Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Described as:   Single; 5’ 61/4” tall; Fair complexion; blue eyes; auburn hair; Roman Catholic.

Next of kin:

Father  Mr Joseph Nottage Scott, Broken Hill South, New South Wales

Mother Mrs Ellen (nee McGrath) Hales, Piper Street (off South Street) Broken Hill South, New South Wales

Next of Kin in service:  Brothers - Reginald John and Walter Ernest.

Age at embarkation     23yrs  3mths

Unit name 10th Battalion, 13th Reinforcement

AWM Embarkation Roll number 23/27/4

29 Feb 1916  allotted and proceeded to join 50^th Battalion, chosen for his ‘strength’. Place – Zeiuton

5 Feb 1916   proceeded to join B.E.F  -  Place Alexandria

12 June 1916  disembarked at  -  Place Marseilles

1 Feb 1917  appointed  Lance Corporal

2 Apr 1917  Killed in Action

The 50th Battalion was raised in Egypt on 26 February 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF. Approximately half of its recruits were veterans from the 10th Battalion, and the other half, fresh reinforcements from Australia. Reflecting the composition of the 10th, the 50th was predominantly composed of men from South Australia. The battalion became part of the 13th Brigade of the 4th Australian Division and was dubbed “Hurcombe’s Hungry Half Hundred”, after its first CO, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Hurcombe.

After arriving in France on 11 June 1916, the 50th fought in its first major battle at Mouquet Farm between 13 and 15 August and suffered heavily. It took part in another assault launched there on 3 September. The battalion saw out the rest of the year alternating between front-line duty, and training and labouring behind the line. This routine continued through the bleak winter of 1916-17.

Early in 1917, the battalion participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, and attacked at Noreuil on 2 April.

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens.

The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan - 28 May 2014