Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Painting by Will Longstaff depicting the night counter-attack o Villers Brettoneux that recaptured the town and checked the German advance on Amiens, 24/5 April 1918.

his rare colour photo shows P/O Orme and his crew back at Watton after a successful attack on shipping off the Dutch coast, 18th August 1941, just 10 days before they were lost in this same aircraft V6436 YH-L. P/O Orme can be seen climbing from the cockpit, behind him are two members of his ground crew, next to them wearing his Officers cap is P/O Gunnis, and far right on top of the fuselage is F/O Collins. (L. Gover)

Two 11 Squadron Catalinas over Lake Macquarie in NSW. Rathmines, on the edge of the lake, was a key base and depot for Australia's maritime patrol assets.

An Australian patrol lays up in an anti-tank ditch near the perimeter of the Australian defences around Tobruk. AWM 020779 . This appears to be a posed photo as the men are carrying no visible equipment or ammunition pouches and only their weapons (SMLE .303 rifles and .45 calibre Thompson sub machine guns). The term anti tank ditch seems ambitious as its hard to see that ditch causing any delay to a tank moving at speed.

Discharge Certificate (original) Edward Hewlett, 43 Bn AIF

Members of the Rowell family of Lockleys South Australia, taken in Pretoria South Africa while they were serving there during the Boer War. Rowells Rd a major N/S route through Lockleys is named after this family

Discharge Certificate (original) Edward Hewlett, 43 Bn AIF - obverse

Herbert Kernot's ID discs

The victorious 1913 Waikerie Football team taken after they won the Grand Final against Morgan. Having won it for the third time in succession they 'retired' the trophy as was the practice at the time.

The victorious 1913 Waikerie Football team taken after they won the Grand Final against Morgan. Having won it for the third time in succession they 'retired' the trophy as was the practice at the time.

Lance Bombadier Larry Davenport mans his weapon pit and an M60 Machine Gun the morning following the first attack on FSB Coral.

Lance Bombadier Larry Davenport mans his weapon pit and an M60 Machine Gun the morning following the first attack on FSB Coral.

Larry Davenport FSB Coral 13 May 1968

A CH47 Chinook flies in a payload to the 102 Fd Bty LZ at FSB Coral

Private Paul ANdrew LARGE was a national service conscript from Coolah in Queensland, and part of D Company 6RAR. He was one of the 17 soldiers of D Company killed in action in the course of the Battle of Long Tan.

3RAR Defensive positions at Balmoral. The soldiers are wearing steel helmets and they have a very well prepared fully 'dug in' weapon pit prepared to 'Stage 3' complete with sleeping bays with overhead protection (sandbags) to protect against artillery and mortar splinters.

3RAR’s Regimental Sergeant Major, Vince Murdoch, tends a wounded and blindfolded North Vietnamese soldier at Balmoral.

Some of the Australians involved in the Dams Raid. Most were not to survive the War.

QX10333 Athol 'Ned' Bayly - on right. Middle East, probably mid 1941

A specially modified Lancaster B1 of 617 Squadron overflies the Mohne Dam against which it has just released its 'Upkeep' depth charge bomb. The Mohne Eder and Sorpe dams were all attacked as part of 'Operation Chastise'.

Thomas Baker's Pilots Course. Baker is circled (right) and a colleague Packer is circled left.

During World War II, the airfield at Deniliquin was primarily a training base. From June 1941 until August 1944, 2206 pilots graduated from No 7 Service Flying Training School. As the end of the war neared, a number of operational units were moved to the base to be disbanded.

418913 Flying Officer Norman Jack Bowman

A Consolidated Catalina aircraft (right), with the serial number A24-100 and code number RK-L of 42 Squadron, RAAF, piloted by 401846 Pilot Officer (PO) (later Flying Officer (FO)) Clifford Dent Hull of Hawthorn, Vic. After completing a successful mine laying operation off Macassar (Celebes) Harbour on the night of 23 & 24 October 1944, the starboard engine of this aircraft was damaged by Japanese anti aircraft (AA) fire. Unable to maintain height on his return and with the second engine failing, PO Hull made a forced landing in the open sea south of the South Western Celebes Peninsula. He and his crew spent the next twelve hours on the water uncomfortably close to four Japanese airfields based in Southern Celebes, before a second Catalina (left), OX-U of 43 Squadron, RAAF, arrived to rescue PO Hull and his crew. A rubber dingy is visible transferring the downed crew to the rescue aircraft. A United States B24 Liberator bomber located the downed Catalina and guided the rescue Catalina in. The B24 continued to circle overhead providing protection. After the disabled Catalina had been sunk by machine gun fire, the rescue Catalina took off and returned safely to Darwin. This operation was one of the epic sea rescues of the Second World War, entailing a round trip of 1800 miles mainly through Japanese held territory. The rescue crew were: 415632 FO (later Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt, DFC)), Armand Andre Etienne (Captain), of West Perth, WA; 408409 FO (later Flt Lt), Ian McCallister Robson of Sandy Bay, Tas; 428809 Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) (later Warrant Officer (WO)), John Joseph Sweeney (Navigator), of Newcastle, NSW, (visible standing on the wing of the rescue aircraft); 428832 Flt Sgt (later WO), Raymond Victor Tumeth of Haberfield, NSW; 428360 Flt Sgt (later WO), Derek Fanshawe Robertson of Camberwell, Vic; 12912 Sergeant (Sgt) (later PO), Robert Richard Tingman of Brighton, Vic; 12223 Sgt (later Flt Sgt), Albert Leslie Warton of Sydney, NSW; A2398 Sgt, Thomas Roy Elphick of Bondi, NSW; 33642 Corporal, James Francis Burgess Oliver of Glen Innes of NSW.

Roadsign indicating the Millencourt Communal Cemetery Extension

Contalmaison Chateau Cemetery

Captain T H Rowell 2nd SA Contingent

A diagram of the Barrage Plan for the Australian Corps advance. The barrage was fired on preset timings without the benefit of radio communications so advancing troops had to be careful not to get too close to, or be left behind by the line of the creeping barrage. The level of complexity of such a plan epitomises the sophistication of Artillery by this stage of the war. Each battery of guns would be using different firing data on a relentless schedule from their many and varied locations in order to achieve this effect on the ground.

Possibly one of the most recognised photos of the AIF on the Western Front. Lieutenant Rupert Frederick Arding Downes MC addresses his Platoon from B Company, 29th Battalion on 8 August 1918 during a rest before the advance onto Harbonnieres, the battalion's second objective. They are near the villages of Warfusee and Lamotte, France. The background of the photograph is obscured by the smoke of heavy shellfire. Many of the men pictured were killed in action or died of wounds or disease in the days and weeks after the photograph was taken, being amongst the last Australian deaths during the First World War. Each man has a story. Pte Towers (fourth from right), for example, was a farm labourer of Cootamundra, NSW, who later transferred to the 32nd Battalion. He was admitted to the Abbeville Hospital on 9 November 1918 suffering broncho-pneumonia where he died on 11 November 1918.

Superimposed on the Barrage Plan this is the counter battery fire plan and reaches in front of the creeping barrage rolling towards the German rear areas in order to neutralise the 504 guns positions identified by British Artillery Intelligence.

John Carr Ewen's medal set; L-R Miitary Cross, Distinguijhsed Conduct Medal, Military Medal, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Pacific Star, British Service Medal 1939-45, Australian Service Medal 1939-45

Flying from Mareeba Qld 18 March 1944 CAC Boomerang of No. 5 Squadron RAAF in "Finger Four" formation

The 54th Siege Battery in action in support of the Third Ypres campaign in September 1917. The guns are 8 inch howitzers, the shells for which have been shipped in by light rail right to the gun position. This is one of a series of photographs taken by Official War Photographer Frank Hurley.

S212712 Warrant Officer CLass 2 George Fenner REEVES. Approx date taken, as enrolled in WW2, with rank of Warrant Officer 2nd Class. Refer service record S212712

Grave marker of eleven members of the 21st Battalion who were all killed in action at Mont St Quentin, France on 1 September 1918 and buried in a mass grave. Listed on the plaque are: 6817 Sergeant Colin Edward Hunt from Surrey Hills, Victoria; 2116 Lance Corporal (L Cpl) Albert Henry Blackmore, MM from North Maldon, Victoria; 5413 L Cpl Gustaf William Oscar Staaf from Echuca, Victoria; 6833 Private (Pte) Albert Edwin Kelly from Ballarat, Victoria; 6874 Pte Francis William Roberts from Upper Hawthorn, Victoria; 6380 Pte Alfred Roy Smerdon, from Murrayville, Victoria; 6178 Pte William Hugh Thorburn from Newtown, NSW; 664A Pte Edwin Werrett Thompson from Colac, Victoria; 6747 Pte William Francis Dowell from Thornbury, Victoria; 6781 Pte David George Gregory Chandler from North Williamstown, Victoria; and 6398 Pte Alexander Walker from Rochester, Victoria. The above listed were all later moved to individual graves in the Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, France.

DCM, MM, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Medal Set of Major A Steele (left to right): Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal (without oak leaf cluster which symbolises MID.) (The Distinguished Service Order is also part of the medal set as per other image.) The fact that Major Steele was awarded both a Distinguished Conduct Medal and a Distinguished Service Order makes his medal set rare as this combination was very rarely achieved by troops in the AIF.

Common Grave 294 - Lancaster ME -755 'AR-Z'

Rupert Ellsmore MC. Military Cross award.

L-R Military Cross, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal Victory Medal with MiD clasp

Gunner Robert Bamblett beside an 18 pounder field gun of the 12th Field Artillery Brigade, probably on the Salisbury Plain in England prior to deploying to France

Flight Sergeant Roy Wamsleys grave, Blacon Cemetery, Chester, United Kingdom

Mareeba, Qld. 1944-03-15. An Australian-built CAC Boomerang fighter aircraft coded BF-S (serial no. A46-126) nicknamed "Sinbad II" of No. 5 (Tactical Reconnaissance) Squadron RAAF, piloted by 402769 Flight Lieutenant A. W. B. Clare of Newcastle, NSW.

Percy Geason's grave at Pheasant Wood cemetery

Harold George Woodman's grave Pheasant Wood

A memorial to the 460 Squadron crew lost on 13th June 1943

GRaves of the crew of 460 Squadron Lancaster lost here 13th June 1943

Ohlstrom_Diary_1915-1916_compressed.pdf