Next-of-kin plaque: Second Lieutenant Claude Arthur Boone, 54th Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'CLAUDE ARTHUR BOONE'.

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Claude Arthur Boone was employed as a clerk with the Perpetual Trustee Company Limited of Sydney, when he enlisted in the AIF on 4 August 1915, aged 30. After initial training he was appointed a second lieutenant and posted to the 16th Reinforcements to the 2nd Battalion. Boone left Sydney for Egypt aboard HMAT A71 Nestor on 9 April 1916. On arrival there he was transferred 1 Platoon, A Company of the newly raised 54th Battalion, and moved with them to France in June.

The battalion fought its first major battle on the Western Front at Fromelles, on 19 July. It was a disaster. The 54th was part of the initial assault and suffered casualties equivalent to 65 per cent of its fighting strength. Boone was one of those killed. Witnesses said he was killed at the head of a trench called Pinney's Avenue by a 5.9 inch high explosive shell a few minutes before his Company went over the top in the advance to Fromelles, late in the afternoon of 19 July. Someone had drawn his attention to the fact that he had accidentally dropped his field glasses (binoculars) and he was hit, and 'almost blown in two' as he moved back 10 yards to pick them up. His remains were buried in the Anzac Cemetery at Sailly-sur-la-Lys on 21 July.

Educated at Sydney Grammar School, Boone had been a prefect there and champion rower. He retained his interest in rowing, joining the Mercantile Rowing Club after he left school, and was captain of the Mosman Rowing Club at the time of his enlistment. When news was received of his death the club named one of their boats 'Claude Boone' in his honour.

This commemorative plaque was sent to Boone's widowed mother, Margaret, in 1922. Boone's younger brother, Lionel Jack Boone, also served in the war, as a gunner in the 26th Battery, 7th Field Artillery Brigade. He survived the war but died in 1924.