Next of kin plaque: Major Terence Ward Garling, 10th Field Artillery Brigade, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the engraved name 'TERENCE WARD GARLING'.

Born in Sydney in February 1894, Terence Ward Garling as employed as a clerk at Trebeck Son & Co, Stock and Station Agents, when he enlisted in the AIF on 20 August 1914. He had previously served in the militia in St George's English Rifles, and was currently serving with the 44th Battery, Australian Field Artillery.

Garling was appointed a second lieutenant in the 1st Section of the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column, and left Sydney for overseas service on 18 October, aboard HMAT A8 Argyllshire. After training in Egypt Garling landed at Gallipoli on 26 May 1915 and was almost immediately transferred to the 5th Artillery Battery. He was promoted lieutenant a month later and some time after this date was appointed to command the only anti-aircraft gun on the peninsula, a Hotchkiss QF 12 pounder 12 hundredweight Mk I gun.

Shortly before leaving Egypt for France in March 1916, Garling was appointed captain and transferred to the 43rd Battery, 11th Field Artillery Brigade. He fractured his fibula on 25 October and spent some months in England recovering. On his return to the Western Front in late January 1917 he was appointed major and given the command of the 37th Battery, 10th Field Artillery Brigade.

Garling was mortally wounded at about 10am on 5 April 1918, while his battery was in action at Millencourt, France, during the battle of Dernancourt. He was standing behind the guns encouraging his men when a 5.9 inch shell burst overhead and a shrapnel fragment hit him in the upper thigh fracturing his femur and severing the femoral artery. One of the battery's lieutenants, William Mossman, bandaged him up but was himself wounded in the process. Garling was taken to the 13th Field Ambulance Dressing Station at Warloy. Doctors operated on him but were unable to stem the bleeding and he died there in the late afternoon. He was twenty-four. Garling was buried in the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension the following day. Lieutenant Mossman wrote: 'Iam endorsing the sentiments of everybody who knew him in concluding that all officers and men who ever knew him loved him and morn for him'.

This commemorative plaque was sent to Garling's father, William at the end of April 1923. When the plaque had arrived from England in January it was noticed that 'Terence' had been misspelt 'Terrence'. Correspondence with William Garling established that he wanted his son's name corrected, but when he was advised that the process might take two or three years if the plaque was returned to England, he preferred the option of having the name ground down and engraved (rather than embossed) in Australia.