The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3955) Allan Thomas Tonkin, 7th 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 Robyn Siers, the story for this day was on (3955) Allan Thomas Tonkin, 7th Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

3955 Lance Corporal Allan Thomas Tonkin, 7th Battalion
DOW 24 September 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 18 September 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Allan Thomas Tonkin.

Allan Tonkin was the second son of Mr and Mrs Tonkin, farmers from Moorilim in Victoria. The family had moved to Ouyen seven or eight years before the outbreak of the First World War and it was from here that Allan enlisted in July 1915. He was twenty years old at the time of enlistment and had to have his parents' permission to enlist, which they gave.

Tonkin went as a private with the 7th Battalion to Egypt. However, although he might have expected to be sent to the Gallipoli peninsula to fight at ANZAC Cove, he fell ill, first with tonsillitis and then with the mumps, and spent much of his time in Egypt in hospital.

Allan Tonkin finally made it to France, where he joined his battalion. Life in the trenches was hard on soldiers' bodies, and Tonkin regularly suffered ill health. Aside from bouts of tonsillitis, he had influenza, general fevers, and on one occasion an irregular heartbeat. Each time, however, he returned to his unit on recovery and was eventually promoted to Lance Corporal.

In late 1917 the 7th Battalion was fighting in Belgian Flanders, attacking the German lines about Glencorse Wood. Tonkin was in charge of a section of a platoon in this operation, and led it "with a total disregard for danger". His section did valuable work in taking strong positions from the German defenders. A senior officer wrote to his parents to say that he "behaved most gallantly" and, although wounded in the arm by shrapnel, he refused to leave the trenches until the rest of his men were relieved. It was shortly after midnight on the 22nd of September 1917, on his way out of the trenches, when pieces from a high explosive shell hit Tonkin in several places. He was carried away on a stretcher and died two days later of his wounds.

The Tonkin family lost two in that operation: Allan's cousin Jack Tonkin was killed in the 5th Battalion on 20 September as the waves of infantry went over the top to attack the German positions. He was killed instantly by a shot to the head. In Australia the news of the two deaths came just days apart, and dealt a hard blow to the family. Both boys were fondly remembered ever after.

Both men's names are listed on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with around 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lance Corporal Allan Thomas Tonkin and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.