The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (696) Private Rowland Hill, 31st 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 (696) Private Rowland Hill, 31st Battalion, AIF, First World War.

696 Private Rowland Hill, 31st Battalion, AIF
KIA 13 March 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 9 August 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Rowland Hill.

Born in Ipswich in Queensland, Rowland Hill and his family later moved to Melbourne, where he attended the Northcote State School. Hill’s father, also named Rowland, was a major with the Salvation Army.

Rowland Hill Jr was working as a farmer when he enlisted in July 1915. Aged 18, he was assigned to the 31st Battalion, which was made up of Queenslanders and Victorians. The battalion sailed in November for Egypt, where it became part of the 8th Brigade of the newly raised 5th Australian Division. Hall proceeded to France and the Western Front in June 1916.

The 31st Battalion had been in the front-line trenches for just three days when it fought in its first major battle at Fromelles on 19 July. The attack was disastrous for the 31st: it suffered 572 casualties, or more than half of its strength. Although it still spent periods in the front line, the battalion played no major offensive role for the rest of the year.

At the end of July Hill became seriously ill, and was not fit to re-join his unit until mid-September. Just days before Christmas in 1916 he was again admitted to hospital, this time with bronchitis. He returned to his battalion in the field at the start of February 1917.

On 13 March the 31st Battalion was undertaking “vigorous patrols” in the Flers region in France. It was during this day that Hill was killed in action by a high-explosive shell. No other details of his death were given in official records. He was buried in Beaulencourt British Cemetery in Ligny–Thilloy. He was 20 years old.

Hill had been in the band of the Thornbury Corps of the Salvation Army, and details of his death were included in the organisation’s record of service of the First World War, published in 1919. It read:

When the war broke out, “Rowley” felt that he should submit himself in the interests of King and country, and enlisted. Major and Mrs Hill draw great encouragement from the fact that Rowland was ready to meet his Lord.

The name of Private Rowland Hill is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 others from 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 Rowland Hill, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Emma Campbell
Writer, Military History Section