The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of QX21002 Private Christopher Wilson Carter, 6th Battalion, AIF

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 QX21002 Private Christopher Wilson Carter, 6th Battalion, AIF

QX21002 Private Christopher Wilson Carter, 6th Battalion, AIF
KIA 9 May 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Christopher Wilson Carter.

Christopher Carter was born in 1887, the son of Marjorie and Christopher Wilson Carter of Greenwald, a small rural community in south-west Victoria.

His mother’s parents were thought to be an Englishman with the surname of Etchison, and a Gunditjmara woman who was reportedly brought up from infancy by Mrs. Flora Robertson of Connewarren Station near Mortlake.

Young Christopher attended the local Greenwald Public School.

In May 1916 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He entered camp at Ballarat, and from there went to Broadmeadows camp in Melbourne, where he trained until 11 September 1916, when he embarked on the troopship Euripides, bound for overseas service.

Arriving in England in late October, Carter joined the 6th Battalion in France towards the end of 1916.

By then, the battalion had taken part in the landing at Anzac Cove and the later evacuation, and then returned to Egypt to reorganise before joining the war on the Western Front.

Having fought at Pozieres in France and Ypres in Belgium in 1916, the battalion returned to the Somme in winter, undertaking defensive duties and patrols into no man's land.

In early 1917, German forces pulled back to the Hindenburg Line, a series of defensive positions that had been built to strengthen German lines during the winter of 1916 and 1917.

After an initial assault around the village of Bullecourt failed to penetrate the line, British commanders made preparations for a second attempt. Artillery began an intense bombardment of the village, which by 20 April had been virtually destroyed.

An infantry assault was finally set for the early morning of the 3rd of May. Elements of the 2nd Australian Division attacked east of the village, hoping to pierce the Hindenburg Line, while British troops attacked Bullecourt, which was finally taken and held. German resistance was fierce, and when the offensive was called off in mid-May, few of the initial objectives had been met.

On 9 May 1917, Christopher Carter was killed in action near Bullecourt. There was some initial confusion about the manner of his death, but later reports were found, indicating that Carter and another man had been hit by a high explosive shell near a support trench at Bullecourt. The trench collapsed, but the men were dug out. Carter was described as having suffered from “serious head wounds” and was “fearfully crushed and knocked about”; he died just after he was freed. He was buried alongside the trench and his identity disc placed on a piece of board to identify the grave.

Christopher Carter was 30 years old.

His gravesite was lost during later fighting, and today he is commemorated at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, which lists 10,773 names of soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force who have no known grave.

A memorial service was held in Carter’s home town, with the Hamilton Spectator reporting:
One of the largest congregations that had ever been present at St Aldan Church, Greenwald, attend on Sunday to mark the respect in which the late Private Carter who was recently reported killed in action, somewhere in France, was held, and at the same time to indicate their deep sympathy for the bereaved parents and family. The church was draped in purple and white, together with the British Flags and autumn flowers.

Christopher Carter’s 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 Christopher Wilson Carter, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section