The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Private Harold Piper, 33rd 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on Private Harold Piper, 33rd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Private Harold Piper, 33rd Battalion, AIF
DOD 28 March 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 3 December 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Harold Piper.

Harold Piper was born in 1888 to John and Susan Piper in Goondiwindi, Queensland. His mother had come to Australia from England some three years before and married John Piper. She was deeply religious and taught in Methodist Sunday Schools from an early age. The growing family lived at Wyong, Michelago, Tulloma, and Werris Creek before settling on land at Moore Creek near Tamworth. Harold Piper went on to become a farmer in the local district, and was engaged to Vera Prior, who lived in Tamworth.

Piper enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 14 February 1916. He was posted to the 33rd Battalion and began training in Armidale Camp. From there he went to the Rutherford Camp, but fell ill within a few days of arriving. Suffering from measles and pneumonia, Piper spent a few days in hospital before dying of his illnesses on 28 March 1916. He was 27 years old.

Piper was buried at the Rutherford Methodist Cemetery with full military honours. The procession was headed by a firing party, with arms reversed, and several of Piper’s mates from the 33rd Battalion marched with them. Unlike many whose loved ones served and died during the war, his parents were able to attend his funeral.

On 26 March 1920 the surviving Piper family members placed the following words in the local newspaper in memory of their son and brother:

Let none forget how vast the debt
We owe to those who died.

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 Harold Piper, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section