The AIF Project

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: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Admitted to Detention and Isolation Hospital, Abbassia, 15 February 1915; discharged, 26 March 1915.

Transferred to HT 'Commodore' for duty, 15 May 1915.

Wounded in action, 10 August 1915; admitted to Field Ambulance, Anzac, 10 August 1915 (bomb wounds, neck and back of head); transferred to HS 'Aquitania', ex-Mudros, 14 August 1915; to No 3 London General Hospital, Wandsworth, 23 August 1915; to No 1 Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield, 15 September 1915.

Admitted to hospital, 31 January 1916 (venereal disease); discharged, 7 March 1916; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 38 days.

Proceeded to Egypt, 24 March 1916.

Transferred to 4th Pioneer Bn, 25 April 1916; taken on strength of 4th Pioneer Bn, Serapeum, 29 April 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 4 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 11 June 1916.

Wounded in action (2nd occasion), 20 November 1916; admitted to No 5 Australian Field Ambulance, 23 November 1916 (bruised back); transferred to No 36 Casualty clearing Station, 23 November 1916; to No 24 Ambulance Train, 24 November 1916; to No 6 General Hospital, Rouen, 25 November 1916; to No 2 Convalescent Depot, Rouen, 26 November 1916; discharged, 29 November 1916; marched into 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 1 December 1916.

Admitted to No 26 General Hospital, Etaples, 29 January 1917 (bronchitis); transferred to England, 26 February 1917; to Norfolk War Hospital, Thrope, 26 February 1917; discharged to furlough, 15 March 1917; marched into No 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 31 March 1917.

Found guilty, 11 May 1917, of being absent without leave from 0900 hours, 8 May 1917, until 2100 hours, 9 May 1917: awarded 7 days' confined to camp, and forfeits 2 days' by Royal Warrant.

Classified 'B1A4', 12 May 1917.

Marched into Dutton, 16 May 1917.

Found guilty, 2 August 1917, of being absent from midnight, 15 July 1917, until 0630 hours, 31 July 1917: awarded 16 days' detention, and total forfeiture of 45 days' pay.

Marched out to Devonport Detention Barracks, 4 August 1917; marched into Pioneer Training Bn, Fovant, 18 August 1917.

Proceeded overseas to France, 25 September 1917; marched into 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot, Le Havre, 26 September 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 5 October 1917; rejoined unit, 7 October 1917.

Admitted to No 3 Australian Field Ambulance, 14 October 1917 (venereal disease, chancre); transferred to No 10 Casualty Clearing Station, 15 October 1917; to No 39 General Hospital, 17 October 1917; marched into 4th Australian Divisional Base Depot, 11 December 1917; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 59 days.

Proceeded to unit, 20 December 1917; rejoined 4th Pioneer Bn, 23 December 1917.

Transferred to, and taken on strength of 4th Machine Gun Bn, 12 May 1918.

Killed in action, 8 August 1918.