The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6236) Private Frantz Albert Docking, 10th 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 , the story for this day was on (6236) Private Frantz Albert Docking, 10th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

6236 Private Frantz Albert Docking, 10th Battalion, AIF
KIA 6 May 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Frantz Albert Docking.

Frantz Docking was born on 1 May 1890, the fifth son of James and Marie Clara Docking of South Australia. His father was a farmer on the Yorke Peninsula. Frantz and some of his siblings were born at Nantawarra, near Port Wakefield. Frantz was educated at a number of different schools on the Yorke Peninsula, including at Bute, Penang, Copper Hill and Cunliffe. In 1905 James Docking moved to the Pinnaroo district, taking much of his large family with him. Frantz went too, and later took on a property at Rosy Pine. The Pinnaroo district had only recently been opened to settlement, and did not have a rail line at the time. A series of bad seasons from 1911 to 1914 saw Frantz Docking’s crops fail three years in a row, and in March 1914 he was declared insolvent.

Frantz Docking was in South Australia in early 1916 with his younger brother Claude. The two were particularly close, and decided to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, doing so on 1 May 1916. It was reported that “they were manly young fellows, and entered upon their duty with quiet determination to uphold the honour of the country and district.” Before going into camp, they returned to Pinnaroo, where a farewell social was held in their honour at the Rosy Pine Hall. Several friends gave speeches, and “all spoke of the popularity of the young men and the loss the district was sustaining by their departure.”

Frantz and Claude went into camp for training on 30 May 1916, and then left for active service overseas with reinforcements to the 10th Battalion on board the troopship Anchises on 28 August.

The Docking brothers arrived in England in October 1916. Frantz’s brother Claude was sick on arrival, and instead of going on to Salisbury Plain for further training, he was sent to hospital. Frantz completed his training and was sent to France in early December 1916, joining his battalion on the battlefield shortly after Christmas.

Private Frantz Docking arrived in France during one of the coldest winters in living memory. He spent weeks rotating in and out of the front line with the 10th Battalion, through freezing rain and snow. In February 1917 he succumbed to the flu, and was evacuated to a convalescent depot to recover.

Private Frantz Docking returned to the 10th Battalion on 19 February 1917. A week later, he was joined by his brother Claude, who had been detached for guard duties at 3rd Brigade Headquarters. As the brothers were reunited, the German Army had begun to withdraw to a prepared defensive position known to the Allies as the Hindenburg Line. The Australians were part of the force to follow the German withdrawal, and by early April were beginning to make attacks on the fortified outpost villages to the German line.

On 3 May Australian forces made a second major attack on the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt, following the first battle of Bullecourt in mid-April. The day after the battle began, the 10th Battalion was called forward, and reached the outpost village of Noreuil on 5 May. The following day the 10th Battalion went into the front line, a company at a time, to reinforce the 12th Battalion and ward off German counter-attacks. Over the course of the day the battalion took more than 20 casualties.

Among those killed were Privates Frantz and Claude Docking. Their mates later wrote home to the Docking family to report that the brothers were fighting side by side when they met their deaths, and it was assumed that they had been hit by the same shell. Their bodies were lost in later fighting, and today their names are commemorated side by side on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. Frantz was 27 years old; Claude was 24.

Their names are 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 Frantz Albert Docking, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section