The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2024) Lance Corporal Sidney John Treweek, 18th Australian Infantry 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 David Sutton, the story for this day was on (2024) Lance Corporal Sidney John Treweek, 18th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2024 Lance Corporal Sidney John Treweek, 18th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
DOW 11 April 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Sidney John Treweek.

Sidney Treweek was born in Gundagai in 1892, the eldest son of Sydney and Sarah Treweek. The family lived in nearby Grahamstown, and Jack, as he was known, went to school at Shepherdstown and Adelong. After leaving school, he worked as an engine fitter in the district.

In 1915, Treweek enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He travelled to Liverpool camp outside Sydney, and trained there for a number of weeks. In August, he set sail on the transport ship Runic, bound for Egypt. He continued his training at the army camps there, before arriving on the Gallipoli peninsula in mid-October and joining his unit, the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion. By this stage of the campaign, the battalion was acting in a defensive role near Courtney’s Post.

Treweek wrote a letter to his parents describing his experiences on Gallipoli. Of the snow falling in November, he wrote: “It was a very pretty sight, but that never made up for the cold.” He described the successful withdrawal of British forces from the peninsula in late December, noting that he had been suffering from mild jaundice. Once on the island of Mudros, he was ordered to hospital to recover. After the difficult conditions on Gallipoli, he was grateful to spend Christmas and New Year’s in the care of the medical staff.

The 18th Battalion received reinforcements in Egypt, and the men trained there for the winter months. In March, they sailed for Marseilles, and from there travelled to the north of France to join the fighting on the Western Front. At this time, the region near the Belgian border was known as the “Nursery Sector”, a comparatively quiet area where soldiers would become accustomed to the rigours of trench warfare.

In June 1916, the 18th Battalion was stationed in the front line at Bois Grenier, south of the French city of Armentieres. One night, a company of men from the unit charged across no man’s land and raided the German trenches, capturing four prisoners. During the fighting and subsequent German artillery barrage, Treweek was wounded in his hip and leg by shell fragments.

Treweek was evacuated to hospital in northern England, where he recuperated for three months. He then travelled south to the army camps on Salisbury Plain, where he continued his training into the summer of 1917. He rejoined his battalion in France in August 1917.

In late 1917, the British commanders began planning a large-scale attack on the German forces in Flanders, around the Belgian town of Ypres. The 18th Battalion took part in two of the battles aimed at capturing the high ground behind the village of Passchendaele. The first was the battle of Menin Road in September, and the second was the battle of Poelcappelle in October. As a result of the heavy losses that the unit suffered in these actions, Treweek was appointed to the rank of lance corporal.

Late in December, as the battalion remained in the region of the Franco-Belgian border, Treweek suffered a minor facial wound from a bomb, but he was back at duty within two days.

Treweek took a fortnight’s leave to England in March 1918, but returned to duty when the Germans began what was to be their final major offensive of the war. The 18th Battalion, and most of the Australian units in the north, were rushed south to the Somme sector to defend the major rail-hub city of Amiens. In April, the unit was resting in billets behind the front line when a German artillery barrage began falling. Treweek was in a house that was struck by a shell and he was badly wounded in his right leg. He was evacuated to a casualty clearing station, but died of his wounds two days later, on 11 April 1918. He was 25 years old.

Jack Treweek was buried at Namps-au-Val British Cemetery, alongside more than 400 French and Commonwealth soldiers of the First World War.

Two other Treweek men served in the AIF. Jack’s younger brother, Private William Treweek, served in the light horse and transferred to the artillery. He was badly wounded at the beginning of 1917 and returned to Australia in early 1918. Jack’s uncle, Private Jim Treweek, also served in the artillery and returned to Australia in October 1919.

Lance Corporal Sidney John Treweek 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 Sidney John Treweek, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section