The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3108) Private William Weeks Ball, 58th 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (3108) Private William Weeks Ball, 58th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3108 Private William Weeks Ball, 58th Battalion, AIF
KIA 25 September 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Weeks Ball.

William Ball was born in April 1890 in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran, the fourth of nine children born to Robert and Sophia Ball. When William was a child, his family moved to Dandenong, and it was here that he spent most of his life, finding work as a carpenter.

Ball enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 31 October 1916 at Warragul and began his military training. Less than two months later, he sailed from Melbourne aboard the transport ship Medic, bound for England as part of reinforcements for the 58th Australian Infantry Battalion.

Upon arrival in England, Ball continued his training at Hurdcott in Wiltshire. His training was, however, interrupted by a serious illness of pneumonia and pleurisy, which saw him hospitalised for over two months.

By May 1917 he had recovered from his illness and rejoined his training unit, and in July he sailed for France and the war on the Western Front. Ball joined his unit for the first time in the field on 11 August 1917 when they were resting and training behind the lines in the Sercus area near Ypres in Belgium. He served in the 58th Infantry Battalion, which formed part of the 15th Brigade of the 5th Australian Division.

On 17 September, Ball and the 58th Battalion began to move from the Sercus area to the front lines near Polygon Wood, the remains of a young plantation that had been destroyed by the war. On 25 September, the day before what would become known as the battle of Polygon Wood, Ball’s unit came under heavy German high explosive artillery fire before a series of small-scale German assaults were launched. Troops from the 58th Battalion successfully repulsed the German attack but suffered heavy casualties.

Ball was one of 41 soldiers of the 58th Battalion killed on that day. It was his first experience of battle after months of training and illness.

He was 27 years old.

News of Ball’s death caused great sadness in Dandenong, where the flag of the town hall flew at half-mast to commemorate his sacrifice. His older brother Robert wrote in a local newspaper: “My heat is sorrowed, my dear brother’s presence I’ll miss through life to roam. O, Father, keep watch o’er his lonely grave so far, far from home”.

William Ball was buried in the Hooge Crater Cemetery in Belgium, where over 2,300 soldiers of the First World War now lie.

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 William Weeks Ball, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.


David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section