The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (297) Private Hubert Pike Whittaker, 8th Machine Gun Company, 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 (297) Private Hubert Pike Whittaker, 8th Machine Gun Company, First World War.

297 Private Hubert Pike Whittaker, 8th Machine Gun Company
DOW 28 September 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 7 April 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Hubert Whittaker of the 8th Machine Gun Company, who died of wounds received in action in Belgium during the First World War.

Hubert Whittaker was born in 1895, the ninth of 14 children of William and Susan Whittaker of Port Broughton in South Australia. Hubert was a farm manager and a member of the Port Broughton Rifle Club before the war, and he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Kadina in South Australia in March 1916, aged 21. After a period of training in Melbourne, Hubert left Australia for Egypt as part of the 3rd reinforcements for the 8th Machine Gun Company in May 1916.

Hubert Whittaker arrived in Egypt at a time when the Australian forces were being moved to fighting on the Western Front, although it was several months before Hubert made the journey to France. He was sent to the training camps in England in August, but an abscess and lengthy period of recovery delayed his departure to France until later in the year.

Whittaker finally met up with his unit in France in January 1917. He took part in the advance to the Hindenburg Line and defended the flanks of Australian positions at Second Bullecourt throughout May 1917. The 8th Machine Gun Company did not participate in any large-scale actions on the Western Front until it was moved to Belgium with the rest of the Australian 5th Division to participate in the Third Battle of Ypres.

On 26 September 1917 Private Hubert Whittaker was mortally wounded in the fighting at Polygon Wood, having been struck in the chest by shrapnel while manning a forward machine-gun position in the captured German trenches. He was evacuated to a Canadian Casualty Clearance Station at Remy Siding at Poperinge where he received urgent medical treatment, but succumbed to his wounds two days later. He was buried at the nearby Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, where he rests today.

Historical records do not document the grief and suffering the Whittaker family endured in the years after the war, but we know that Hubert's loss affected them heavily.

Hubert's older brother William placed a memorial notice in the local newspaper on the anniversary of his death in 1918. It read:

Tis sweet to be remembered,
And this your wish we'll show;
We'll hold you still in memory,
While years may come and go.
We pictured your safe returning,
And longed to clasp your hand;
But God has postponed our meeting,
It will be in the better land.

Hubert Whittaker is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 other Australians killed in the First World War. There is no photograph in the
Memorial's collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

His is one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Hubert Whittaker and all those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.