The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (725) Private Timothy Richard Bambery, 15th 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 Nicholas Schmidt, the story for this day was on (725) Private Timothy Richard Bambery, 15th Battalion, First World War.

725 Private Timothy Richard Bambery, 15th Battalion
KIA 27 April 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 9 December 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Timothy Richard Bambery, killed in action on Gallipoli in the First World War.

Timothy Bambery was born at Warwick in Queensland in the 1880s, the eldest of nine children to Timothy and Margaret Bambery. The family lived at Murwillumbah and the Richmond River before settling at Tweed Heads in New South Wales. They owned and ran a popular kiosk at The Caves on Fingal Headland, and both Timothy and his brother George went to Murwillumbah Public School. In later life, Timothy worked as an engine driver at the Cudgen Sugar Mill and also worked his own land at Midginbil. He was described as “a favourite with all who knew him”.

Timothy Bambery and his brother George enlisted together at Murwillumbah in October 1914 and, as was the case with men from the Northern Rivers district in New South Wales, they trained at Enoggera near Brisbane. The brothers were part of the original establishment of the 15th Battalion, three-quarters of which was recruited from Queensland and the rest from Tasmania. The battalion was united in Melbourne before embarking for Europe in December 1914. No sooner had they left Australia, however, than the troopships were diverted to Egypt to defend British interests against the Ottoman Turks. After their arrival in February 1915 the Bambery brothers spent the following weeks training at Mena Camp beneath the pyramids outside Cairo.

On 25 April 1915 the 15th Battalion was part of a combined Australian and New Zealand landing force that came ashore on the Gallipoli peninsula. The intention of the landing was to gain control of the Dardanelles straits and force Turkey out of the war.

The 15th Battalion did not land until 9 pm, several hours after the first wave of Anzacs had come ashore, which meant that the fighting by that stage of the landing was mainly taking place in the precipitous ridges above the beach.

Troops from the 15th Battalion were immediately sent into action; they were split up into companies and sent to reinforce other Australian units engaged with the Turks on second ridge. It is believed the Bambery brothers were sent to 400 Plateau, in the region of Lone Pine, which is where both were killed in the fighting over the following days. Owing to the confusion of the fighting, historical documents do not tell us how the two men were killed, but we know it was in the region where the memorial to the missing at Lone Pine now stands. Their remains were never recovered, and their names are recorded on that monument.

The names of George and Timothy Bambery are listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Timothy Richard Bambery and his brother Private George Sweeten Bambery, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of the nation.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section