The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Portrait of 1275 Private (Pte) Bertie Greenfield, 32nd Battalion. A brickmaker of Leederville, Western Australia, he was born in Enfield, Middlesex, England and emigrated to Australia when he was 20 years old. He enlisted on 19 July 1915 and sailed from Adelaide aboard HMAT Geelong with D Company on 18 November 1915. He was killed in action on 20 July 1916, aged 27, at Fromelles, France and is commemorated on the VC Corner, Australian Cemetery Memorial, France. This photograph is from an Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file. The Bureau, which commenced operation in October 1915, sought to identify, investigate and respond to enquiries made regarding the fate of Australian personnel. It investigated the majority of personnel posted as wounded and missing on official Army lists, as well as written enquiries from concerned relatives and friends. Approximately 32,000 individual case files were opened for Australian personnel who were reported as wounded or missing during the First World War. The Bureau employed searchers to operate both at the front and in Britain. They searched official lists of wounded and missing, interviewed comrades of missing soldiers in hospitals and wrote to men on active service. Altogether 400,000 responses were sent back to those who placed enquiries with the Bureau. In 2008 a burial ground was located at Pheasant Wood, France containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers including Pte Greenfield. All of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the new cemetery on 19 July 2010, ninety-six of the Australians had been identified through a combination of anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information. Work is continuing on identifying the other remains relocated from the burial ground and buried in the new cemetery as unknown soldiers. Pte Greenfield is among those who have not been identified and his name remains on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial.
Studio portrait of 3382 Private (Pte) James Wesley Brittain Cooper, 48th Battalion. A surveyor of Osbourne Park, WA, he enlisted on 16 June 1915 and sailed from Fremantle aboard HMAT Benalla with the
Studio portrait of 2481 Private (Pte) John Ralph Wright, 60th Battalion. Pte Wright, of Kew, Vic, enlisted on 28 May 1915. Later promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, Wright was killed in action in
Portrait of 4347 Private (Pte) Cyril Hughes, 7th Battalion. A labourer of Beechworth, Victoria, he enlisted on 17 July 1915 at Springhurst, Victoria, and sailed from Melbourne with the 13th Reinforcem
Studio portrait of 3114 Private (Pte) Robert Harry Applin, 34th Battalion. Born in Hertfordshire, England, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 16 and settled with his family near Nyabing, WA, wher
The original grave of 5139 Private (Pte) Ernest Leslie Knowling, 10th Battalion, in the Tel El Kebir Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. An iron moulder of Broken Hill, NSW, he enlisted on 10 February 1916 and
Studio portrait of 2007 Private (Pte) Hillary Austin Pike, 3rd Battalion. A trapper of Tumut, NSW, he enlisted on 15 January 1915 and sailed from Sydney with the 5th Reinforcements on 13 April 1915 ab
