The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1031) Private George Davis, 16th 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (1031) Private George Davis, 16th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1031 Private George Davis, 16th Battalion, AIF
KIA 2 May 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 24 March 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private George Davis.

Born in 1896 in Bairnsdale, Victoria, to Henry Sandford Davis and Fanny McTaggart, George Davis had three sisters and three brothers. He briefly attended Hindmarsh Public School in Gippsland before he and his family moved to Adelaide around 1900. He was part of the school cadets and after finishing his education became a farmhand in South Australia.

War was declared on 4 August 1914, and Davis enlisted one week later, aged 19. His older brother Harry enlisted on the same day, and they were both recruited to the 16th Battalion, made up primarily of men who had enlisted in Western Australia, with about one quarter from South Australia. Along with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Battalions, it formed the 4th Brigade, commanded by Colonel John Monash.

The 16th Battalion embarked for overseas from Melbourne in December 1914, arriving in Egypt in early February 1915. There the 4th Brigade became part of the New Zealand and Australian Division.

After further training in Egypt, the 4th Brigade was assigned to be part of the Anzac landings on Gallipoli. The 16th Battalion landed late in the afternoon of 25 April, and set about gaining a foothold on the Turkish peninsula.

A week later, on 2 May, the 16th Battalion was thrown into the attack on Bloody Angle, part of a narrow spur on the second ridge at Anzac. The aim was to capture the summit of a hill known as Baby 700, which had a commanding position over Monash Valley.

Official First World War historian Charles Bean wrote that the 16th Battalion went into the attack with “overflowing spirits”. But troops were withdrawn the following day. He wrote: “The attempt to improve the defective position at Anzac by seizing the heights at the head of Monash Valley had completely failed.”

The 16th Battalion had borne the brunt of the fighting, and had suffered heavily: eight officers and 330 men were killed. One of those was Private George Davis. George’s brother Harry was wounded sometime toward the end of May or beginning of June. He was transported to a hospital ship, but died at sea of septic peritonitis.

Private George Davis’s body was never recovered, and so his name is listed on the Lone Pine Memorial to the missing on Gallipoli. It also appears 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 Private George Davis, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Emma Campbell,
Researcher, Military History Section