The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1717) Private Ernest Frederick Pett, 53rd 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (1717) Private Ernest Frederick Pett, 53rd Battalion, First World War.

717 Private Ernest Frederick Pett, 53rd Battalion
KIA 11 August 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 13 June 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Ernest Frederick Pett of the 53rd Battalion.

Ernie Pett was the son of Arthur and Tara Pett. He was born in Forbes, New South Wales, and grew up in nearby Bogan Gate. He attended the Bogan Gate Public School, and went on to become a clerk. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Parkes on 17 January 1916, joining the “boomerangs” – a recruitment march that left Parkes two days later. The 71 men who left Parkes, including Pett, travelled by foot and rail through towns such as Eugowra, Canowindra, Cowra, and Carcoar to Bathurst, collecting recruits along the way. Each original marcher was presented with a little brooch bearing his name, his town, and the words “come back”. There were several of these kinds of recruitment marches in rural Australia at the time, and the boomerangs collided with the “kookaburras” when they arrived in Bathurst, receiving a combined reception.

Nineteen-year-old Ernie Pett was posted with the second reinforcements to the 53rd Battalion and left Australia in March 1916. After a period of training in Egypt, he was sent to fight on the Western Front in July 1916. He arrived five days after the 53rd sustained 625 casualties in a disastrous attack at Fromelles. Despite these losses, the battalion continued to hold portions of the front line for another two months.

On 11 August, a week after Pett joined the 53rd Battalion, he was at a sentry post in the front line. Pett was watching through a loop hole – a small window in a metal plate designed to protect the watcher from sniper fire as much as possible. Unfortunately, as he looked through the small aperture a deadly accurate bullet was fired right through the hole, grazing the edge of his steel helmet and entering his forehead. He was killed instantly.

Private Pett was buried near where he was killed in France. In Australia “an exceptionally large congregation” attended a memorial service in St Paul’s Church of England. He was deeply mourned by his aged parents, his brother, and his sisters. In Bogan Gate it was considered that the town had “lost one of its brightest young men”. Ernie Pett was 19 when he enlisted, and 19 when he died.

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 Private Ernest Frederick Pett, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.