Next of Kin plaque: Sergeant Leslie John Birkett, 12th Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'LESLIE JOHN BIRKETT'.

Born in Lefroy, Tasmania, 21 year old Leslie John Birkett was employed as a letter carrier at the Hobart General Post Office, and had recently married, when he enlisted in the AIF on 20 August 1914. He had previously served as a corporal in the Citizens Military Force in the 93rd Regiment.
Birkett was appointed a sergeant, service number 376, in the 12th Battalion and left Hobart for overseas service aboard HMAT A2 Geelong on 20 October. The battalion was one of the first to land at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Three days later Birkett was wounded in the knee. He rejoined his unit at the end of May. Birkett was wounded again on 18 October, receiving a shrapnel wound to the neck. He was evacuated to Malta for medical treatment, but had returned to Egypt by the end of the year.
In March 1916 the 12th Battalion moved to France for service on the Western Front. Birkett survived the battle of Pozieres and was later posted to the battalion's headquarters as pioneer sergeant. He was killed behind the lines at Bullecourt on the night of 6 May 1917. According to the battalion's chaplain, Captain W K Douglas, who was himself wounded in the same incident, Birkett had been returning the battalion's headquarters when a salvo of five shells landed near both men. Birkett was struck in the back of the head by a shell fragment and died almost immediately. Although he was buried by men of another unit near the intersection of a road and railway, his body could not be located after the war. His name is commemorated on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial.
Birkett's personal effects and medals were sent to his widow, Ella Gertrude Birkett. By the time this commemorative plaque was issued to her, in August 1922, she had remarried a man named Hogan. Birkett's father, John, wrote 'he was my only son... my only hope in life', when he pleaded with authorities, without success, to let him have at least one object in his son's memory.