The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Chaplain Edward John Sydes, Australian Army Chaplain att 5th Field Ambulance Brigade, First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on Chaplain Edward John Sydes, Australian Army Chaplain att 5th Field Ambulance Brigade, First World War.

Australian Army Chaplain Edward John Sydes, 5th Field Artillery Brigade
DOD 15 November 1918
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 2 December 2013

Today we remember and pay tribute to Chaplain Edward John Sydes of the 5th Artillery Brigade, who succumbed to illness in England during the First World War.

John Sydes was born on board the migrant sailing ship Norman Morrison when his parents immigrated to Australia from Ireland in November 1863. He was the oldest of seven children to Samuel and Rosanna Sydes, who settled in Brisbane in Queensland. As a young man, Edward attended Melbourne University where he studied law; he became a barrister, and ran unsuccessfully as the Labour representative for the seat of Bulimba in the 1907 by-election. Edward Sydes was a devout Roman Catholic and a bachelor; he attended a theological seminary and was ordained as a priest in Dublin in 1909.

Father Sydes was a parish priest at Saint Mary's Church in North Sydney before he enlisted in the AIF in May 1917 at the age of 53. He was given the nominal rank of captain, and left Australia for England in June as part of the Chaplains' Department. He arrived in France the following month and was posted to the 5th Artillery Brigade. In France, Chaplain Sydes tended the spiritual needs of the troops close to the front line by comforting them in their last hours, conducting burial ceremonies, and writing to the next of kin of men killed in action.

In October 1918, just as the end of the war was in sight, Chaplain Sydes was admitted to a casualty clearance station suffering from myalgia. He was evacuated to England with bronchitis, which worsened over the following weeks. On 17 November 1918, barely six days after the armistice with Germany, Chaplain Edward Sydes succumbed to illness at the 3rd General Hospital at Wandsworth in London. He was buried at the Kensal Green Roman Catholic Cemetery, where he rests today. An epitaph on his headstone reads:

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course;
I have kept the faith.

Chaplain Edward Sydes is listed on the Roll of Honour on your left, along with 60,000 others from the First World War.

His is one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Chaplain Edward Sydes, and all of those Australians who gave their lives in service of our nation.