The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (328) Trooper Arthur Michael Creagh Geoghegan, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, AIF, 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (328) Trooper Arthur Michael Creagh Geoghegan, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, AIF, First World War.

328 Trooper Arthur Michael Creagh Geoghegan, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, AIF
KIA 15 September 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 14 September 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Arthur Michael Creagh Geoghegan.

Arthur Geoghegan was born on 10 October 1885 in Mackay, Queensland, the only son of Dr Francis Meagher and Rose Bawden Geoghegan. The family moved to Gympie when Arthur was still young, and he attended the local private grammar school. After leaving school he found work as an assistant forest ranger with Isis Forestry.

Arthur also served with his local Militia unit, the 13th Australian Light Horse. Following the outbreak of the First World War Arthur went to his local recruiting office at Gympie and enlisted on 24 August 1914, joining the newly formed 2nd Light Horse Regiment.

He embarked with his unit from Brisbane aboard the transport ship Star of England in September, arriving in Egypt three months later. Following the landings on Gallipoli in April the men of the light horse were sent to the peninsula as infantry to assist in bolstering the hard-won Australian positions.

The 2nd Light Horse Regiment landed at Anzac Cove in mid-May and moved up to positions behind Quinn’s Post. Its men relieved the 15th Battalion in the front lines the following day, whereupon they were quickly introduced to the war. The constant bomb fights between the Turks and the Australians caused a continuous stream of casualties. The majority of the 2nd Light Horse Regiment, including Geoghegan’s B Squadron, was relieved from the front line a few days later.

The regiment then went into reserve positions in Monash Gully. On 22 May Geoghegan was wounded. He was evacuated to Egypt and spent several months recovering from his wounds. He returned to Gallipoli on 1 August and took part in his regiment’s assault on Quinn’s Post in support of the major attack at Lone Pine. Three days later the regiment was sent to garrison Pope’s Post, and there it remained for the rest of the month.

In September the 2nd Light Horse went into reserve near the Old Number 3 Outpost. Over the next two weeks its men were engaged in improving second-line defensive and communications trenches.

On 15 September the regiment’s war diarist recorded that the men were digging communication trenches near the outpost when a man was killed. That man was Trooper Arthur Geoghegan. The manner of his death was not recorded.

His body was laid to rest in Embarkation Pier Cemetery, and the unit’s chaplain officiated at the ceremony.

Geoghegan’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.
This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Trooper Arthur Michael Creagh Geoghegan, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section