The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (47) Private Thomas Anderson Whyte, 10th Battalion, 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (47) Private Thomas Anderson Whyte, 10th Battalion, First World War.

47 Private Thomas Anderson Whyte, 10th Battalion
DOW 25 April 1915
Photograph: P09576.002

Story delivered 25 April 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Thomas Anderson Whyte.

Tom Whyte was born in Unley, South Australia. Little is known of his family or his early life, but Tom grew up to be a prominent South Australian sportsman. He was a successful lacrosse player, playing a number of interstate matches for South Australia between 1908 and 1912. However, it was as a rower that he was best known, beginning quietly with the Mercantile Rowing Club in 1903 before developing several years later into a particularly successful crew member. He represented South Australia in team events in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney and became a popular member of the Adelaide Rowing Club. It was reported that there was "no doubt that Tom Whyte was one of the best oarsmen South Australia ever produced".

Whyte enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force within weeks of the outbreak of war. He was posted to the 10th Battalion with many of his mates from the Adelaide Rowing Club. He left Adelaide in October of that year, and arrived in Egypt for further training before being sent to Gallipoli. While in Egypt he participated in rowing races where possible and enjoyed joking with his mates. The photograph on display beside the Pool of Reflection today is of Whyte and a fellow member of the Adelaide Rowing Club, Lance Rhodes, sitting on the Great Pyramid at Gaza.

The 10th Battalion was among the first formations to land on Gallipoli in the early hours of 25 April 1915. Private Tom Whyte volunteered to row one of the boats ashore. His good friend Arthur Blackburn, who would receive the Victoria Cross the following year, wrote:

the most dangerous position of the lot was that of the men who were rowing, as they of course could take no shelter. They could not even crouch down in the boat, but were compelled to sit up and row. The dangers of such a task were so apparent that officers hesitated to order men to expose themselves to the work of rowing. Tom immediately grasped the situation, and, as everyone knew he would, volunteered his services as a rower.

Blackburn said that Whyte "was joking and laughing all the way to shore", but as the boat pulled up on the shingle Tom slipped over to the side, and it was realised that he had been seriously wounded. He had been shot through the pelvis. Although he was taken to a hospital ship for immediate treatment, he died on the way to Alexandria. Blackburn wrote, "the poor fellow was killed before he had fired a single shot, but there is no doubt that it was largely due to the courage and endurance of Tom and his fellow-rowers in all the boats that everyone was landed with the minimum of loss".

Thomas Whyte was buried at sea somewhere between Gallipoli and Alexandria. He was 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.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Thomas Anderson Whyte, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.