Next of kin plaque : Private Thomas Matthew Bartlett, 23rd Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'THOMAS MATTHEW BARTLETT'.

Born in Grantville, Victoria, Thomas Matthew Bartlett was employed as a grocer in Malvern in Melbourne when he enlisted in the AIF on 26 July 1915. After initial training he was appointed a private (service number 3770) to the 9th Reinforcements to the 23rd Battalion. He left Melbourne for overseas service on 8 February 1916, aboard HMAT A69 Warilda.

Bartlett joined his battalion in France on 16 May. On 28 July, during the battle of Pozieres, he received a gunshot wound to the head. He was treated by the 1st Field Ambulance, then taken by the 6th Motor Ambulance Convoy to the 44th (British) Casualty Clearing Station, and on by ambulance train to the 23rd (British) General Hospital at Etaples. A month later he was taken by hospital ship to England and sent to the Lakenham Military Hospital in Norwich. Bartlett was discharged from hospital on 17 October.

After leave and further training in England Bartlett rejoined his battalion in France on 27 April 1917. Eight days later he was killed during the Second Battle of Bullecourt. He was twenty-three. His body was not recovered for burial and his name is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.

This commemorative plaque was sent his father, Robert Matthew Bartlett, in 1923.