The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1719/1591) Private Frederick Newman Brown, 1st 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 , the story for this day was on (1719/1591) Private Frederick Newman Brown, 1st Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1719/1591 Private Frederick Newman Brown, 1st Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA: 6–11 August 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Frederick Newman Brown.

Frederick Newman Brown was born to John and Elizabeth Brown in 1893, in Cambewarra, on the New South Wales south coast. The Brown family moved to Bondi, in Sydney, when Frederick was young, and he attended school there. After leaving school he worked as an armature winder, helping to build electrical components in a Randwick factory.

In January 1915, Brown volunteered for service in the Australian Imperial Force. He joined the Fourth Reinforcements to the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion and undertook initial training in Australia. He sailed from Sydney on the transport ship Argyllshire in April 1915. Brown volunteered with his brother-in-law, Albert Nelson, and the two men sailed to the war on the same ship.

The 1st Battalion had landed on Gallipoli in the second and third waves on 25 April. In late May, Brown and the men of the Fourth Reinforcements landed on the peninsula and joined their unit.

When Brown arrived in the trenches, the fighting was characterised by sapping, the process of digging mines under enemy positions and filling them with explosives. Sniper fire, trench mortar, and bomb attacks were also common, and as a result, life in the trenches was a nerve-wracking and dangerous experience.

British commanders were planning a major offensive for early August. Australian and New Zealand forces, including the 1st Battalion, were to capture a large plateau to draw Turkish troops away from the main attack. The plateau was dominated by a single large pine tree, and the battle that followed became known as the battle of Lone Pine.

As the sun set on 6 August, Brown and the men of the 1st Battalion attacked the plateau and found the Turkish trenches covered with logs. As a result, the men pushed over these front-line trenches and into the communication trenches behind, turning around and fighting at close quarters with the defenders.

At some point during this fighting, between 6 and 11 August 1915, Brown was killed in action. He was 22 years old.

Brown was initially buried near where he fell, but after the war many of the graves on Gallipoli were consolidated. His remains now lie in Lone Pine Cemetery, alongside more than 1,100 Commonwealth soldiers who took part in the Dardanelles campaign.

Brown’s brother-in-law, Private Albert Nelson, was also killed during the attack, and was buried in Lone Pine Cemetery.

In Australia, Brown was survived by his parents and two sisters. The war was to bring more sadness to the Brown household. Frederick’s older brother, Private John William Brown of the 2nd Battalion, was killed in France in August 1918. John had also been on Gallipoli in 1915.

Private Frederick Newman Brown 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 Frederick Newman Brown, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section