The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (825) Private William Pinkerton, 5th 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (825) Private William Pinkerton, 5th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

825 Private William Pinkerton, 5th Battalion, AIF
KIA 25 April 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Pinkerton.

William Pinkerton was born in 1876 in Brisbane to James and Mary Pinkerton. Before the First World War broke out, he was working as a labourer at the shipbuilding yards in Williamstown, Victoria. By that time, he was living with his wife Annie, and his three children, Edith, Thelma, and William junior.

As a skilled horseman, William Pinkerton served as a mounted soldier in the Boer War with Bethune’s Mounted Infantry. This was one of many irregular units raised in South Africa at the beginning of the war. These units sought to secure districts in South Africa where British Imperial control was weakest. Irregular mounted units were also a tactical response to the superior mobility of the Boer forces. Serving until August 1901, Pinkerton and his unit pursued Boer commandos in the Orange Free State and Cape Colony.

After serving in the Mounted Infantry, Pinkerton served with another highly mobile irregular unit, the Imperial Light Horse. His unit saw heavy fighting in March 1901 in the Transvaal. Pinkerton was discharged from the unit in Cape Town in April 1902, about a month before the end of the war, and returned to Australia.

In August 1914, Pinkerton was one of the first Australians to enlist for service. At this early stage of the war, many volunteers to the Australian Imperial Service were turned away, but with his experience of active service, Pinkerton was readily accepted. He joined the 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, which was a unit made up mostly of men from his home state of Victoria. On 21 October 1914, he sailed on the transport ship Orvieto to Egypt.

During the voyage, the Orvieto picked up survivors of the German warship SMS Emden, including the captain, and transferred them as prisoners of war to British authorities in the Mediterranean. The Emden had been sunk in the Indian Ocean by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, one of the warships protecting the convoy of transports.

Arriving in Egypt in December 1914, Pinkerton and his unit established themselves at the Australian army camp at Mena outside Cairo. From early 1915 they undertook training in Egypt. In April, they prepared to land on Gallipoli. The 2nd Brigade, of which the 5th Battalion was part, was the second wave of troops who landed at the point of land known as Ari Burnu. The 5th Battalion were to be the first troops of this second wave, but their transport ship was delayed, and the battalion landed late. Once they had landed, their objective was to take the high ground.

When the Australians landed on Gallipoli, they faced heavy resistance from Turkish defenders. In the fighting on 25 April 1915 William Pinkerton was killed in action. He was 38 years old.

He was survived by his wife Annie, his daughters Edith and Thelma, and his son William. Today he is commemorated at Lone Pine Memorial in Turkey, one of nearly 5,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died on Gallipoli and have no known grave. His family was to know more grief during the war, when his brother, Private Walter Pinkerton, was killed in Belgium in October 1917.

Private William Pinkerton is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 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 Pinkerton, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section