The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain Andrew Percival Rowan, 10th Light Horse Regiment, 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 Captain Andrew Percival Rowan, 10th Light Horse Regiment, First World War.

Captain Andrew Percival Rowan, 10th Light Horse Regiment
KIA: 7 August 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Andrew Percival Rowan.

Andrew Rowan was born on the 3rd of March 1876 in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, the son of Andrew and Margaret Rowan.

He attended Queens College and Melbourne Grammar School before joining his father to work as a wine merchant.

In early February 1901 Rowan was granted a commission as a lieutenant in the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles, bound for the Boer War.

After arriving in South Africa the contingent was sent to the Transvaal, suffering their first losses in an engagement at Rhenoster Kop in May. The unit went on to serve in the Orange River and Cape colonies before returning to Australia in April 1902

In 1903, veterans of the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles, still bitter about their treatment by British officers, funded a memorial to “their fallen comrades in South Africa” which was constructed in 1904 opposite Victoria Barracks on St Kilda Road.

Rowan served in the Victorian Field Artillery from 1903 to 1910 when he transferred to the reserve of officers. He then travelled to Western Australia where he worked as a grazier at Murgarrin.

When the First World War began, Rowan applied for a commission and on 30 November 1914 he was appointed as a lieutenant the newly-raised 10th Light Horse Regiment.

He embarked from Fremantle with his unit aboard the transport ship Surada on 17 February 1915 bound for Egypt. After some initial training, the light horsemen were told they were to be sent to Gallipoli to serve as infantry, due to the heavy casualties suffered by the Australians during the landing and subsequent fighting there.

The 10th Light Horse Regiment arrived on Gallipoli on 20 May, and was sent to Quinn’s Post. Rowan was slightly wounded on two separate occasions, but remained on duty. Promoted to temporary captain, he was among the 600 Australians to fight at the Nek in August 1915. As the fighting on Gallipoli had descended into a stalemate, Allied forces launched a major offensive designed to take control of the high ground to the north and inland of Anzac Cove. It was believed that this would allow Allied troops to move across the peninsula, cutting Turkish forces in half. A series of feints were organised to distract and divert the Turkish troops from the main attack. The charge at the Nek – the narrow bridge of land that stretched between Russell’s Top and Baby 700 across Monash Valley – was one such planned distraction.

In the early hours of 7 August the men of the 10th Light Horse Regiment waited for the artillery bombardment intended to neutralise the Turkish machine-guns opposite. At 4 am a naval destroyer opened fire on the Nek, but although it fired for half an hour, it had little effect on the Turks.

The bombardment ended seven minutes early and the Ottoman troops, knowing an attack was coming, had time to man their largely undamaged trenches and set up and test fire their machine-guns.

The attack began at 4.30 am when the first wave of the 8th Light Horse went over the top. The 10th Light Horse Regiment’s war diary records that “almost immediately… the first line of ours had left our trenches, enemy rifle and machine gun fire opened on our parapets.” The first and second lines of charging light horsemen were mown down by the heavy fire. Although a request was made to brigade headquarters to stop the attack, the 10th Light Horse Regiment was ordered to continue on by sending over its lines of attacking men as planned, and capture the Turkish trenches.

The men of the 10th Light Horse filed into position, in many places scrambling over the casualties that littered the trenches. The third wave was sent over despite attempts for the attack to be called off and this wave too was cut to pieces.

Rowan, who was to lead the fourth wave, made ready. As another attempt was made to stop the needless waste of life, confusion reigned and communication proved impossible. The commanding officer of the 10th Light Horse, Lieutenant Colonel Noel Brazier, located his brigade commander, Brigadier General Frederick Hughes and convinced him to call off the attack.

But this message did not reach the front line in time, and the right side of the fourth wave advanced after an officer questioned why they had not left the trenches. Soon after, the left side went.

It was not until a major crawled out to see the situation that it was decided “it was impossible for men to move forward a yard and live with such a hail of well-aimed and distributed rifle and machine gun fire”, and the attack was called off.

The 8th and 10th Light Horse Regiments had suffered terribly. Of the 600 Australians who took part in the attack, 372 became casualties. Of these, 234 men were killed including Rowan.

He had been shot and killed instantly soon after he stood up and waved his men forward in that fourth and final wave, his body falling back into the trench. Rowan’s remains were laid to rest in Ari Burnu Cemetery. Rowan was 39 years old.

Today, the family’s motto - CRESCO PER CRUCEM - “I grow through the cross” – is inscribed on the bottom of his headstone.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 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 Captain Andrew Percival Rowan, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section