The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1708) Private Robert McFarlane, 54th 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (1708) Private Robert McFarlane, 54th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1708 Private Robert McFarlane, 54th Battalion, AIF
KIA 26 September 1917

Story delivered 17 June 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Robert Alexander Malcolm McFarlane.

Robert McFarlane was born in 1895, one of six children of Robert and Eliza McFarlane of Geurie in central-west New South Wales. Known as “Bob” to his family and friends, he attended the local public school before working as a labourer, and later, a telegraphist in the Geurie post office.

McFarlane enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1916, and after a period of training at nearby Dubbo, embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the newly-raised 54th Battalion. After further training in Egypt, he sailed for France in July 1916. Here he joined the battalion in the relatively quiet “nursery sector” near the town of Armentieres as it recovered from suffering heavy casualties during the bitter fighting at Fromelles. Not long afterwards, Bob was hospitalised with a severe case of tonsillitis. When he recovered, he was transferred to the 1st Battalion and spent several weeks in the line on the Somme near the village of Flers, before rejoining the 54th Battalion, only to be hospitalised with a case of pleurisy which necessitated his evacuation to England for a lengthy period of rest and recovery.

McFarlane returned to France in July 1917, as the focus of British operations shifted north in to Belgium in preparation for a major offensive that sought to break out of the so-called Ypres Salient and advance towards the high ground beyond the village of Passchendaele. Beginning on 20 September 1917, the Australians carried out a number of highly successful operations that succeeded in gaining ground from the Germans in the area.

The 5th Division, of which the 54th Battalion was part, made a successful attack on the German stronghold of Polygon Wood on 26 September 1917. Advancing behind a “creeping barrage” – a rolling curtain of shrapnel and high explosive provided by the artillery – the Australian infantry succeeded in overcoming German pillboxes and capturing their objectives.

Victory, however, came at a price, with the Australians losing over 3,000 men in the fighting that day. Among the 24 men of the 54th Battalion killed at Polygon Wood was Robert McFarlane, who was just 21 years old. He was hastily buried on the Polygon Wood battlefield and afterwards reinterred the nearby cemetery at Hooge. A small epitaph by his grieving parents appears on his headstone, which reads: “A good dear son”.

Robert McFarlane is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

His is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Robert Alexander Malcolm McFarlane, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section