| Regimental number | 2295 |
| Place of birth | Raymond Terrace, New South Wales |
| School | Superior Public School |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Shop assistant |
| Address | Lora Street, Dungog, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 19.7 |
| Height | 5' 7 |
| Weight | 146 lbs |
| Next of kin | Father, S N Dark, Shire Clerk, Dungog, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Served in the Junior Cadets for 1 year; in the Senior Cadets for 4 years; and in the 14th Infantry, A Company, Citizen Military Forces, for 2 years. |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | Broadmedow, New South Wales |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 36th Battalion, 4th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/53/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A30 Borda on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 36th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 20 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 25), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 126 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Stephen Neate and Rhoda Ann DARK, Dungog, New South Wales. Native of Raymond Terrace, New South Wales |
| Family/military connections | Brother: 2292 Pte Hubert Finlay DARK, 36th Bn, returned to Australia, 19 October 1917; Cousins: [1685] Lt Eric Wyndham DARK MC, 17th Bn, returned to Australia, 13 April 1919; 1917 Pte Douglas Wade DARK, 5th Machine Gun Bn, died of wounds, 20 June 1916. |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Embarked Sydney, 17 October 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 9 January 1917. Proceeded overseas to France, 25 April 1917; taken on strength, 36th Bn, 1 May 1917. Detached for duty with 207th Machine Gun Company, Belgium, 21 May 1917. Killed in action, 7 June 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, DARK James Neate |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
