The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2434) Private James Thomas Varty, 31st 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (2434) Private James Thomas Varty, 31st Battalion, First World War.

2434 Private James Thomas Varty, 31st Battalion
KIA 1 December 1916
Photograph supplied by family

Story delivered 14 December 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private James Thomas Varty, who was killed fighting in France in the First World War.

James Varty was born in 1896 and is believed to have been one of two children to Thomas and Emma Varty of Coonabarabran in New South Wales. We don’t know much about James in the years before the war, other than he worked as a labourer in the Coonabarabran district. In August 1915, James travelled to Narrabri where he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, then underwent a period of training at Liverpool before leaving Australia in March 1916 with reinforcements to the 31st Battalion. After a period of training in Egypt, James was deployed to France to take part in the fighting on the Western Front.

James joined his battalion in the trenches near Fleurbaix on 23 July 1916 – just three days later it suffered heavy casualties in the action at Fromelles. The battalion spent the following months recuperating in the area the troops called “the nursery”, patrolling no-man’s land and raiding the German positions until October 1916, when it was transferred to the Somme. James and his battalion had missed most of the heavy fighting at places such as Pozières and Mouquet Farm, but spent the following winter in the relatively quiet sector around Flers and Gueudecourt.

It was not long after the 31st Battalion moved to the Somme that James’ war came to an end. On 1 December 1916 James was among a number of men selected to carry food and supplies from a dump near the village of Montauban up to the front line. It was a dangerous task which involved the carriers working their way through the maze of trenches, often under the observation of German artillery spotters. On this occasion, the Germans opened fire on the carriers with shrapnel, and both James and another carrier were killed instantly.

At the time, James Varty was given a battlefield burial, but his remains were reinterred after the war in the nearby Caterpillar Valley Cemetery. As was often the custom, a close friend of James wrote to his family informing them of his death, but he never received a reply. An aunt who had also lost a son in the war wrote the following epithet in James’ memory:

Grieve not for us we rest,
And comrades brave our heads above,
Press on to victory

James Varty’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed beside the Pool of Reflection.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section