The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2216) Corporal George Allen Stewart, 14th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Places
Accession Number AWM2017.1.69
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 10 March 2017
Access Open
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (2216) Corporal George Allen Stewart, 14th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

2216 Corporal George Allen Stewart, 14th Battalion, AIF
DOW 5 September 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 10 March 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal George Allen Stewart.

George Stewart was born in 1879, the third son of John and Mary Stewart of Mount Duneed, near Geelong in Victoria. He was educated in the local state school and went on to become a minister in the Presbyterian Church. He was a favourite in the church, an enthusiastic sportsman, and was a considered and earnest preacher. On the outbreak of war he was the minister at Scot’s Church in Boort, Victoria.

Stewart volunteered to be a chaplain to the Australian Imperial Force shortly after the outbreak of war in August 1914, but his application was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, he felt strongly that his duty lay in going to war. His friend and fellow minister, Reverend Crookston, offered him a position in the inland mission if he needed a change, but Stewart argued his point. Crookston later wrote: “He was in such dead earnestness that I could not but admire his attitude.” George Stewart enlisted in the AIF as a private in January 1915. He did not want a public send-off, but members of his congregation wished him well at his last committee meeting.

Stewart did not find the physical aspects of training easy, but such was his determination to serve that he continued without complaint. He was posted to the 14th Battalion and underwent his military training in Australia and then Egypt before arriving on Gallipoli in early August 1915. On 8 August Stewart’s battalion was part of a force that attacked Hill 971. The 14th Battalion captured its objective, but after repeated Turkish counter-attacks the men were forced to withdraw. Shortly afterwards Stewart was promoted to corporal. It was later reported that during the operation he had been seen helping to bring in the wounded, and praying with the dying.

A little over two weeks later the 14th Battalion participated in the last attack of the August Offensive in an attempt to capture Hill 60. During the attack Corporal Stewart was wounded by shrapnel. Instead of having his wounds seen to, however, he remained with the wounded on the battlefield. While praying with a fatally wounded man out in the open, Stewart was hit again. He was evacuated from the battlefield with wounds to his back, arms, shoulder, and foot.

George Stewart died of his wounds in hospital in Egypt on 5 September 1915. His friend the Reverend Crookston, who by 1916 was serving as a chaplain in the AIF, wrote:

I count it a great privilege to have had his friendship … When I think of him – a not over-robust looking frame – going into the battle … into that awful carnage of the 26th August, my heart burns … and I feel as if I have missed a big joy.

A packed memorial service was held in the church at Mount Duneed. The preacher concluded his sermon with the following:

in the sight of God it is quality and not quantity that counts. [Stewart’s] brief life had the former in marked degree. Now he has gone from us. He has given his life for love. He has died for his country. He died as he lived, with a supreme devotion to duty.

Today George Stewart lies in the Chatby Military Cemetery in Alexandria under the words “Presbyterian Minister: Son of John and Mary Stewart of Mount Duneed.”

His 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 but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Corporal George Allen Stewart, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2216) Corporal George Allen Stewart, 14th Battalion, AIF, First World War. (video)