The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4429) Private Roy Edward Arbon, 57th Battalion, 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 , the story for this day was on (4429) Private Roy Edward Arbon, 57th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

4429 Private Roy Edward Arbon, 57th Battalion, AIF
DOW 19 July 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 23 September 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Roy Edward Arbon.

Roy Arbon was born in 1894 to Edward and Mary Arbon of Bendigo, Victoria. He grew up in the district, attending Marist Brothers College in Bendigo, and went on to become a bootmaker and salesman. He was well known in Bendigo sporting circles and played Australian Rules Football for the Albion Imps.

Arbon left his position working for Mr Collier, the Bendigo boot merchant, in July 1915 to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force. He went into Epsom Camp to undertake his preliminary military training. In November 1915, as his training was drawing to a close, Arbon was one of nine passengers in a motor car coming back to camp from a trip into Bendigo. The driver of the car got a wheel stuck in a culvert at the side of the road, and attempted to turn right and pull the car out. Instead, the car overturned, throwing all of the occupants out, seriously injuring two of them. Private Arbon was lucky to have suffered only cuts and abrasions in the accident, while others received fractures and spinal injuries.

Private Arbon left Australia for overseas service in January 1916 on board the troopship Themistocles. He left with a group of reinforcements to the 7th Battalion, but transferred to the 57th Battalion after arriving in Egypt in March. He continued training in Egypt with the rest of the AIF until the middle of the year, arriving in France to fight on the Western Front in late June 1916.

Within days of arriving in France the 57th Battalion took over a quiet sector of the front line near Estaires. Private Arbon at this time was serving as a stretcher-bearer to the battalion. In late July, no more than six weeks after Private Arbon arrived in France, his family received a cable to say that he was dead. His death was reported in the local newspapers with a note to say that no particulars of the manner of his death were known.

The clipping was sent to some soldiers from Bendigo serving in France. Corporal Rodgers and Private Williams of the 57th Battalion saw the notice and wrote to the newspaper:

it was while taking a wounded comrade to the dressing station that [Arbon] sustained his injuries. His mate was killed outright, and he himself was wounded in eight different places. This happened during one of the severest bombardments that we have yet had. Stretcher-bearing is one of the toughest jobs in the line, but whenever wanted, Private Arbon was always ready and waiting to do his best.

Arbon had in fact been wounded in the spine, and was evacuated from the battlefield to Bagthorpe Military Hospital in England. He died at 11.30 pm on 19 July 1916. There were 38 Australian patients in the hospital able to attend Private Arbon’s funeral, along with a number of Australian nurses.

In Australia Roy’s parents and two brothers, Henry and Leo, put a memorial notice in the paper. It read:

In a soldier’s grave he is sleeping
One of earth’s dearest and best.
Our Hero.

Today Private Roy Arbon lies in the Nottingham General Cemetery under the simple epitaph, “R.I.P.” He was 24 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Roy Edward Arbon, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section