The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2567) Private Albury Rupert Holy, 58th 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 (2567) Private Albury Rupert Holy, 58th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2567 Private Albury Rupert Holy, 58th Battalion, AIF
KIA 27 September 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 26 November 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Albury Rupert Holy.

Albury Holy was born in 1893 in Deniliquin, New South Wales, to Timothy and Jessie Holy. He was educated at the public school in Deniliquin, and later the local convent school. Albury was a very musical boy, and with training became a splendid instrumentalist. His father noted that he was of a very happy disposition and a great favourite in the town. He went on to become a farmer and a farrier in the Deniliquin district.

Holy enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force shortly after the outbreak of war in August 1914, one of the first from Deniliquin to do so. He was posted to the 5th Infantry Battalion and left Australia with the first contingent, sailing on the troopship Orvieto. He was at the landing on Gallipoli and served there for nearly two months before being evacuated with appendicitis. After time spent in hospital in Malta and England, he was eventually repatriated to Australia in December 1915.

In early 1916 Holy re-attested for active service with the AIF as a result of his original attestation papers going missing. As a part of this process he was reassigned to the 58th Battalion. He sailed again for overseas service in September 1916, this time on the troopship Shropshire. Private Holy’s discipline on the journey was not all that it could be, and he earned himself some time in custody. At one point he escaped custody while on the troopship and was caught disguised in a mate’s clothes, and was promptly detained again. In England he got into more trouble for punching a non-commissioned officer in the eye and resisting arrest.

At the same time, Holy’s health was deteriorating, and he spent most of the first half of 1917 in hospital. During his recovery he spent some time serving with the 5th Battalion band. That August he was finally well
enough to join his battalion in the trenches of the Western Front. Unfortunately for his family, Albury wasn’t a good correspondent: as his brother Jack put it, “he does not seem to have much of a fancy for writing letters”. Jack Holy also served in the AIF, returning to Australia after the war.

Less than two months later the 58th Battalion relieved the 56th in the front line near Hooge in the Ypres Salient. The men of the battalion spent their time repairing trenches and sending out patrols while a vigorous artillery battle raged overhead. Small-scale counter-attacks were carried out by both sides. On 26 September Polygon Wood was successfully captured, bringing more counter-attacks from the Germans.

In the confusion, Private Albury Holy was killed, probably blown up by a shell with 19-year-old signaller Robert Laverick. Neither body was recovered, and Holy and Laverick are now commemorated on the Menin Gate memorial to the missing in Ypres. Albury Holy was 23 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died during 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 Private Albury Rupert Holy, Private Robert Laverick and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section