Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Horace Lionel BILLING was born at Mount Gambier on 31 December 1891. He was enrolled at Mount Gambier High School on 30 May 1910 by his mother Clara Eleanor Billing of North Terrace, Mount Gambier. He left the school on 24 September 1910. In reporting on the second annual Mount Gambier High School Speech Day in December 1910 the Border Watch made the following observation:

A special gold medal was awarded to Horace Billing, son of Mrs A. Billing, who passed the University Primary Examination after only three months study. The winner was absent in Adelaide, and his name was not mentioned at the speech day. The medal was given by the pupils and some other friends.

After leaving school he secured a number of positions as an assistant teacher with the South Australian Education Department including Hummock’s Hill (Whyalla) in 1911,304 Thebarton in 1914,305 and Unley in 1915.306 He appeared in a list of teachers at a Physical Culture Camp run by the Defence Department at Glenelg who had qualified to teach physical training, marching drill, miniature rifle shooting, first aid, swimming, running and games.

He enlisted in Adelaide on 6 March 1916 (24, school teacher, single, Baptist) naming his mother, Mrs Billing of Malvern, South Australia, as his next of kin. He embarked from Adelaide on the ‘Port Melbourne’ on 23 October 1916, disembarked at Devonport in England on 28 December and was attached to the 13th Training Battalion. He attended an NCO’s school in February 1917.

He was sent overseas to France on 9 May 1917 and joined the 50th Battalion on 13 May, being promoted to Lance Corporal on 24 May, took part in the Battle of Messines from 7 to 12 June, and was then promoted to Corporal on 11 July 1917, taking part in the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September before being selected to attend Officers’ Cadet Battalion in October 1917. He returned to England to complete the course, and was promoted to Lieutenant on 2 February 1918. He returned to France on 6 April and re-joined the 50th Battalion on 14 April but was wounded (shrapnel wound skull) on 24 April 1918 during the initial stages of the counter attack which recaptured Villers Bretonneux from the Germans. He returned to his unit on 12 June, was granted leave to England from 17 September to 2 October and attended the Australian Gas School from 13 to 19 October. As the war had ended he was granted leave to Rouen between 25 December 1918 and 27 January 1919 and was then given leave to complete courses in French at the Sorbonne in Paris and Italian at the University of Rome which was followed by an opportunity to visit various schools in Scotland. He left England for return to Australia on the ‘Konigen Luise’, disembarked on 2 February 1920 and was discharged on 4 April.

Published in Ours: the origins and early years of Mount Gambier High School and Old Scholars who served in the Great European War by Graeme Roulstone

Son of Alfred BILLING and Clara Eleanor nee CARR