The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1566) Private Albert James Voller, 24th 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (1566) Private Albert James Voller, 24th Battalion, First World War.

1566 Private Albert James Voller, 24th Battalion
KIA 29 November 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 30 September 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Albert James Voller.

Albert Voller, known as “Jim”, was born in California Gully, near Bendigo, to Albert and Agnes Voller. He grew up in nearby Eaglehawk, where he went to local state school. He went on to become a miner, working first at the Johnson’s Reef mine in California Gully and later in the Golden Pyke Mine. He was a member of the Eaglehawk Baptist Sunday School, and generally considered a popular member of the community.

Jim Voller enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in April 1915. He was posted to the 24th Battalion, and after a period of training in Australia was sent to Egypt and thence to Gallipoli. He arrived after the fiercest of the fighting was over, although the area around Anzac was still dangerous. Private Voller was described as a very good soldier, “never shirking his duty, and [always] sticking at his post”. His commanding officer recalled, “It has often been my duty to ask Jim to go on different fatigue work, some not very pleasant, but he was always ready and willing to do what was asked of him.”

Voller was there with a number of local Eaglehawk men who stuck together as much as possible. On 29 November 1915, shortly before the evacuation from the peninsula, he was sitting with a friend from Eaglehawk, Private Stock, and two other men, under a heavy Turkish bombardment. Stock reported that “about 20 shells just missed us and we were speaking of our good luck in not being hit when an 8.2-inch shell struck just above us. It brought down about 20 logs and sandbags on top of us”. It took half an hour to dig them out. Stock was evacuated wounded, carried on a stretcher-bearer’s back down a narrow trench to a dressing station. Jim Voller was not so lucky, and was either killed in the blast or died very shortly afterwards. He was 22 years old.

Corporal Clough of the 24th Battalion wrote to Voller’s parents to say “your boy died whilst fighting for his King and country, and it now remains to us to avenge Jim’s death”. The evacuation meant that they never had the chance. Private Voller was buried in a small cemetery at Brown’s Dip. The chaplain who buried him said that “one of our keenest regrets at leaving Anzac was the thought that so many of our brave comrades lie sleeping there”. Jim Voller’s grave was moved to the Lone Pine Cemetery after the war.

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 Albert James Voller, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.