The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (551B) Private Phillip Thomas Donelley, 3rd Machine Gun 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (551B) Private Phillip Thomas Donelley, 3rd Machine Gun Battalion, AIF, First World War.

551B Private Phillip Thomas Donelley, 3rd Machine Gun Battalion, AIF
DOW 2 April 1918
Story delivered 28 October 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Phillip Thomas Donnelly.

Phillip Donnelly, commonly known as “Tom”, was born in 1892 in Waratah, Tasmania, one of 13 children of John and Mary Donnelly. By the time the First World War began, he was working in the timber industry in southern Tasmania.

His initial attempt to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force was unsuccessful because of having bad feet. However, his second attempt was effective, and on 4 October 1916 he joined the colours.

Donnelly was sent to Seymour in Victoria where he joined the 17th Machine Gun Section and was trained to use the Vickers machine-gun.

From the time of his enlistment and leaving Tasmania, Donnelly wrote prolifically to his mother and siblings. In one letter home from Seymour, he wrote of missing the Melbourne Cup because he was confined to camp due to illness.

He was allotted to reinforcements to the 15th Machine Gun Company, embarking from Melbourne on 23 December 1916 aboard the transport ship Orontes, bound for England. He sent a postcard of the ship, signed by a number of the men in his reinforcement group, to one of his younger brothers.

The ship docked briefly at Cape Town, South Africa, where the men were able to get ashore for some exercise, including a march out to Table Mountain. The voyage to England continued later that day.

Disembarking at Plymouth in mid-February 1917, Donnelly was sent to Perham Downs for further training. On 21 April he was admitted to hospital with German measles. In a letter to his mother he wrote:

I should have been going away tonight but I managed to get German measles, so I had sixteen days in hospital. It was not because I was ill, it was on account of the other men getting it.

Donnelly sailed for France in mid-June and spent several months at the Machine Gun Base Details depot at Camiers. In early October, he was sent to Belgium and joined the 11th Machine Gun Company, which was resting behind the lines in the Ypres sector.

Soon after, Donnelly’s company took over positions from a British machine-gun company. On the 12th of October, the 11th Machine Gun Company supported the attack by the 9th and 10th Infantry Brigades towards Passchendaele. The company suffered over 40 casualties over the next four days.

November saw the 11th Machine Gun Company back in France for rest and training. In early December the company manned positions in the Le Touquet–Ploegsteert sector, and in the latter half of the month, the company returned to France for rest and training.

In March 1918, the machine-gun companies of the Australian infantry brigades were formed into battalions and the 11th Machine Gun Company became part of the 3rd Machine Gun Battalion.

Later that month, the German Army launched its spring offensive. By 29 March, the 11th Machine Gun Company was in defensive positions near Sailly-Le-Sec. The following day, the company was in action, supporting the infantry as they attempted to halt the German advance near Villers Bretonneux. By 11 pm, the Germans had been forced to halt their attacks and regroup.

At some point during the day, Donnelly was severely wounded in the right buttock, which caused further internal damage. He was admitted to the 11th Field Ambulance, where he underwent initial surgery. His condition remained serious and he was transferred to the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital at Doullens on the 2nd of April, but he died shortly after arrival. Phillip Donnelly was laid to rest in the Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension Number 1 that afternoon. He was 26 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 Private Phillip Thomas Donnelly, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section