The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2738) Lance Corporal George Henry Sibthorpe, 56th Battalion (Infantry), 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (2738) Lance Corporal George Henry Sibthorpe, 56th Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

2738 Lance Corporal George Henry Sibthorpe, 56th Battalion
KIA 10 April 1918
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 15 December 2013

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal George Sibthorpe of the 56th Battalion, who was killed in France in the First World War.

George Sibthorpe was born in 1889 and was one of six sons of Waldo and Annie Sibthorpe of Tumblong in New South Wales. The Sibthorpe family was well known in the Tumblong district: George's father, Waldo, was an alderman of the municipal council and councillor of the Adjungbilly Shire. Waldo was also the publican of the Tumblong Hotel, which still stands today on the Hume Highway near Gundagai. George worked as a labourer in the years before the war and in 1913 married a local girl, Muriel McFadzen. The couple moved to Goulburn where George worked on the railways as an engine driver. During this period, the couple had had a son, Mervyn.

George enlisted in the AIF at Goulburn in April 1916, following in the footsteps of his brother Edward, who had left Australia with the 5th Field Ambulance in June the previous year. George spent the following months training at the Goulburn Camp, and returned to Tumblong on home leave before embarking for the training camps in England. There the local residents assembled in the Tumblong hall to farewell George and wish him well for the front.

George left Australia with the 6th Reinforcements for the 56th Battalion in October 1916 and after a period of training in England proceeded overseas to France in February 1917. George took part in following up the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, the capture of the village of Louverval, and the bitter fighting at Second Bullecourt; he also participated in the fighting at Polygon Wood in Belgium without incurring any serious injuries.

In March 1918, the German Army launched its massive Spring Offensive and succeeded in breaking through the British lines to within striking distance of the strategically important city of Amiens. The 56th Battalion was among a number of Australian units rushed south from Belgium to blunt the German advance in the area surrounding the town of Villers-Bretonneux. On 10 April 1918, the 56th Battalion was relieving the 55th Battalion from a series of hastily prepared positions when German artillery opened fire with a fierce bombardment. Two men were killed in the bombardment, one of whom was Lance Corporal George Sidthorpe, just 27 years old. He was buried at the Aubigny British Cemetery, where he rests today.

The historical records do not document how George's loss impacted on Muriel, Mervyn or the rest of the Sibthorpe family. When several Tumblong men returned to
the district after the war, Muriel represented the community at a local reception and presented each of them medals "for duty nobly done". She wrote a short memorial for her husband in the in the local newspaper on the first anniversary of his death. It read: "he died that we may live".

George Sibthorpe is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with 60,000 others from the First World War. There is no photograph in the Memorial's collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

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