The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Second Lieutenant Stuart Munro, 55th 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on Second Lieutenant Stuart Munro, 55th Battalion, AIF, First World War.


This video recording of this ceremony will not be released to the Public.

Second Lieutenant Stuart Munro, 55th Battalion, AIF
KIA 20 July 1916

Story delivered 19 July 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Second Lieutenant Stuart Munro.

Stuart Munro was born around 1882 to Hugh and Julia Munro of Woodford Dale on the Clarence River, New South Wales. His father’s family were early pioneers of the Clarence River District, and Stuart probably grew up on his father’s property. Little is known of his early life. Although his birth was recorded in Maclean in New South Wales, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, Stuart said that he had been born at Portree, on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. He gave his brother Norman’s name as his next of kin, and said that he was working as a solicitor.

Stuart Munro enlisted in the AIF in October 1914, at the age of 32. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas in December 1914 with reinforcements to the 3rd Battalion. He left Australia as an orderly room sergeant, but would later be commissioned as an infantry officer. He was first sent to Egypt, arriving not long after the AIF had returned from Gallipoli. There he met Lieutenant Robinson, who later described him as “short, had been dark-haired and was going grey, and was not good-looking. He wore a small scrubby moustache. He was a plucky little fellow, and was a decent little chap.” The pair continued training with the 3rd Battalion in the Egyptian desert. The AIF was undergoing a period of expansion and reorganisation at the same time, and as part of this process, both were transferred to the newly-formed 55th Battalion.

The 55th Battalion was one of the last Australian battalions to arrive in France, but was among the first to see major action. On 19 July 1916, less than a month after arriving on the Western Front, the 55th Battalion took part in the Battle of Fromelles, a disastrous feint designed to draw German reserves away from the Battle of the Somme further to the south. Although originally in reserve, the 55th was quickly drawn into the fighting and suffered heavy casualties. By the following day, the Australian force had sustained more than five and a half thousand casualties.

One of those posted missing at the end of the battle was Second Lieutenant Stuart Munro. His family struggled to find out what had happened to him; at times receiving information that he was simply missing, at other times hearing rumours that he had been killed. It was not until the following year that a court of enquiry determined that Stuart Munro had been killed in action.

In 1917 the family received a letter from Sergeant Howard of the 55th Battalion in reply to their inquiry as to Stuart’s fate. He wrote:

We charged at 6 o’clock, and took the German trenches in 20 minutes, and held them for 11 hours, when we were beaten back by a counter attack … I did not see him fall; all I know is that they asked for volunteers to go out next night to search No Man’s Land, and I was sergeant in charge of this party … it was during this search that I came across the body of Lieut. S. Munro, shot through the body, lying very peacefully.

Howard reported that they successfully removed Munro’s body from the battlefield and buried him nearby. However, that grave has since been lost, and today he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. Stuart Munro was 34 years old.

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 Second Lieutenant Stuart Munro, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section