The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3822) Private George Lavender, 9th 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (3822) Private George Lavender, 9th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3822 Private George Lavender, 9th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
DOW 17 February 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private George Lavender.

George Lavender was born in 1888, the son of George and Jean Lavender, of “Thorn Hill” in North Richmond, about 70 kilometres north-west of Sydney.

After attending North Richmond public school, Lavender moved to Innisfail, in far north Queensland. Although his service records state that he was a labourer, he gave his trade as “plantation owner”.

Renowned for its sugar cane and banana industries, after European settlement the area was established with sugar cane plantations, primarily worked by large numbers of Kanakas. These people were indentured labourers from the South Sea Islands; many of them were recruited in a manner that amounted to kidnapping, and they were generally abused and reduced to near-slave status.

George Lavender enlisted for service in the Australian Imperial Force at Townsville on 20 September 1915. Two other men from Innisfail also enlisted that day: 18-year-old Ernest O’Brien, and 19-year-old Elwyn Smith, who probably worked at the nearby Goondi Sugar Mill near the Johnstone River. The three men were all marked as reinforcements for the 9th Battalion, and on 30 December 1915 embarked from Brisbane on the troopship Itonus.

By this time, the evacuation from Gallipoli was coming to an end, and the AIF was regrouping in the desert camps outside Cairo. Successful enlistment campaigns in Australia had generated thousands of new recruits who, like George Lavender, were arriving in Egypt at the same time as the men returning from the Dardanelles. The decision was made that the existing battalions would all be split, with half the experienced personnel joining new battalions.
The 9th Battalion was split to help form the 49th Battalion and was brought up to strength with reinforcements, and the men began training in preparation for fighting on the Western Front.

Lavender, Smith, and O’Brien all remained in the 9th Battalion.

O’Brien and Smith would go on to serve on the Western Front. O’Brien was awarded a military medal for “conspicuous bravery in the field and great assistance to Company Commander as messenger” and “devotion to duty in assisting wounded”, before returning to Australia in September 1917.

Smith was wounded by a shell which left him with a permanent injury to his left hand and scars on his left leg. He was given a medical discharge, and returned to Australia in July 1917.

Lavender would not return to Australia. On the afternoon of 17 February 1916, military police brought the body of a man to the 1st Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis. The identity of the dead man was determined by his identity disc: “3822 Lavender G 9th AIF”.

The cause of death was determined to be suicide: a gun-shot wound to the head. George Lavender was buried the same day at Cairo War Cemetery. His remains lie there today under the inscription, “Oh Lord, teach us from our hearts to say Thy will be done.”

Two days later, his family received the heavy news via telegram. George Lavender was 27 years old.

His name 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 George Lavender, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard, Editor
Military History Section