The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain Gordon Levason Curlewis, 16th Battalion, AIF, 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 Captain Gordon Levason Curlewis, 16th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Captain Gordon Levason Curlewis, 16th Battalion, AIF
KIA 9 May 1915
Photograph: H06122

Story delivered 21 November 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Gordon Levason Curlewis.

Gordon Curlewis was born on 19 March 1885, the eldest son of George and Lilla Curlewis. He spent the first ten years of his life in Victoria before his family moved to Western Australia and his father took up farming near Brookton. Although little is known of Gordon’s schooling, we know that as a young man he was very interested in the military. He served as a private in the Western Australian Infantry Regiment, and after a series of promotions had reached the rank of 1st Lieutenant in 1910. He became a business salesman and married Margaret Rose in 1913.

All four Curlewis brothers enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914. With all of his sons away, George Curlewis stopped farming and moved to Cottesloe, Western Australia, to await their return. Gordon, though the eldest son and the only one to have had military experience with the Citizens’ Militia, was the last to enlist. He applied for and was granted a commission in October 1914, leaving Australia in December 1914 with the second contingent. His brothers, Selwyn, Campbell, and Arthur, were in the same contingent – Gordon, Selwyn, and Campbell with the 16th Battalion and Arthur with the 12th Battalion.

The four brothers were able to see each other regularly in Egypt. All four went on to land on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. On 2 May Selwyn was killed in action. One week later, Gordon was killed. No records survive to say how the brothers were killed. Gordon Levason Curlewis was buried in the field by the Reverend C.W.G. Moore of the Royal Naval Brigade. Today his grave is in Beach Cemetery on the Gallipoli peninsula. Selwyn’s grave was lost and he is now commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing.

On 7 August parts of the 12th Battalion were sent forward to reinforce the line at Lone Pine. During their action, Corporal Arthur Grenville Curlewis was wounded. He suffered a penetrating wound to his chest and gunshot wounds to his face. He was sent to hospital in Alexandria, but died three days later.

Only one of the Curlewis brothers returned to Australia. Campbell received a head wound early in the campaign, but remained on duty. Later in the year he fell ill, and was evacuated from the peninsula with a chest infection. In December 1915 he was repatriated to Australia with tuberculosis. On his return he said “it was their duty to go, and they did not deserve so much praise, but they were glad to have it”. George Curlewis, having lost three of his sons to war, never returned to farming.

The names of Gordon, Selwyn, and Arthur Curlewis are listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed 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 Captain Gordon Levason Curlewis, his brothers Corporals Selwyn Lord Curlewis and Arthur Grenville Curlewis, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section