Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Cyril Roy Chisholm (service number 845) served as a Private in the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.). He was a soldier in the eighteenth Infantry Battalion, alongside the Fifth Brigade. He was born in Kiama, a coastal town south of Sydney, in NSW, on the 28th of July in 1897, and grew up on Boolwey Street, Bowral, where he attended Bowral Public School, and then Sydney Technical High School from 1909 to 1915.[i] Cyril was the son of Angus and Florence Elizabeth Chisholm, and along with Cyril, were Anglican and committed to the war effort. According to Cyril’s enlistment record he was five feet and seven inches tall (1.7 metres), weighed 146 pounds (sixty-six kilograms), had blue eyes and dark coloured hair.[ii] Before enlistment he worked as a labourer, for the railway in Hurstville, following his father’s occupation. Chisholm was eager to join the war effort and enlisted into the A.I.F. on the 7th of March, 1915, lying on his enlistment form to increase his age, claiming he was 21 years old. This lie was not uncovered until his mother revealed that his actual age upon enlistment was 18.[iii] Some of this knowledge can be found in a news article published by his local newspaper: Kiama Independent. The article was published on the sixth of October, in 1915, two months after Chisholm’s unfortunate death. His death caused much sorrow for both his friends and family, who were heartbroken when they heard of his death towards the end of 1915.[iv]               

Chisholm departed Sydney with his battalion on the 25th of June, 1915; three and a half months after his enlistment. He travelled to Cairo, the capital of Egypt, aboard the Transport ship A40 Ceramic.[v] He trained with many other brave ANZAC soldiers in Egypt. The type of training he undertook was similar to other ANZAC soldiers, and consisted of training drills and manoeuvres alongside his comrades. The training was eight hours a day, six days a week and all day long. Chisholm worked with other men practicing advancing, retiring, or squatting, while listening to their training officer. After the completion of his training in Giza; a city located southwest of central Cairo, Egypt, he departed for the frontlines of the ongoing war. We know he trained in Giza because a letter was written by one of his comrades from that location, and the writer of the letter claims he knew Chisholm well.[vi]

The first and only battle he participated in was the Battle of Hill 60, and this occurred when he was still 18 years old. The Battle of Hill 60 was the last major assault by the Allies during the Gallipoli campaign. The offensive attempted to secure the narrow strip of coast connecting the British forces located at Suvla, and the established positions of the ANZAC soldiers at Anzac Cove. This would provide safer communication between these two bases, and deal a blow to the Turkish army located in Gallipoli. It also took place at the same time as a larger attack by the Allies on Scimitar Hill. The intention of this simultaneous attack was to confuse and create panic among the Turkish forces, by drawing attention to two different locations. The attack was eventually abandoned by the commanding officers, but resulted in 2,500 Allied casualties, one of which was Cyril Roy Chisholm.[vii]

During the Battle of Hill 60, Chisholm and an unknown number of his comrades found themselves separated from their battalion, and lost in Suvla Bay. They found themselves in the Turkish trenches. Whilst attempting to retreat from the enemy trenches in order to return to their own, Chisholm, and some of the soldiers with him, were shot. The soldiers who killed them were positioned in another trench, twenty yards in front of the one Chisholm and his comrades had been occupying. However, one source disagrees with this and argues that his death in the enemy trenches was a result of a Turkish bomb, and not from being shot. This alternate story was written in a letter by one of his comrades who was in the Turkish trenches with him, but survived.[viii] This occurred on the twenty-second of August, in 1915, the day after the assault began.

Chisholm did not receive a proper burial as his comrades were unable to retrieve his body. Cyril’s name can be found on a panel at the Lone Pine Memorial, located in Gallipoli. He also won three medals: the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal. We know he won these three medals because the stamps representing each of these medals can be seen on a sheet of paper made about Chisholm just after his unfortunate death.

 Zachary Favorito

Year 9 - Sydney Technical High School

Private Cyril Roy Chisholm. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10279057

P. (n.d.). Cyril Roy Chisholm. Retrieved from https://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/118864

Stevenson, K. (n.d.). CHISHOLM R - Cyril Roy - KIA Hill 60 Suvla Bay - SAME DAY CHANDLER - put age up. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wM6n34-ZY5Q70iPASKKqZP6pr7nQoSqW

[i] ‘Missing,’ Kiama Independent, Kiama, 1915, p. 2.  
[ii] Examining Medical Officer, ‘Certificate of Medical Examination,’ Sydney, 1915.  
[iii] Ken Stevenson, ‘PTE Cyril Roy CHISHOLM,’ 2018.
[iv] ‘Roll of Honour,’ Kiama Independent, Kiama, 1917, p. 2.
[v] Ken Stevenson, ‘PTE Cyril Roy CHISHOLM,’ 2018.
[vi] J.L.K., letter about Chisholm, 17 February 1916.
[vii] J.L.K., letter about Chisholm, 17 February 1916.
[viii] A. Hordern, letter about Chisholm, 21 January 1916.

Cyril Roy CHISHOLM (Service Number 845) began work on the NSW Railways as a shop boy at Goulburn on 29th April, 1914. Hwas still in that position at 31st December that year. He enlisted in the AIF in March 1915. After some training, he left Sydney on HMAT ‘Ceramic’ in June 1915. He went to Gallipoli. On 22nd August he took part in the charge on Hill 60. He was one of a group of Australian soldiers that occupied one of the Turkish trenches. He was presumed killed in a counterattack. However, his body was lost.

In January 1916 a formal Court of Enquiry ruled that it was ‘reasonable to suppose dead’.  Some documentation emerged from the Red Cross which gave his parents some hope that Chisholm was not dead. His brother received a letter purporting to claim that he was alive in a hospital in England, but this were mistaken.

Because his body was never recovered, he is now remembered on the memorial at Lone Pine.

The name of Cyril Roy CHISHOLM does not appear on either the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Roll or the Honour Board. It is hard to find a rationale as to why it should not appear on both.

- based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board