Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles Packer was born in West Ham, London and emigrated to Australia with his parents when he was 18. At the time of his enlistment on 4th September 1915 Charles was 22 years old. The family lived at Broadwater Road, Mount Gravatt.

Charles was drafted into the 13th reinforcements for the 15th Battalion and left Brisbane on the 3rd January 1916. He arrived in Egypt in February 1916 and was then transferred to the newly created 47th Battalion on 1st April. The 47th Battalion remained in Egypt for garrison duties after the remainder of the new AIF battalions had departed for the western front. It was not until June 1916 that the 47th arrived in Marseilles, under somewhat of a cloud due to excessive alcohol being consumed by the officers during the crossing. The battalion suffered a similar lack of discipline when the other ranks received their first pay in France. The quiet days spent in the northern sector of the front came to an end when the battalion was shifted south to the Somme at the beginning of August 1916.

The Somme campaign had begun in July but in spite of terrible losses the advance had stalled. The 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions were thrown into the battle at Pozieres and were severely mauled by intense artillery, but eventually gained the village and the trench lines in front of the highest part of the ridge, the windmill.

It was now the turn of the 4th Division (of which the 47th was a part) to continue the offensive towards a ruined farm which the Germans had heavily fortified by extending the cellars and creating a line of three defensive trenches. The farm was depicted on the maps as “La Ferme du Mouquet” but the Australians referred to it as “Moo Cow Farm” or “Mucky Farm.”

The assault on the farm was conducted on an ever narrowing front that was enfiladed by German artillery and machine guns on three sides. 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. The 47th was finally withdrawn from the battle for Mouquet Farm without the objective being reached, at considerable cost. The 4th Division had sustained 4650 casualties, one of which was Charles Packer; Killed in Action on 1st September 1916.

The military records indicate that he was buried in a grave with a wooden marker but this ground would continue to be shelled for several weeks before the farm was finally taken and all trace of the grave and the marker were lost.

When the Australian National War memorial was constructed twenty years later at Villers Bretonneux, the names of over 10,000 Australians who had lost their lives in France; and who have no known grave, were inscribed on panels around the walls of the memorial. Charles Packer is one of them.