The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1227) Private John William Miller, 12th Battalion (Infantry), First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every 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 Nicholas Schmidt the story for this day was on (1227) Private John William Miller, 12th Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

1227 Private John William Miller, 12th Battalion
KIA 25 April 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 10 July 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Private John William Miller, of the 12th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force.

John Miller was born at Peppermint Bay, Tasmania, on the 23rd of August 1889. His Indigenous grandmother, Fanny Cochrane Smith, was a well-known identity in both Indigenous and white communities around Hobart until her death in 1905.

John had been working as a labourer when he enlisted on the 19th of October 1914, just weeks after war was declared in Europe. He was married to Ida and had four small children, whom he left behind in Australia when he went to Egypt with the 12th Battalion.

The battalion spent some time in Mena Camp, approximately 15 kilometres from Cairo. This camp was an expanse of tents and bustled with activity. Every day except Sundays, the men trained in the desert in full view of the pyramids. As tourists, soldiers visited the pyramids, took camel rides, and sampled the exotic street life of Cairo.

On the 21st of April 1915, the 12th Battalion received its landing orders for the Gallipoli peninsula. By 10 pm on the 24th of April they were aboard HMT Devanha, anchored off the Gallipoli peninsula, waiting to land. In the early hours of the 25th of April, John and fellow soldiers transferred to the boats that would take them to shore.

The battalion was distributed among the other battalions of their brigade for the landing, and so was not in one unified group. There was heavy shellfire as they were loading into the lighters to go ashore, and when they reached the beach they were in disarray. They were met with heavy machine-gun and rifle fire from the left, and the battalion was immediately engaged in a rush for the high ground and vicious fighting with the Turkish defenders.

The last confirmed sighting of John Miller places him in a boat being rowed ashore. No more is known of what happened to him in the confusion of the landing. A later enquiry determined that he had been killed in action between the 25th and 28th of April, and concluded that he was buried in Baby 700 Cemetery in the heights above Anzac Cove.

Ida Miller, waiting in Australia, wrote that she was "living in a very lonely place with my four little children". Their father would never return home. He was just 25 years old at the time of his death.

Private John William Miller's name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is one of many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private John William Miller, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.