The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1279) Lance Corporal Daniel Bernard Sweeney, 26th Battalion, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (1279) Lance Corporal Daniel Bernard Sweeney, 26th Battalion, First World War.

1279 Lance Corporal Daniel Bernard Sweeney, 26th Battalion
DOW 8 November 1916
Story delivered 18 May 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Daniel Bernard Sweeney.

Daniel Sweeney was born in 1883, the eldest son of Daniel and Sarah Knott of Forth on the northern coastline of Tasmania. Educated at St Xavier’s College in Launceston, Daniel spent his formative years moving about the state because of his father’s occupation as the Northern Roads and Works Inspector. When failing eyesight necessitated his retirement, the family settled at Zeehan to the state’s west. There, Daniel worked as carpenter and labourer and worked two mineral leases on Pyke’s Creek at nearby Heemskirk; he also paraded part-time with the “F” Company of the Tasmanian Rangers at Zeehan.

Daniel was one of three Sweeney brothers to serve in the First World War. He enlisted at Zeehan in May 1915 and, after a period of training at Claremont and Brisbane, embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 26th Battalion. After further training at Mena Camp on the outskirts of Cairo, the battalion sailed for Gallipoli in September and served there until the evacuation in December. Daniel was evacuated from the peninsula suffering from jaundice after six weeks and spent the following months recovering in hospital on Malta.

Daniel eventually returned to Egypt, sailed for France, and returned to the battalion in July 1916 whereupon he was promoted to lance corporal. By then the battalion was in the midst of the bloody fighting on the Somme at Pozières making a costly and unsuccessful assault on the German defences east of the village, and then participating in the bitter fighting at nearby Mouquet Farm. By the time the battalion was relieved from the Somme in September 1916, the Australians had suffered over 26,000 casualties during just six weeks of fighting.

The 26th Battalion spent the following weeks resting in the relatively quiet St Eloi sector in Belgium before returning to the Somme to take up positions between the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt for the following winter. Throughout November and December, the men of the battalion took part in raids and small assaults to straighten parts of the line.

On the morning of 4 November 1916, Sweeney took part in the 7th Brigade’s assault on a German-occupied position known as “the Maze”, near Gueudecourt village. The infantry struggled to cross the open ground owing to the thick, glutinous mud and suffered heavily from German machine-gun and artillery fire raking no man’s land. Sweeney received a gunshot wound to the abdomen in the midst of the attack. He was evacuated to the 38th Casualty Clearance Station at Heilly, where he died three days later.

His remains were buried at the Heilly Station Cemetery at Mericourt-l’Abbe. On hearing the news of Daniel’s death, the following notice appeared in the local newspaper in Zeehan. “He was well known and respected all over the Coast, and many will deeply regret to learn of his death”.
Daniel Sweeney was 32 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 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 Lance Corporal Daniel Bernard Sweeney, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section
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