The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1536) Private Robert Bond Middleton, 23rd Battalion, First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (1536) Private Robert Bond Middleton, 23rd Battalion, First World War.

1536 Private Robert Bond Middleton, 23rd Battalion
KIA 28 July 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 2 August 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Robert Bond Middleton, who was killed in France in the First World War.

Robert Middleton was born in 1891, one of seven children of Robert and Ellen Middleton of Richmond, Victoria. After his schooling at the Richmond Central State School, Robert trained as a saddler with Holmes and Butterworth, a wholesale saddle and harness manufacturer in Melbourne, and was an active member of the Melbourne Rifle Club. He enlisted in the AIF in March 1915, and after a period of training at Broadmeadows Camp left Australia in May with reinforcements for the newly raised 23rd Battalion.

Robert Middleton landed at Anzac Cove on Gallipoli in early September, having avoided the British offensives on the peninsula by several weeks. Nonetheless, Robert’s battalion was put into one of the most dangerous parts of the Anzac positions on Gallipoli – the captured Turkish trenches at Lone Pine. Here the fighting was so intense and exhausting that the battalions had to be relieved from the position every day. Despite this, Robert managed to survive until November, when he was evacuated to Egypt with dysentery. Robert rejoined the battalion in February 1916 as it prepared to redeploy to the fighting in France. He was among the first Australian troops to arrive on the Western Front, and spent the first few weeks in the relatively quiet sector around the town of Armentières.

In July the 23rd Battalion played a pivotal role in Australia’s first major campaign on the Western Front. As part of a renewed attempt by the Australians to secure the high ground near the village of Pozières, battalions of the 2nd Division attacked a heavily defended German position on the outskirts of the village. Over 2,000 men were reported killed, missing, or wounded in the assault, including over 400 men from the 23rd Battalion. One of the battalion’s killed was Private Robert Middleton, whose remains were never recovered from the battlefield. He is among the 10,700 Australians killed in France with no known grave, and whose names are recorded on the Australian National Memorial to the Missing at Villers-Bretonneux.

Robert Middleton’s name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. There is no photograph in the Memorial’s collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Robert Bond Middleton, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.