Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Australian Remembrance Army

Australian World War One veteran Private Charles Newman (Service No. 2918), is among almost 800 previously unmarked WWI veterans’ graves in Lutwyche Cemetery we have now marked with plaques in recognition of their service for Australia.

We unveiled his plaque in Lutwyche Cemetery on 16 May 2026, along with a further 185 plaques on the previously unmarked graves of Australian World War One veterans:
See Australian Remembrance Army Facebook page

Romeo Newman, later known as Charles Newman, was born on 17 January 1877 at Wangaratta, Victoria, the son of Michael Oper Newman and Bridget Newman, née Smith. On 14 August 1882, Charles and three of his siblings were admitted as State Wards. The reason recorded was that their father was deceased and their mother was destitute.

Charles Newman enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 26 October 1916. He gave his birthplace as Chiltern, Victoria, his age as 34 years, his occupation as horse breaker, and his address as Morven, Queensland. He named his mother, Mrs Bridget Hewson of Chiltern, Victoria, as his next of kin.

Charles embarked from Sydney on 22 December 1916 aboard HMAT Demosthenes, as part of the 6th Reinforcements for the 42nd Battalion. He was recorded as sick while at sea on 11 January 1917 and discharged from the ship’s hospital on 13 January 1917. He disembarked at Plymouth, England, on 5 March 1917.

After arrival in England, Charles was attached to training units. On 29 March 1917, he was admitted to Fargo Military Hospital with influenza and returned to depot duty in April 1917.

Charles proceeded overseas to France from Southampton on 16 April 1917. He marched in from England at Rouelles on 17 July 1917 and was taken on strength with the 42nd Battalion on 4 August 1917.

Charles was wounded in action in France on 11 October 1917. The casualty forms record the injury as concussion. He was admitted through casualty clearing and hospital channels, including No. 11 Casualty Clearing Station, No. 2 Australian General Hospital at Wimereux, Boulogne, Le Tréport, Rouelles and Havre.
By November 1917, his condition was recorded as neurasthenia, a diagnosis then commonly used for severe nervous exhaustion and war-related psychological trauma, including symptoms associated with shell shock. On 22 November 1917, Charles was transferred from France to No. 2 Command Depot at Weymouth. On 20 December 1917, he was returned to Australia, and he was formally discharged on 30 March 1918.

Charles’s post-war health was later assessed by the Repatriation Department. On 8 August 1938, the War Pensions Entitlement Appeal Tribunal, sitting at Brisbane, allowed his appeal in respect of neurasthenia, with the decision operating from 16 March 1938. Later Repatriation records show that a subsequent claim relating to a “nervous condition” was not accepted as attributable to his war service. Senile dementia was also rejected as a war-service incapacity in April 1956.

Private Charles Newman died at Eventide Nursing Home, Sandgate, Brisbane, aged 80, on 2 March 1957, from congestive cardiac failure, and was buried in Anzac Portion 8, Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane. The Repatriation Department investigated whether his death was related to his war service, but the death claim was rejected under Section 24 on 21 May 1957.
He was unmarried with no known children.

After almost seven decades without recognition at his place of burial, his grave now bears a plaque commemorating his service to Australia — ensuring his name endures among those remembered for their duty and sacrifice.

His identity and dignity have now been restored.
We have remembered him.
Lest We Forget