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, Western Front

Taken on strength of 1st Bn, Tel el Kebir, 14 February 1916.

Admitted to No 3 Field Ambulance, Tel el Kebir, 23 February 1916 (tonsillitis); discharged, 25 February 1916, and rejoined unit the same day.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 23 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 28 March 1916.

On guard duties, Marseilles, France, 28 March 1916.

Admitted to Lahore Hospital, Marseilles, 31 March 1916 (injury to right foot); discharged, 27 June 1916; marched into 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 30 June 1916.

Admitted to No 18 General Hospital, Camiers, 20 July 1916 (syphilis); discharged, 5 August 1916; marched into 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 6 August 1916; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 17 days.

Proceeded to unit, 14 September 1916; rejoined 1st Bn, 15 September 1916.

Wounded in action, 5 January 1917, and admitted to Anzac Corps Rest Station the same day (graze on shin); discharged, 19 January 1917; rejoined unit, 20 January 1917.

Admitted to No 15 Australian Field Ambulance, 18 May 1917 (accidental injury, scalded foot); transferred to No 9 Casualty Clearing Station, 23 May 1917; to Ambulance Train, 28 May 1917; to No 8 General Hospital, Rouen, 29 May 1917; to England, 5 June 1917; to No 2 London General Hospital, 5 June 1917; to No 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, 27 June 1917; discharged to furlough, 2 July 1917; marched into No 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 16 July 1917 (Class 'B1').

Classified Class 'B1A4', 20 August 1917.

Marched into Overseas Training Bde, Perham Downs, 31 August 1917.

Found guilty, 5 September 1917, of neglect to obey orders in that he was found in Redenham at 2140 hours, 2 September 1917, without leave: awarded 2 days' Field Punishment No 2.

Proceeded overseas to France, 14 October 1917; marched into 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, Le Havre, 15 October 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 18 October 1917; rejoined 1st Bn, 21 October 1917.

Found guilty, 3 April 1918, of (1) being absent from 1400 hours parade; (2) being absent from Tattoo Roll Call, 2 April 1918: awarded 7 days' confined to barracks and deprived of 7 days' pay.

Wounded in action, 9 July 1918 (2nd occasion); admitted to No 3 Australian Field Ambulance, 9 July 1918 (shrapnel wound, left jaw); rejoined unit, 9 July 1918.

Killed in action, 12 July 1918.

Buried in vicinity of Strazeele Station, 27SE W 29 a.