The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4386) Lieutenant Frederick Bisset Collins, 21st 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 Meredith Duncan, the story for this day was on (4386) Lieutenant Frederick Bisset Collins, 21st Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Lieutenant Frederick Bisset Collins, 21st Battalion, AIF
KIA 4 October 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 11 February 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Frederick Collins, who was killed in Belgium in the First World War.

Fred Collins was born in 1881, one of four children to Fred and Ann Collins of Kew in Melbourne. He attended Scotch College, where he played cricket and paraded as a cadet officer with the Scotch College Senior Cadets.

He married Gertrude Steenholdt in 1907, and the couple had two children. Fred was also a Victorian first-class cricketer – he was a fast bowler for the East Melbourne Cricket Club, played 35 matches with the AMP Society’s Victorian 11, and was the secretary of the Amateur Sports Club of Victoria.

In June 1915 Fred’s cousin, Gunner William Collins of the 4th Field Artillery Brigade, died of wounds received in action on Gallipoli. Fred and William were close, and it is believed this death made Fred determined to enlist in the AIF. He did so that August, and underwent training at Royal Park and Broadmeadows Camp. Because of his cadet experience he was given the rank of temporary sergeant. He left Australia in March 1916 with the 11th reinforcements for the 24th Battalion, destined for the training camps in England.

Fred reached France in August and was transferred to the 21st Battalion, which was recovering in Belgium after heavy fighting at Pozières on the Somme. On joining the battalion Frank was commissioned as a second lieutenant and was made a platoon commander. He served throughout the bitterly cold winter and in the subsequent advance towards the Hindenburg Line the following spring.

Fred spent some time in England at various training courses, but returned to the battalion in September 1917 at a time when the Australians were heavily engaged in the fighting at Ypres. Throughout September the Australians had made successful attacks at Menin Road and Polygon Wood. On 4 October the 21st Battalion attacked the German positions on Broodseinde Ridge in a highly successful operation.

However, like all battles fought on the Western Front, the cost of victory was high, with 6,432 Australians killed, missing, or wounded during the operation. Among the missing was Lieutenant Frederick Collins, who was confirmed by the battalion as having been killed in the fighting for Broodseinde Ridge at the age of 36. His remains were never recovered from the battlefield, and he is one of 6,000 missing Australians whose names are listed on the Menin Gate Memorial.

Fred’s widowed mother died several years after the war, and his wife, Gertrude, never remarried. Several weeks after his death, the Referee newspaper in Melbourne described Fred as being “well liked” everywhere, adding that, “Of the Australian cricketers who have met their deaths in the war,” Fred Collins “had left the greatest mark on the cricket of the Commonwealth”.

Fred Collins’ name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

His one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lieutenant Frederick Collins, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section