Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John Francis KIRBY #5242 49th Battalion

John Kirby was born at Irvinebank near Herberton on the Atherton Tableland on 29th January 1898. His father reported that John attended Irvinebank State School.

John presented himself for enlistment in Cairns on 29th December 1915. He claimed to be 18 years and 11 months old, even though he would not turn 18 for another month. He came with a letter written by his sister which his father, Patrick, signed giving permission for John to join the Expeditionary Force. The note also advised that John’s mother had died at Irvinebank in 1904. His attestation papers show his occupation as bootmaker although curiously there is no mention of John serving an apprenticeship. John named his father of Fishery Creek as his next of kin.

It probably took John up to two weeks to make his way from Cairns to the training camp at Enoggera as there was no through coastal rail link at that time. It is more likely that he and a number of other recruits under the control of a temporary NCO travelled by coastal steamer. Upon arrival at Enoggera, John was allotted as a reinforcement for the 9th Battalion. On 31st march 1916, the 17th reinforcements for the 9th Battalion left Sydney on the “Star of Victoria” bound for Egypt. The embarkation roll shows that John had not allocated any of his daily pay of 5 shillings to his family or a bank account; which was highly unusual for the time.

The reinforcements landed at Port Said on 5th May and marched into camp at Tel el Kabir on the Suez Canal. Gallipoli veterans from the 9th Battalion were divided into two core groupings which combined with the large number of new reinforcements like John created two battalions; the 9th and the 49th. John formally transferred to the new battalion, the 49th, on 23rd May. In June, the 49th boarded transports and landed in Marseilles.

Relatively new reinforcements such as John were redirected to the divisional base depot for further training before being sent to the front. John and 27 other reinforcements rejoined the 49th while the battalion was resting in the rear areas behind Pozieres on 25th August.

Pozieres and the nearby Mouquet Farm occupied a ridge on the northern bank of the Somme that presented a particularly difficult obstacle to the Australian troops. The village of Pozieres was captured in late July 1916 and the defences above the village on the crest of the ridge were finally taken at great cost by the middle of August. Attention then turned to the ruins of a farm less than two kilometres from Pozieres which appeared on maps as Ferm de Mouquet. The farm buildings had long ago been destroyed but the large cellars and storage spaces had been extended by the German defenders presenting a difficult proposition to the attackers.


The 49th Battalion was tasked with mounting an attack on the night of 4th and 5th September. The assault of the farm had to be conducted on an ever decreasing front that was so narrow that only one company at a time could assemble at the jumping off tapes. The whole approach was enfiladed by German artillery and machine guns. The ground was so churned up that advancing troops could not recognise a trench line when they reached it. Attempts to dig new trenches were unsuccessful due to the loose ground caving in. When the 49th was relieved by a Canadian unit; without having captured the objective, a roll call revealed that the battalion had suffered 406 casualties Killed, Wounded and Missing. One of those listed as missing was John Francis.

When John’s family were advised that he was missing his sister Annie, who was a teacher at Bibhoora State School outside Mareeba instigated enquiries with the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Service. Unfortunately, John had only been with the 49th less than two weeks and very few men knew him well. The only creditable statement was to the effect that given the weight of the artillery barrages, there was very little likelihood that any person listed as missing would have survived.

Pozieres and Mouquet Farm had a long lasting effect both upon the three Australian divisions that took part but also among the Australian community. Over 23,000 casualties occurred during those three months in 1916.

Remarkably, a party of 3rd Division Cavalry located the remains of John Francis 45 days after he was listed as missing in the vicinity of Theipval. It is unclear what happened next as there was no record of an exhumation or burial. John was listed as Killed in Action but with no known grave.

In 1920, John’s father Patrick moved to Woody Point and he signed for John’s service medals and memorial plaque. In 1938, in a belated recognition of the almost 11,000 Australians who perished in France and have no known grave, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth dedicated the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. John Kirby’s name in included on the sandstone plaques which form three sides of the Memorial.