The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1881) Private Samuel Hill, 5th Pioneer 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (1881) Private Samuel Hill, 5th Pioneer Battalion, AIF, FIrst World War.

1881 Private Samuel Hill, 5th Pioneer Battalion, AIF
DOD 1 January 1917

Story delivered 27 August 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Samuel Hill.

Samuel Hill was born in 1890 and was one of seven children of Richard and Mary Hill of Burra in the mid-north of South Australia. After attending Burra state school, Samuel worked in the office of a local doctor, and went with him when his practice moved to Glenelg. When the doctor died, Samuel worked as a farm labourer on his cousin’s property at Yongala. Like his four brothers, Samuel was a prominent member of the local football team — according to the local newspaper, he was “noted for his gentlemanly behaviour both on and off the field” — and was also a member of the Foresters’ Lodge in Burra.

Samuel was one of four Hill brothers to serve in the First World War. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1916, and after a period of training in Adelaide, embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 5th Pioneer Battalion in April 1916. After five weeks training near Cairo, Samuel sailed for France. He arrived on the Western Front in June and spent the following months posted to the 5th Divisional Base at Étaples in the British rear area.

Trained as infantrymen, pioneers such as Samuel carried out labouring and construction work to support the division to which they were attached. Pioneers were employed to construct roads, dig communication trenches, lay duckboard tracks, build saps, and extend light railway systems behind the front line. They were also expected to fight when required, and often carried out their labouring work under shellfire. Many who joined the ranks of the pioneer battalions possessed civilian trade qualifications. A majority of the men who comprised the 5th Pioneer Battalion, like Samuel Hill, were from South Australia.

Samuel was still based at Étaples when the 5th Division fought its costly and unsuccessful action at Fromelles in July 1916, but joined the
battalion in the forward area in October as it moved south to take up positions on the Somme. By then, the fighting on the Somme had all but ended, and the British and Germans had dug in for the following winter. Based at Waterlot Farm near the village of Longueval, the 5th Pioneers spent the following months repairing roads and trenches in what was the coldest winter in France for 40 years. During this period the Australians found the mud, rain, and frostbite far greater enemies than the Imperial German Army.

The wet and miserable conditions inevitably had an adverse effect on the health of the men occupying those positions. On 20 December 1916, Samuel was admitted to a nearby field ambulance station suffering from an illness that developed into a severe case of broncho-pneumonia. His condition worsened over the following days, and he was evacuated to the 36th Casualty Clearance Station where he died on 1 January 1917.

Aged 26 at the time of his death, Samuel was buried at the Heilly Station Cemetery where he rests today. A small inscription penned by his grieving family appears on his headstone. It reads: “Deeply Mourned”.

Of the four Hill brothers that fought in the First World War, Samuel was the first to die. Samuel’s younger brother George served with the 32nd Battalion and was mortally wounded during a German trench raid in November 1917. The same inscription appears on his headstone in the Bailleuil Communal Cemetery Extension.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section

Sources
¿ Family information
¿ Local news, The Burra Record, 17.1.17, p. 2