ROBINSON, Robert Melville
| Service Number: | 756 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 3 June 1915, Enlisted at Liverpool. Allotted to 18th Infantry Battalion at time of Embarkation. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Balmain, New South Wales, Australia, 30 July 1891 |
| Home Town: | Drummoyne, Canada Bay, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Workshop Fitter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Turkey, 27 August 1915, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 3 Jun 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 756, 1st Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Liverpool. Allotted to 18th Infantry Battalion at time of Embarkation. | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 756, 18th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 756, 18th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Robert Melville ROBINSON (Service Number 756) was born on 30th July 1891 at Balmain. From 22nd May 1913 he was employed as a temporary fitter in the Eveleigh Workshops of the NSW Railways. It was not until 10th November 1914 that he became permanent. He was granted leave to join the Expeditionary Forces on 3 June 1915 and enlisted the same day at Liverpool.
He described himself as an engineer and justified this by citing a 3-year apprenticeship as a draftsman to Norman Selfe, a well-known engineer in Sydney, and another 3-year apprenticeship as a fitter with Clyde Engineering. As he was not married, he gave his mother Mrs Catherine Robinson of Drummoyne as his next of kin.
He was initially allotted to the 7th Reinforcements to the 1st Battalion, but at the time of his embarkation from Sydney he was allotted to the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion. He left Australia aboard HMAT ‘Ceramic’ on 25th June 1915. On 16th August he left Egypt to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on Gallipoli.
A few days after landing there, on 27th August 1915, he was reported missing. A Court of Enquiry, sitting at Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt in January 1916, determined that he had been killed on that day.
Captain Sadler reported that he was killed during the charge at Hill 60. He and a search party had found and buried the body on 28th October 1915. The Chaplain of the 163rd Brigade, 54th Division had officiated.
The location of any burial was not established after the war and Robinson has no known grave. He is remembered on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.