The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Private Norman Lachlan Creswick, 36th Battalion, First World War.

Places
Accession Number AWM2018.1.1.162
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 11 June 2018
Access Open
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

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 Michael Kelly, the story for this day was on Private Norman Lachlan Creswick, 36th Battalion, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

Private Norman Lachlan Creswick, 36th Battalion
KIA 11 June 1917
Story delivered 11 June 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Norman Creswick.

Norman Lachlan Creswick was born in 1896, one of 12 children of Richard and Amelia Creswick of Hillston near Lake Cargelligo in New South Wales. After attending State School in Albury, where he paraded with the local cadet unit, Norman worked as an overseer at Goolring Station at Enngonia near Bourke, where the Creswick family had settled in the years before the war. With a fair complexion and sandy-coloured hair, Norman’s army friends knew him as “Bluey”.

Norman Creswick enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1916, shortly after his 20th birthday. He undertook training at Liverpool near Sydney and embarked as an original member of the 36th Battalion in May 1916. Once in England, Norman spent several months training as a signaller on Salisbury Plain, before sailing for France and entering the trenches of the Western Front in November 1916.

Forming part of the 3rd Division, the 36th Battalion spent the following six months holding the relatively-quiet “nursery sector” near the town of Armentieres, conducting patrols of no man’s land and raiding German trenches. By mid-1917, the focus of British operations had shifted north into Belgium, in preparation for a major offensive that intended to drive German troops away from the Belgian coastline. Part of these preparations involved capturing Messines Ridge, where the 36th Battalion fought its first major action on 7 June. After capturing its objectives on that day of fighting, Australian battalions of the 3rd and 4th Divisions repelled repeated German counter-attacks and were subjected to intense artillery bombardments while they consolidated their new positions.

On 11 June, the 36th Battalion was occupying a position known as La Poterie Farm when it was shelled by German artillery. On that day, Norman was acting as a runner between the front and his company headquarters when he was caught by the blast of an exploding shell that killed him instantly.

The Creswick family and the town of Bourke were devastated by Norman’s loss. After hearing the news, the editor of the local newspaper described Norman as “a bright and sturdy young fellow of a splendid disposition” and lamented that “this young country should lose such men”. Their grief was compounded when they later learnt the news that Norman’s younger brother, Thomas, had also been killed at Messines. A third brother, Hector, travelled to Messines weeks later to look for any sign of Norman, following an unconfirmed rumour he was seen wounded but alive behind Australian lines – but he found nothing to confirm the story. Norman was 21 at the time of his death, but his body was never recovered from the Messines battlefield. His name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial among over 6,000 Australians killed in Belgium who have no known grave. Thomas Creswick’s name appears on the same panel.

Norman Creswick 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 Private Norman Lachlan Creswick, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Private Norman Lachlan Creswick, 36th Battalion, First World War. (video)