The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1986) Private Harold Wallace Wark, 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 (1986) Private Harold Wallace Wark, 58th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1986 Private Harold Wallace Wark, 58th Battalion, AIF
DOD 25 July 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 22 January 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Harold Wallace Wark.

Harold Wark was born in 1894 to Thomas and Sarah Wark. Although born in Camperdown, he was raised in Timboon in Victoria’s west, where his father was a sawmiller. Thomas Wark died unexpectedly in 1908 of pneumonia, and 14-year-old Harold helped with the young family. He went on to become a farmer, and was known as “an industrious young fellow” by others in the district.

In February 1916 Harold Wark went to Warrnambool and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He passed his medical exam comfortably and went into camp in Geelong for training. He was posted to the 3rd reinforcements to the 58th Battalion, and in July 1916 he boarded the troopship Ajana in Melbourne for service overseas.

Private Wark posted a letter to his mother when docked at Fremantle. He wrote that he was in good health and good spirits, and “was having a most enjoyable time with his mates on board the transport”.

On 19 July, just days after leaving Fremantle, Wark was admitted sick to the ship’s hospital, where his condition quickly worsened. The following day he was diagnosed with meningitis. Everything possible was done for him, and he seemed to rally for a couple of days, but on Tuesday 25 July, just ten days after his cheerful letter to his mother, Harold Wark died quietly at about 6 pm.

Lieutenant Cornelius Deane, the officer in charge of the 3rd reinforcements to the 58th Battalion on their journey, wrote to Wark’s parents: “Private Wark had been in my company for five months, and during the whole of that time acted as a soldier and a gentleman.” Harold War was buried at sea. He was 22 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 Harold Wallace Wark, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section