The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (981) Private Francis Edward Dwyer 11th 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (981) Private Francis Edward Dwyer 11th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

981 Private Francis Edward Dwyer 11th Battalion, AIF
KIA 21 June 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 6 October 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Francis Edward Dwyer.

Francis Dwyer was born on 14 October 1875, the second of four children born to Owen and Elizabeth Dwyer in Oberon, New South Wales. By 1900 he had moved to Geraldton, Western Australia, where he was working as a clerk. That April Dwyer enlisted for service in South Africa with the 4th Imperial Bushmen. He embarked with his unit from Fremantle in May, and during his time in South Africa saw plenty of active service, including the battles of Bethlehem, Rhenoster Kop, and Wittebergen. He returned to Australia in July 1901 and was released from service in August.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Dwyer was working as a clerk at Meekatharra. He travelled to Perth and on to Blackboy Hill Camp, where he enlisted in the newly formed 11th Battalion.

Dwyer embarked from Fremantle in November aboard the transport ship Ascanius, and the following day the transport joined the first AIF convoy. The initial days of the voyage were filled with some excitement, especially when HMAS Sydney left her post and steamed off to intercept and destroy the German raider Emden.

Further excitement followed after a stop at Colombo, when Ascanius rammed the Shropshire in the early hours of 21 November when the latter vessel stopped suddenly for what was thought to be a man overboard. The damage to both ships was found to be above the water-line, and both vessels were able to continue their journeys.

The 11th Battalion spent some months training in Egypt, after which they sailed for Lemnos in preparation for the Gallipoli campaign. Dwyer landed amongst the first wave of Australians ashore on Gallipoli in the pre-dawn hours of 25 April. His company came ashore near Ari Burni, and moved quickly inland. In the following weeks the Australian line was consolidated, and in May a large Turkish counter-attack was bloodily repulsed. Dwyer was involved in holding the 11th Battalion’s line at the head of Victoria Gully.

Dwyer was killed in action on 21 June 1915. The manner of his death is unrecorded, but it is likely he was a member of the 11th Battalion’s covering force on the forward slope of Silt Spur as other members of the battalion dug new trenches. The covering force was subjected to Turkish rifle and machine-gun fire, and Dwyer was killed during this time, the only fatal casualty for the battalion that night. He was 41 years old.

He was initially buried in the 11th Battalion Cemetery in Victoria Gully, but was later moved to Brown’s Dip and, in 1923, to his final resting place in the Lone Pine Cemetery.

Dwyer’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 others from 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 Francis Edward Dwyer, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section