Anzac Day Stories

Lewis Gunner, Private Peter Joseph Reinhard of the 20th Battalion AIF

My Anzac Story is that of WWI, The Somme & a young man I never met who held a place in my grandmother, May Clayton’s, heart all her life & whose grave in France I visited for the first time in 2009 & again in 2011 & placed flowers there, the first family member ever to do so. Lewis Gunner, Private Peter Joseph Reinhard, of the 20th Battalion, AIF – who rests among rows of service men & women in the Military Extension of Albert Community Cemetery, died in the 57th Field Hospital, near midnight on July 27, 1916 from wounds inflicted while withdrawing from forward trenches in Pozieres...

Isobel Kachoyan

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Babington's Mistake

This is a poem "Babington's Mistake" written by John Sheehan. John was born in Ashburton, New Zealand in 1898 and died in WW1 in South Africa. He was with the 4th New Zealand Contingent, known as the "Rough Riders" or "New Zealand Bushmen", embarking from Wellington on the SS "Gymeric" 31 March 1900. John is my husband's Great Great Uncle....

By Ellen Martin

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Albert George Benner (Bert)

Bert was the youngest son of John Henry Benner (1842-1910) and Charlotte Green (1848-1908). He was born on the 28 October 1885 in Clonmel, Ireland. John Henry had been a Paymaster in the British Army stationed in Gibraltar, where he met his wife Charlotte. We understand Charlotte's mother was Spanish. After John retired they moved back to Ireland. Subsequently the family made the decision to emigrate to New Zealand, following John's younger brother ( also called Albert ) who had moved there in 1874...

By Gary T. Benner

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Remembering the 39th Battalion

The Silent Hero

A poem I wrote to remember the 39th Battalion who fought the japanese so bravely under overwhelming odds. The poem was read out at our local remembrance day ceremony several years ago and was printed and framed by the Shepparton RSL club....

By Bruce Cooke

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