The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4483) Private Benedict John Arthur Dunstan, 54th 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (4483) Private Benedict John Arthur Dunstan, 54th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

4483 Private Benedict John Arthur Dunstan, 54th Battalion, AIF
KIA 20 July 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 28 June 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Benedict John Arthur Dunstan, who was killed fighting in France in the First World War.

Benedict Dunstan was born in 1892, one of seven children of William and Catherine Dunstan of Carlton, Victoria. He attended Sacred Heart Catholic School before the family moved to Bexley in Sydney in the years before the First World War. While working as a canister-maker at a nearby engineering company, he underwent compulsory military training under the government’s Universal Military Training Scheme and paraded with his local Militia unit at Kogarah, the St George English Rifles Regiment.

Dunstan enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915 and spent the following months training. He embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 13th Battalion in February 1916, but no sooner had he arrived than he was transferred to the newly-raised 54th Battalion as part of the “doubling-up” of the AIF before it embarked for the fighting in France. Forming part of the 5th Division, the 54th Battalion was one of Australia’s most inexperienced when it arrived in France in June 1916.

Less than two weeks after arriving in France, the 54th Battalion was moved into the line near the town of Armentières, and prepared for the Australians’ first major action on the Western Front. The 5th Division was allocated the task of attacking enemy positions near the town of Fromelles in an attempt to prevent German commanders there from sending reinforcements to the fighting on the Somme. The inexperienced Australians and an equally inexperienced British division went into action on the evening of 19 July 1916 in what was a costly and ultimately unsuccessful venture. By the following morning the Australians had suffered some 5,500 casualties. Some historians believe this period of 24 hours to be the worst in Australia’s history.

Among the missing was Private Benedict Dunstan, who was initially reported as being wounded in action. For months the Dunstan family received no further news of their son’s condition or whereabouts. Finally, in December 1916 it was confirmed he had been taken prisoner and died of his wounds while in captivity. The German authorities returned Benedict’s identity disc and paybook through the Red Cross in Geneva, although there was no indication at this stage where he was buried. Despite regular inquiries, the Dunstan family never knew of Benedict’s final resting place. He was instead commemorated on a memorial at VC Corner Cemetery near Fromelles.

In 2010 a team of professional archaeologists from Oxford University recovered the remains of 250 Australian and British soldiers buried in a mass grave at Pheasant Wood on the German side of no man’s land at Fromelles. Among those identified via DNA testing was Benedict Dunstan. Aged 23 at the time of his death, he was finally laid to rest in a marked grave at the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. A small epitaph on his headstone reads: “Beloved as a son. Cherished as a kins-man. Honoured as a soldier.”

Private Dunstan’s name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60 000 others from the First World War.

This is just one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Benedict Dunstan, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section