The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Francis Halliday, 4th 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Francis Halliday, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, AIF, First World War.

Lieutenant Francis Halliday, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, AIF
Died accidentally 28 November 1918
Story delivered 10 March 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Francis Halliday.

Affectionately known to family and friends as “Frank”, Francis Halliday was born in 1892, the eldest of 13 children of Edward and Isabel Halliday of Cooma, New South Wales. The Halliday family were well respected throughout New South Wales in the years before the war, owing to Edward’s career as the chairman of the New South Wales Lands Board in Dubbo, Grafton, Tamworth, and Goulburn. Francis attended King’s School in Parramatta, where he paraded with the local cadet unit. He joined the staff of the New South Wales Bank at Tamworth in 1909, and later worked at Scone and Maitland as a ledger keeper. He also paraded part-time with the 6th Australian (New England) Light Horse.

Halliday tried to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force early on in the war, but standing at just 5 foot 4 inches (163 cm), was rejected on the basis of his height. He was accepted when the strict recruiting standards – including minimum height – were relaxed in June 1915, and entered camp at Liverpool near Sydney the following month. Halliday began his military career as an infantryman, but transferred to the artillery based at Royal National Park in early September. There he trained as a gunner before sailing for Egypt as an original member of the 5th Field Artillery Brigade in November 1915.

Arriving in Egypt too late to take part in the fighting on Gallipoli, Halliday’s gun team spent the following months training, as Australian troops prepared to deploy to the Western Front. Halliday arrived in France in May 1916, and participated in all the major actions fought by the Australians in the main theatre of war. Gunners of the 5th Field Artillery Brigade laid down barrages of high explosive and shrapnel on German positions at Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Flers, and Gueudecourt, as well as supporting Australian troops throughout the fighting at Bullecourt and in Belgium during the Third Battle of Ypres.

Halliday was promoted to bombadier in May 1917, and in October was selected to attend officer training at St John’s Wood in London, after which he was gazetted as a second lieutenant. In July 1918, Halliday was promoted to lieutenant. In September, as Australian troops advanced on the Hindenburg Line in the final offensive of the war, he was transferred to the 4th Field Artillery Brigade, where he commanded two six-man gun-teams in number 10 Battery.

The Australians fought their last action of the war at Montbrehain in early October, after which they were relieved from the front line for a period of rest. The 4th Field Artillery Battery remained in position near the village of Tertry when the armistice was signed, and remained in the area over the following weeks as winter rapidly approached.

On 24 November 1918, after the war had ended, Halliday’s horse slipped on ice outside Tertry and Halliday was rendered unconscious, having fractured his skull in the fall. He was admitted to the 55th Casualty Clearance Station at nearby Tincourt, where he died four days later. Aged 26 at the time of his death, Frank Halliday was buried at the Tincourt New British Cemetery where he rests today. A small epitaph on his headstone reads: “Dearly loved eldest son of Mr & Mrs E. J. Halliday of New South Wales”.
Frank Halliday is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

His is just one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lieutenant Francis Halliday, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section