The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (330) Trooper Monaghan Raymond Hayes, 1st Light Horse Regiment, 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 (330) Trooper Monaghan Raymond Hayes, 1st Light Horse Regiment, AIF, First World War.

330 Trooper Monaghan Raymond Hayes, 1st Light Horse Regiment, AIF
KIA 31 July 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Monaghan Raymond Hayes.

Monaghan Hayes was born in 1894 in Cooma, New South Wales, the second son of William and Sarah Hayes. As a child, he attended Holy Cross Convent School in Cooma. After leaving school, he worked as a painter.

Known as “Monnie”, he had served in the cadets for a year, and was an accomplished horse rider. Eager to aid the Australian war effort, he joined the Australian Imperial Force in August 1914. He enlisted in the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment and underwent training at Rosebury Park in Sydney. After basic training, the unit sailed from Sydney in October, arriving in Egypt in early December 1914.

Hayes and the men of the 1st Australian Light Horse were the first mounted soldiers to be sent from Australia to fight in the First World War. However, horses were considered unsuitable for the steep and rocky terrain of the Gallipoli peninsula. As a result, the men of the Light Horse were deployed on Gallipoli without their horses. Hayes and his comrades landed on Gallipoli on 12 May 1915.

The men of the 1st Light Horse were deployed to the Monash Valley. Even away from the front lines, this area was dangerous ground. At the head of the valley was a hill held by the Turkish defenders, which allowed them to fire down the length of the valley. In the first week after their arrival, the Australian soldiers often came under heavy fire. On 19 May, the Turks launched a major offensive to take the Monash Valley. The soldiers of the Light Horse managed to repulse the charge on their section of the trenches, as did the rest of the Australian and New Zealand forces. Though a successful defence, it was a shocking introduction to trench warfare for the fresh troops of the 1st Australian Light Horse.

Less than a week later, Hayes was badly wounded by Turkish gunfire. He was evacuated to the Australian stationary hospital at Mudros, on the Greek island of Lemnos. He spent a month recuperating before rejoining the 1st Light Horse on Gallipoli.

At the end of that month, the Turks mounted an offensive on Walker’s Ridge, to the left of the position of the 1st Light Horse. Hayes’ unit was instrumental in turning back the attackers. At the beginning of July, Hayes’ squadron moved up to the front line and held Pope’s Post. Turkish artillery shelled the post and wounded some of the men of the 1st Australian Light Horse.

In mid-July, the regiment retired to a reserve position in the valley. But being stationed behind the front lines was no guarantee of safety. On 31 July 1915, as he slept in his dugout, Hayes was shot by a Turkish sniper and killed. He is one of 683 Commonwealth soldiers buried at Shrapnel Valley Cemetery in Turkey.

Hayes was survived by his parents, two brothers and two sisters. His grieving brother, Tom, who served in the 7th Light Horse Regiment and returned to Australia, named his son in honour of Monnie, and it has become a family tradition to honour his service in this way.

Trooper Monaghan Raymond Hayes 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 Trooper Monaghan Raymond Hayes, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section