Barellan Anzac honoured at Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will commemorate the service and sacrifice of Barellan resident Sergeant George Harley Sutherland at the Last Post Ceremony on Saturday 26 April 2025.

“George Sutherland was born in Aberdeen, Scotland on 30 March 1893. Aged 19, he emigrated to Australia in 1912 and found work on a farm in Barellan, in the Riverina region of NSW,” Australian War Memorial historian Thomas Rogers said.

Sutherland volunteered for service in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1914.

Allocated to the 1st Battalion, Sutherland was among the second and third waves of troops that landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Two days later he was wounded. After recuperating at a British hospital on Malta, he rejoined his unit on Gallipoli in June. The battalion took part in the battle of Lone Pine in August 1915.

In November, Sutherland was evacuated to England with influenza. By the time he returned to duty in August 1916, the 1st Battalion had relocated to France.

On 16 September 1917, Sutherland was struck by a shell fragment and killed in action as German artillery bombarded Australian positions at Ypres in Belgium. He was 24 years old.

The Last Post ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day except Christmas Day in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial.

Each ceremony shares the story behind one of 103,000 names on the Roll of Honour. To date, the Memorial has delivered more than 4,100 ceremonies, each featuring an individual story of service from colonial to recent conflicts. It would take more than 280 years to read the story behind each of the 103,000 names listed on the Roll of Honour.

“The Last Post Ceremony is our commitment to remembering and honouring the legacy of Australian service,” Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.

“Through our daily Last Post Ceremony, we not only acknowledge where and how these men and women died. We also tell the stories of who they were when they were alive, and of the families who loved and, in so many cases, still mourn for them.

“The Last Post is now associated with remembrance but originally it was a bugle call to sound the end of the day’s activities in the military. It is a fitting way to end each day at the Memorial.”

The Last Post Ceremony honouring the service of Sergeant George Harley Sutherland will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/awmlastpost.

The stories told at the Last Post Ceremony are researched and written by the Memorial’s military historians, who begin the process by looking at nominal rolls, attestation papers and enlistment records before building profiles that include personal milestones and military experiences.

HANDOUT images:

www.awm.gov.au/collection/C57108

www.awm.gov.au/collection/C57152