The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1351) Private Harry Burdett Dixon, 13th Battalion, 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 (1351) Private Harry Burdett Dixon, 13th Battalion, First World War.

1351 Private Harry Burdett Dixon, 13th Battalion
KIA 11 April 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 28 August 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Harry Burdett Dixon, who was killed fighting in France in the First World War.

Harry Dixon was born in 1898, the oldest son of five children of William and Catherine Dixon of Paddington in Sydney. He attended Paddington Public School and worked as a carter after what appears to have been a rudimentary education. He spent time in the local Militia, parading with the 24th (East Sydney) Regiment for seven months before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in February 1915.

Dixon spent just ten days in Liverpool Camp before embarking for the fighting in Europe with a reinforcement group for the 13th Battalion. Ottoman Turkey had joined the war on the side of the Central Powers in November 1914, and the Australian troopships were diverted to Egypt to protect British interests in the area. After a period of training in Mena Camp near Cairo, Dixon proceeded to the fighting in the Dardanelles and joined the 13th Battalion on Gallipoli in late April 1915, where he was heavily involved in establishing and defending the Anzac front line. He was evacuated to Egypt with dysentery just before the August Offensive, re-joining the battalion in October.

As Australian official historian Charles Bean noted, not every man who donned a uniform was a hero. Bean acknowledged the service of Australians as a whole, citing “the good and the bad, the greatness and the smallness” of the Australian experience of the war, and that everyone who served in the AIF deserved equal recognition.

Dixon was one of those who experienced disciplinary difficulties during his service. After the withdrawal from Gallipoli he spent months training in Egypt as the 13th Battalion prepared to deploy to the Western Front, but fell afoul of military law on more than one occasion. In March he was charged with “committing an offence” against the property of an Egyptian local, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour, although this was eventually commuted to two months with Field Punishment No. 1. In April he was briefly hospitalised with an infectious disease, for which he was docked pay. In May he was arrested a second time for being absent from roll call, giving military police a false name, and being without his identity discs. For this he was sentenced to 28 days’ Field Punishment Number 2.

Dixon did not join his battalion in France until later in 1916, missing out on the bitter fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm, where the Australians suffered horrendous losses. After another period in hospital, Dixon re-joined his battalion in France in February 1917, just as the German army withdrew from the Somme to take up positions along the Hindenburg Line. Dixon participated in the allied push that followed, and by April, his battalion was with the Australian 4th Division as it stood before the Hindenburg Line at the village of Bullecourt.

The 4th Division launched an unsuccessful attack the Hindenburg Line on 11 April 1917, resulting in more than 3,000 casualties. Among them was Harry Dixon, who was listed as missing. It was not until six months later that court of inquiry determined he had been killed in action. Aged 23 at the time of his death, his remains were never recovered from the battlefield, and as such he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux among more than 10,000 Australians killed in France who have no known grave.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section