Next of kin plaque : Private Ernest Charles Gillet Nichols, 60th Battalion 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 name 'ERNEST CHARLES GILLET NICHOLS'. The plaque is contained in a custom-made circular wooden frame.

Born in Northcote, Melbourne, Victoria, Ernest Charles Gillet Nichols was employed as a brass moulder when he enlisted in the AIF on 11 June 1915, aged 18. After initial training he was posted a private, service number 2497, to the 7th Reinforcements for 8th Battalion. He sailed from Melbourne on 16 July, aboard HMAT A64 Demosthenes.

Nichols joined his battalion at Gallipoli in September but was evacuated to Egypt a month later suffering from mumps. He returned to Gallipoli on 23 November only to be evacuated again on 3 December, suffering from jaundice. After training in Egypt Nichols transferred to the newly raised 60th Battalion on 24 May 1916 and sailed with it to France at the end of June. He survived the battalion's first disastrous battle at Fromelles in July in which more that three quarters of its men became casualties. In September Nicols transferred to V5A Heavy Trench Mortar Battery for training before returning to his unit a month later.

Nicols was evacuated to hospital in June 1917 and did not return to his battalion for three months. A month later he was attached for service with the 15th Light Trench Mortar Battery, although formally he remained with 60th Battalion. On 4 April 1918, during fighting near Villers Bretonneux, Nichols was part of a three man mortar crew hit by a shellburst. Two of the crew, including Nichols, were killed. The two men were buried at Sailly-le-Sec in an unregistered cemetery. Crosses were erected over the graves but by August, when a friend visited the site, the crosses had been destroyed by further fighting. The bodies were never recovered for formal burial in a war cemetery and Nicols name is recorded on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial.

This commemorative plaque was sent to his father, John Nichols, in October 1922.