Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 30 November 1916.

Proceeded to unit, 12 December 1916; taken on strength of 50th Bn, in the field, 14 December 1916.

Evacuated to hospital, 23 December 1916; admitted to No 4 Field Ambulance, 24 December 1916, and transferred to No 39 Casualty Clearing Station, the same day (mumps); to No 20 Stationary Hospital, 11 January 1917; to No 2 Convalescent Depot, Rouen, 11 January 1917; discharged to Base Details, 18 January 1917; marched into Base Depot, Etaples, 20 January 1917.

Rejoined 50th Bn, 7 February 1917.

Wounded in action, 9 June 1917; admitted to No 77 Field Ambulance, 9 July 1917 (shrapnel wound, right wrist); transferred to No 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 9 July 1917; to No 53 General Hospital, Boulogne, 10 June 1917; to England, 20 June 1917; to Suffolk War Hospital, 20 June 1917; to Bettenham Park, 30 June 1917; to No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Hurdcott, 13 August 1917; discharged to furlough, 20 September 1917; marched into No 3 Command Depot, Hurdcott, 3 September 1917.

Classified, B1A3, 22 September 1917.

Classified B1A4, 13 October 1917.

Marched into No 1 Command Depot, Sutton Veny, 23 November 1917.

Marched into Overseas Training Depot, Longbridge Deverill, 8 December 1917.

Proceeded overseas to France, 3 January 1918; marched into Australian Intermediate Base Depot, Le Havre, 4 January 1918.

Proceeded to unit, 7 January 1918; rejoined unit, 8 January 1918.

Wounded in action, 25 April 1918.

Now, 16 June 1918, reported 'Wounded and Missing in Action, 25 April 1918'.

Now, 2 September 1918, reported as 'Killed in Action, 25 April 1918'.

Buried 500 yards south of Villers-Bretouneuse, Sh. 62d S.W. O.35 V.5.