The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1131) Gunner George Albion Cowley, 22 Field Artillery Brigade, 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (1131) Gunner George Albion Cowley, 22 Field Artillery Brigade, AIF, First World War.

1131 Gunner George Albion Cowley, 22 Field Artillery Brigade
KIA 31 December 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 28 December 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Gunner George Cowley, who was killed fighting in the First World War.

George Cowley was born in 1876, one of three children of Charles and Jane Cowley of Camperdown in south-west Victoria. He attended school in the area, and later worked as an engine driver throughout the district. He was actively involved in the Pomborneit Rifle Club and an enthusiastic member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows’ Camperdown lodge. He married Margaret O’Grady in 1896 and over the next decade the couple had five children: Vera, Albion, Myra, Lindsay, and Frances.

On the eve of the First World War Cowley was working for the Alberton City Council. After unsuccessfully trying to enlist in the AIF and being rejected because of a knee injury, he was eventually accepted at Yarram in south-east Gippsland in August 1915. After a period of training at Broadmeadows camp on the outskirts of Melbourne, Cowley embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 13th Light Horse Regiment in November 1915.

When Cowley arrived in Egypt the fighting on Gallipoli had ended. During this time the AIF effectively doubled in size before the infantry departed for the Western Front. While the light horse was brought up to strength with fresh reinforcements from Australia, some light horsemen were transferred to the artillery to form a nucleus of gunners for newly formed regiments. Cowley was among those who volunteered for the artillery, and was transferred to the 2nd Division Ammunition Column in March 1916. He sailed for France later that month, and was involved in supplying high explosives and shrapnel shells for the gun batteries firing in support of the Australian troops at Armentières and Pozières.

Cowley took on a more active role in the fighting in August 1916, when he was transferred to the 22nd Field Artillery Brigade and posted to the 19th Battery. As a member of a six-man gun team, he manned one of the battery’s four 18-pound field guns, assisting the infantry by laying down bombardments and suppressing fire on the German positions. As a gunner, he participated in the bitter fighting at Mouquet Farm before returning to the Somme. It was here that the 22nd Field Artillery Brigade spent the infamous winter of 1916–17 holding the line between the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt.

On 31 December 1916 George Cowley was among a group of five men drawing rations from the battery’s quartermaster’s store when a large calibre German shell landed on top of them and exploded, killing the occupants. Cowley’s body was recovered from the collapsed dug-out and buried in a makeshift cemetery nearby. Aged 40 at the time of his death, his body was exhumed after the war by a British War Graves Registration Unit and reinterred at Guards Cemetery at Lesboeufs.

Flags in the small community of Camperdown were flown at half-mast to mourn the loss of such a respected member of the community, and as a mark of respect for his widow and their children.

George Cowley’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section