The AIF Project

Norman LIVESEY

Regimental number943
Place of birthLancashire, England
Place of birthAeerington, Lancs, England
SchoolMount Pleasant Meileyan School, Aeerington, England
Age on arrival in Australia23
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
Address27 Robertson Street, East Perth, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation27
Next of kinFather, J W Livesey, 27 Robertson Street, East Perth, Western Australia
Enlistment date10 September 1914
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name12th Battalion, H Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/29/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board Transport A7 Medic on 2 November 1914
Rank from Nominal RollLance Corporal
Unit from Nominal Roll12th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularHe was in the landing at Gallipoli and was wounded at Lone Pine Aug 11th 1915, was sent to Cairo for treatment from there on to Tel-El-Heber then on to France March 16th 1916.
FateKilled in Action 19-22 August 1916
Place of death or woundingMouquet Farm, Pozieres, France
Age at death28
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
66
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated in Fremantle Cemetery, Western Australia. Parents: John (1867-1939) and Essie (d. 25 May 1949, aged 84; bu. Fremantle Cemetery) LEVESEY, Frederick Street, South Fremantle, Western Australia
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

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