The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (183) Trooper Robert Thwaites, 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment, 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 Robyn Siers, the story for this day was on (183) Trooper Robert Thwaites, 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment, First World War.

183 Trooper Robert Thwaites, 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment
DOW 13 October 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 2 April 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Robert Thwaites of the 8th Light Horse Regiment.

Robert Thwaites was a farmer from Carapooee West, near St Arnaud in Victoria. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force just weeks after the outbreak of war in Europe, and left Australia with the 8th Light Horse Regiment to arrive in Egypt in early 1915.

The light horse regiments were originally not considered suitable for the conditions on Gallipoli, and it was not until a decision was made to deploy them without their horses that they were sent to fight there. The 8th Light Horse arrived in mid-May, a few weeks after the initial dawn landing.

In early August the Anzacs undertook a series of offensives against the Turkish defenders, and the 8th Light Horse led the attack on the Turkish trenches in a position known as the Nek. The attackers were under deadly machine-gun fire as soon as they left their own trenches, and the operation failed, suffering vast numbers of casualties.

One of those casualties was Trooper Robert Thwaites, who was shot in the abdomen and groin by machine-gun fire. He was evacuated to Alexandria in Egypt, where he spent a month in hospital before being invalided back to Australia with a number of other men suffering from wounds or illness.

Thwaites was put under treatment at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where his mother met with him and stayed to visit for a number of days. He seemed to be doing well and his family hoped he would soon be fit enough to return to Carapooee West to complete his recovery. However, a short time after his mother went home to prepare for his arrival, he unexpectedly took a turn for the worse. To the great shock of his family and friends, Thwaites died suddenly of pneumonia and heart failure on 13 October 1915. His body was taken back to his parents' farm to be buried near where he grew up. He was just 29 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 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 but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Trooper Robert Thwaites, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.