The commemorative plaque erected in the memory of thirteen Lighthorsemen of the 11th Australian ...

The commemorative plaque erected in the memory of thirteen Lighthorsemen of the 11th Australian Light Horse, killed in action on 7 November 1917 near Gaza, Palestine. Listed on the plaque are: Chaplain Captain (Capt) William James Dunbar, a clergyman of Orange, NSW, killed while attempting to rescue a fallen trooper. Capt Dunbar originally enlisted as a Private and sailed to Egypt in 1916, where he was promoted to Captain in May 1917; 1152 Sergeant (Sgt) Thomas Alexander Rankin of Mitchell, Qld, who had served previously with the Queensland Mounted Infantry in the South African (Boer) War; 2787 Shoeing Smith Samuel Ross, a blacksmith of Byaduk, Vic; 1208 Lance Corporal Timothy James O’Neill of Edsvold, Qld; 1242 Trooper (Tpr) George Coleman, of Longreach Qld; 1930 Tpr William Joseph Coleman of Ballina, NSW; 1181 Tpr William Pateman Forster of Wembley Hill, England, who enlisted in Brisbane, Qld; 142 Tpr Cyril John Alfred Flynn, of Toowoomba, Qld; 1940 Tpr Arthur Ernest Hope of Longreach, Qld; 161 Tpr John James Hull, of Brisbane, Qld (originally of New Zealand); 1216 Trooper Stanley Oswald Robinson of Samford, Qld; 173 Trooper Henry Little of Dumfries, Scotland, who enlisted at Charters Towers, Qld; 175 Trooper William Jack Linedale of Atherton, Qld. This photograph is from an Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file relating to Captain William James Dunbar. The Bureau, which commenced operation in October 1915, sought to identify, investigate and respond to enquiries made regarding the fate of Australian personnel. It investigated the majority of personnel posted as wounded and missing on official Army lists, as well as written enquiries from concerned relatives and friends. Approximately 32,000 individual case files were opened for Australian personnel who were reported as wounded or missing during the First World War. The Bureau employed searchers to operate both at the front and in Britain. They searched official lists of wounded and missing, interviewed comrades of missing soldiers in hospitals and wrote to men on active service. Altogether 400,000 responses were sent back to those who placed enquiries with the Bureau.