Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank Stewart Ellison was born in Glen Osmond South Australia on 14 October 1881, the ninth of eleven children of James Ellison and Georgina Sophia Townsend. His grandfather, Samuel Ellison, had arrived in the colony in 1840 and had established a dairy farm in the area known as Ellison’s Gully off Brownhill Creek. Frank’s father had been employed on the construction of the northern end of the Overland Telegraph during 1871-1872.

Around 1904 Frank travelled to Western Australia with his four older brothers, Fred (James Frederick), Albert, Bill, and Gilbert, where they worked as contractors on government well projects. The two older brothers are credited with the construction of the Billum Billum or Monk’s Well at Dalwallinu, a town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, located 248 km from Perth via the Great Northern Highway. The well still exists covered now by a galvanised iron shed.

The electoral roll for 1912 for the Division of Swan shows:
* Ellison, Albert, Nugadong, Gunyidi, farmer
* Ellison, Frank, Nugadong, Gunyidi, contractor
* Ellison, Frederick James, Merkanooka, Mingenew, miner
* Ellison, William Ernest, Morowa, Mingenew, teamster
* Ellison, Gilbert, Beverley, contractor

Frank enlisted in the AIF on 9 May 1916 as a member of the 44th Battalion and embarked for active service from Fremantle on 13 October 1916 on HMAT Port Macquarie disembarking at Plymouth on 12 December. After training in England, he joined his unit in France at Armentieres on 8 February 1917.

The battalion’s first taste of combat on the Western Front came on 13 March 1917, when half the battalion was committed to a major raid at Ploegsteert in Belgium, which ultimately proved unsuccessful.

On 7 June 1917 the 44th Battalion took part in the Battle of Messines, the first large-scale action involving Australian troops in Belgium. Messines was an important success for the leading up to the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres several weeks later. Fred was appointed Lance Corporal on 12 July 1917 and then to Corporal 16 July 1917.

On 4 October 1917 the battalion took part in the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge.

The attack began before dawn on 4 October 1917. The Australian troops involved were shelled heavily on their start line and a seventh of their number became casualties even before the attack began. When it did, the attacking troops were confronted by a line of troops advancing towards them; the Germans had chosen the same morning to launch an attack of their own. The Australians forged on through the German assault waves and gained all their objectives along the ridge. It was not without cost, however. German pillboxes were characteristically difficult to subdue, and the Australian divisions suffered 6,500 casualties.
Frank Ellison was among those killed that day. He was originally buried near the Ypres-Roulers Road, about 2 km NE of Zonnebeke and 3 km SW of Passchendaele. Unable to locate his remains, he is commemorated at Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres and his body was not recovered.