The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (824) Private Arthur Albert Bramley, 41st 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (824) Private Arthur Albert Bramley, 41st Battalion, AIF, First World War.

824 Private Arthur Albert Bramley, 41st Battalion, AIF
KIA 12 August 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Arthur Albert Bramley.

Arthur Bramley was born in 1893 in Bunnan, near Scone in New South Wales, the youngest of three sons born to John and Harriet Bramley. When he was two years old, Arthur’s mother Harriet passed away. His father later remarried, and Arthur lived with his father, step-mother, two brothers, and eventually five half-brothers and sisters. He attended the local school at Bunnan and later worked as a labourer. The family briefly lived in Marysborough in Queensland, but by the time of Arthur’s enlistment had returned to New South Wales, where they lived at Quirindi, about 50 kilometres north of Scone.

Arthur enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1916, and soon joined the 41st Battalion. Raised in Brisbane, the battalion was largely recruited from Queensland and northern New South Wales. Arthur spent two months training in Australia before embarking for England, where he continued to train and acclimatise to the European conditions. Arthur and the 41st Battalion arrived in France on 25 November 1916, and entered the front line for the first time on Christmas Eve. The terrible conditions of the winter of 1916 and 1917 took their toll on the men, and Arthur was briefly hospitalised in January with the mumps. When he returned to fighting duties, he spent a short period of time working with the 2nd Australian Tunneling Company, digging trenches and bunkers to protect troops on the front line.

He returned to the 41st Battalion in February 1917 and spent the next eight months enduring the hardships and drudgery of trench warfare. The 41st spent their time either manning front line trenches, enduring intermitent enemy artillery and machine gun fire, or resting and training behind the front.
On 7 June the battalion played a supporting role in the battle of Messines in Belgium, an operation that cost nearly 6,800 Australian casualties. Arthur’s brother John, who was serving in the 47th Battalion, would also have taken part in this battle, but was recovering in hospital from illness at the time. Later that month Arthur and the 41st Battalion fought to establish a new front line in an exposed position west of Warneton. In atrocious conditions, the troops worked night and day under constant, heavy high explosive artillery fire. This notorious action became known to the men of the battalion as “the 18 days”.

In early October they participated in fighting at Broodseinde, part of the Third Battle of Ypres. In rainy conditions, the 41st Battalion marched through the night of 3/4 October to reach their starting position, and while doing so came under intermittent German artillery fire. They arrived at their starting point at 5 am, and waited in the steady rain and enemy artillery fire for over an hour before advancing behind a covering British artillery bombardment. Australian forces eventually gained all of their objectives, but at the cost of 6,500 casualties.

Arthur and the 41st Battalion spent the next five months rotating between front line duties and rest in the Flanders region of Belgium. In March 1918 they were rushed south into the Somme region to defend Amiens from a new German offensive. They successfully defended against the German attack, and then in August took part in the Allied counter offensive on German lines. In the days following the beginning of the Allied offensive, the 41st Battalion was consolidating gains and capturing new lines near Mericourt.

The day before the men of the battalion were due for rotation away from the front for rest, they came under heavy German high-explosive artillery fire and sustained heavy casualties. Arthur was killed instantly amidst the chaos of the German bombardment. He was 25 years old.

He now lies in the Heath Cemetery, France, where 1,860 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated. A newspaper report announcing the sad news of his death stated that he was “favourably known on the western side of our district, and his passing away in defence of his Empire will be received with feelings of deep regret”.

Private Arthur Albert Bramley 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 Arthur Albert Bramley, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section