The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (445) Private Frank Keighery, 24th 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 (445) Private Frank Keighery, 24th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

445 Private Frank Keighery, 24th Battalion, AIF
KIA 11 September 1915
Photograph: DA08481

Story delivered 25 August 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Frank Keighery.

Frank Keighery was born in 1894 to Edward and Annie Keighery. He was born in Dandenong, Victoria, and raised in nearby Lang Lang, where he attended the local public school. He became a printer, and worked for the Lang Lang Guardian for six years before the outbreak of the First World War. He was described as “an estimable and model lad – chivalrous, generous, conscientious, energetic, bright mentally, and a strong specimen physically”.

Keighery enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in April 1915, the first from Lang Lang to do so. A farewell social was held in his honour, during which he was given a purse of sovereigns as a token of the esteem in which his workmates and friends held him. He underwent a period of training at Broadmeadows Camp before embarking for Egypt. He wrote home of the voyage:
"three days of sea sickness and the remainder of mid-tropical heat has left me a beetroot-coloured skeleton, with but two cravings – ice water and shade … the nights are the redeeming feature of this trip … it is doubly enjoyable to lean over the rails at night, when the vessel slips with a hiss through the almost motionless ocean, and to let the cool breeze fan one’s face."

Egypt, Keighery said, “was like a glimpse of Paradise to our troops, after five weeks on board ship”. There he underwent a period of further training before being sent to fight on the Gallipoli peninsula. He reached Anzac Cove in early September 1915, writing:
"the sound of rifle firing became louder and louder, and pretty soon bullets were whining, droning and singing over our heads, and though we were in no danger of being hit, the whiz of the missiles reminded us that our playing at war was over, and that we were in the real thing."

By 10 September Keighery was in the firing line. The next morning he gave his parents’ address to his good friend George Stewart, asking him to write to them should anything happen to him. That afternoon he was sitting at the back of the firing trench when a Turkish shell burst on the parapet in front of him. He was killed instantly.

Stewart wrote to Frank’s parents, saying:
"I am proud to tell you he was a game soldier; this was his second day in the firing line. Mrs Keighery, I cannot say more, but would like to add that your boy often spoke of you and your husband, and he also hoped one day in the future to return and settle down with you all, for he looked forward to a very happy future."

Frank Keighery was 21. 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. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

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

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section