The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (977) Lance Sergeant Birkett William Watterston, 7th 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 (977) Lance Sergeant Birkett William Watterston, 7th Battalion, First World War.

977 Lance Sergeant Birkett William Watterston, 7th Battalion
KIA 8 May 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 19 April 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Sergeant Birkett William Watterston, who died during the First World War.

Birkett Watterston was born in 1888 in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote. He had previously served in the Victorian Rangers, and was working as a mechanic when he enlisted in the AIF in August 1914, just a few weeks after the declaration of war. Birkett’s younger cousin Harold Watterston joined up around the same time.

Birkett was assigned to the 7th Battalion, and left Melbourne in October 1914 on HMAT Hororata. Arriving in Egypt in early December, the battalion marched into its camp just outside Cairo. After several months of training it was transferred to Lemnos in preparation for the Allied landings on the Gallipoli peninsula.

The battalion reached Gallipoli at around 5.30 am as part of the second wave of landings. Several days later, as part of the 2nd Division, it was sent to Cape Helles to take part in an advance on the village of Krithia, with the ultimate goal of taking the hill to the rear of the town. Securing this hill had been one of the objectives of the British on the first day of the landings.

The Australians were ordered into action just after 5 pm on 8 May. The 7th Battalion, along with the 6th, formed the front line of the attack. This was a fierce and dangerous advance, with enemy artillery and machine-guns exacting an enormous toll. Official historian Charles Bean later wrote that the attack was “made in the teeth of rifle and machine-gun fire such as Australians seldom again encountered during the war”. In just over one hour some 1,000 men of the 2nd Division had become casualties, including approximately 250 from the 7th Battalion.

Birkett, who had been appointed lance sergeant, was one of those killed. The exact particulars of his death are unknown. Today he is commemorated at the Helles Memorial on Gallipoli, a 30-metre-high obelisk visible to ships passing through the Dardanelles. This memorial lists the names of over 21,000 Commonwealth servicemen who died at Helles and elsewhere on the peninsula who have no known graves.

A few days after Birkett’s death, his cousin Harold was admitted to hospital in Cairo after being wounded in the back. He was eventually sent back to Australia and discharged from the AIF.

Birkett Watterston’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with the names of more than 60,000 other Australians who died fighting in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lance Sergeant Birkett William Watterston and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Kate Ariotti
Historian, Military History Section

Sources:
www.ancestry.com

7th Battalion War Diary, August 1914 to February 1915, Australian War Memorial: AWM4 23/24/1.

7th Battalion War Diary, 25 April 1915, Australian War Memorial: AWM4 23/24/2.

7th Battalion War Diary, 8 May 1915, Australian War Memorial: AWM4 23/24/3.

National Archives of Australia, service record, Birkett William Watterston.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/76100/HELLES%20MEMORIAL.

C.E.W. Bean, Official history of Australia in the war of 1914–1918, vol. II, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1921–42.