Streets of Remembrance A-C

Find the streets that have received the Rising Sun or Royal Australian Navy badge as part of the Streets of Remembrance project. If you would like more information, phone Council on 07 3403 8888 or by email.

For the meaning of abbreviated titles on this page, view a table with abbreviations and meanings

Abbeville

Relevant street

  • Abbeville Street, Upper Mt Gravatt

Significance

Abbeville is a town in France between Paris and Boulogne. The town was never occupied by German troops and for much of the war was the headquarters of the Commonwealth lines of communication. From October 1914 to January 1920, Abbeville was the base of the No.3 British Red Cross Society, and No.5 and No.2 Commonwealth Stationary Hospitals. The No.3 Australian General Hospital was established there in 1916 to treat the casualties of the Battle of the Somme. Abbeville Communal Cemetery and its Extension (begun September 1916) contain 774 and 1754 Commonwealth burials from World War One.

Aeroplane

Relevant street

  • Aeroplane Street, Cannon Hill

Significance

Aeroplane Cemetery is a World War One Commonwealth Cemetery located in Ypres in Belguim, in the vicinity of Zonnebeke. The cemetery acquired its name from the wreck of an aeroplane on the site. After the Armistice in 1918, graves were brought in from surround small burial grounds and battlefields. There are now 1105 Commonwealth serviceman from World War One buried or commemorated there, including at least two Australians, with 636 burials unidentified.

World War One was the first conflict to use aircraft. While initially planes were basic, by the end of the war they had evolved and become differentiated into fighters, bombers and long-range bombers, as well as being used for reconnaissance.

Albury

Relevant street

  • Albury Street, Deagon

Significance

Charles Herbert Albury was a 24 year old labourer living in Sandgate when he enlisted in the 25th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force in August 1915. His wife, Mrs Madeline Albury, lived in Orchid Street in the Brookside Estate at Enoggera. He embarked in December and was transferred to the 47th Battalion at Tel-El-Kebir in March 1916. Albury was wounded in action in December 1916 and transported from Rouen, France to the Birmingham Hospital in England. By October 1917 he had recovered and returned to Lark Hill, France as a gunner. He was attached to the 11th Field Artillery Brigade. Albury embarked for Australia but was evacuated sick to hospital in Port Said in March 1919. Albury returned to Australia in 1919 and died in 1981.

Charles Herbert Albury is commemorated on the James Campbell & Sons Employees Roll of Honour and the Sandgate Residents World War One Participation Roll.

Aldershot

Relevant street

  • Aldershot Street, Sunnybank

Significance

At the beginning of World War One, Aldershot was the largest army camp in Britain. Housing two Infantry divisions, a Cavalry Brigade and large numbers of artillery, engineers, service and medical corps, it was base to about 20 per cent of the British home army.

In 1914, the units at Aldershot became the first corps of the British Expeditionary Force and the base ensured a steady stream of trained soldiers, as well as treating the wounded. There are 692 First World War graves in Aldershot Military Cemetery.

Australian officers on duty at the front were selected by General Birdwood to attend battalion command courses at Aldershot in 1917 and 1918.

Antill

Relevant street

  • Antill Street, Wilston

Significance

Major General John Macquarie Antill (1866-1937) was born at Picton, New South Wales. He joined the New South Wales Mounted Rifles in 1889 and was later sent to India for training. He was promoted to major in 1889, and commanded squadrons of New South Wales Mounted Rifles in South Africa in 1900 and 1901. Described as 'a dashing and capable leader', Antill, was appointed Companion of the Bath, twice-mentioned in despatches, awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with seven clasps, and made a brevet lieutenant-colonel. In World War One, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and appointed brigade major, landing at Gallipoli with the 3rd Light Horse. He returned to Egypt and in 1916 was promoted to substantive colonel and temporary bridgadier general. Antill commended the 2nd Infantry at Ypres and the Battle of the Somme before being evacuated to Britain due to illness. He returned to Australia in 1917 and became chief instructor of the Central Training Depot. For his war service, he was appointed a Companion of Saint Michael and Saint George and mentioned in despatches. Antill retired in 192 with the honorary rank of major general.

Anzac

Relevant streets

  • Anzac Avenue, Sandgate​
  • Anzac Lane, Moorooka​
  • Anzac Road, Carina Heights

Significance

Formed in 1915 during World War One, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was an army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.

Under the command of Lieutenant General William Birdwood, the ANZACs operated during the Battle of Gallipoli, and consisted of troops from both the 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force and the First Australian Imperial Force. Following the Allied evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula, the corps were disbanded in 1916 to form the I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps.

Armadale

Relevant street

  • Armadale Street, St Lucia

Significance

HMAT Armadale A26 was one of His Majesty's Australian Transports (HMAT) ships.

A fleet of transport ships was leased by the Commonwealth government for the specific purpose of transporting the various Australian Imperial Force formations to their respective overseas destinations. When not committed to military transport, these ships were employed to carry various commodity exports to Britain and France. The fleet was made up from British ships and captured German vessels.

Armadale weighed 6153 tonnes with an average cruise speed of 11 knots or 20 kilometres per hour. It was owned by the Australind Steam Shipping Company, London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 7 June 1917. The Armadale was torpedoed and sunk by a submarine off the coast of Ireland on 27 June 1917. 

Armentières

Relevant street

  • Armentières Street, Kedron

Significance

The Battle of Armentières was fought in October 1914 as German and Franco-British forces attempted to secure the coastline of the North Sea. The British Expeditionary Force joined French troops in repelling the German advance towards the coast.

Following the Gallipoli campaign, the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Australian Divisions were sent to the Belgium border to gain familiarity with new weapons of warfare, such as mustard gas. They then moved into the front-line trenches near Armentières. This relatively quiet area was dubbed ‘the nursery’, but the heavy shelling and raids resulted in the deaths of over 600 men. Here the actions of Private William Jackson earned him the first Victoria Cross to be awarded in France.

Arras

Relevant street

  • Arras Street, Yeronga

Significance

Arras is a town in northern France. During much of World War One it was 10 kilometres from the frontline and numerous battles were fought around the town and nearby at the Vimy Ridge. During 1914, German troops invaded and were then repelled by the French army. The French handed the town to Commonwealth forces in 1916 and the New Zealand Tunnelling Company (warfare unit) readied the medieval tunnels on which the town is built, for a major offensive in 1917.

The Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery in Arras has a Commonwealth section containing over 2650 burials from World War One, including 10 unidentified graves. The adjacent Arras Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 Commonwealth servicemen killed in the sector between 1916 and August 1918 and the Arras Flying Services Memorial commemorates almost 1000 airmen who were killed on the Western Front and have no known grave.

Aubigny

Relevant streets

  • Aubigny Street, Annerley

Significance

Aubigny-en-Artois is a town on the Somme in France. During World War One Aubigny was in the area of the French Tenth Army; then from 1916 it became an important base for Allied troops. The area contained the 1st Australian Division Battery Park, the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital and the 42nd Casualty Clearing (first aid) Station. Aubigny British Cemetery contains 95 World War One burials, one of which is unidentified. The 1918 extension was made by Australian units and contains 2771 Commonwealth burials.

Bapaume

Relevant street

  • Bapaume Road, Holland Park

Significance

Bapaume was a German-held village within sight of Australian trenches during the Battles of the Somme. At the beginning of 1917, the capture of this area seemed unlikely. However, in February, it appeared that the Germans were retreating towards what was called 'the Hindenburg Line'. Allied troops followed Australians jubilantly, advancing into the village in March. Unfortunately, booby traps and time bombs were left behind and a week later, men were buried and 25 were killed when the town hall exploded. The retreat was a feint by the Germans to withdraw to stronger, more defendable positions.

Bath 

Relevant street

  • Bath Street, Coorparoo

Significance

Bath War Hospital in England treated, along with many Australian soldiers, some of the Allied forces worst wounded soldiers in World War One.

Without sterile conditions and bandages, minor wounds often became more serious very quickly. With no antibiotics, gangrene and blood poisoning often took hold.

Beatham

Relevant street

  • Beatham Street, Sandgate

Significance

Robert Matthew Beatham (1894-1918) was a private in the 8th Battalion and was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1918 for charging and disabling four machine gun posts, despite being wounded. He died in a hail of machine gunfire on the second day of the Battle of Amiens on 9 August 1918.

Beaumetz

Relevant street

  • Beaumetz Street, Sandgate

Significance

Beaumetz is the location of both a hard-fought battle and a cemetery in France.

From February 1917, the German forces facing the Australians at the Somme began withdrawing to the Hindenburg Line. Australian troops pursued them and there was heavy fighting around a network of small villages. Vaulx-Vraucourt, Morchies and Beaumetz were among the towns captured.

It was reported in the Creswick Advertiser (Victoria) on 30 March 1917 that:

"The Australians fighting on the road at Cambrai encountered the stiffest opposition. An Australian division took Beaumetz...The Germans twice attacked the Australians with bombs north-west of Beaumetz, compelling a withdrawal towards the village. The Australians, reinforced and counter-attacked. Owing to the great superiority of the Australians, which prisoners freely admit, they re-advanced and occupied the farm ruins. Both sides were well supplied with grenades and fought hard, the Germans suffering severely."

Beauval

​Relevant street

  • Beauval Street, Kedron

​Significance

The town of Beauval is in the Somme department in northern France. The 4th Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) that treated casualties of war was located here from June 1915 to October 1916. The 47th CCS was here from October to December 1916. The Beauval Communal Cemetery contains 248 Commonwealth burials from World War One – 234 from the United Kingdom, five from Canada, eight from Australia and one from New Zealand.

Bedford

Relevant street

  • Bedford Street, Gordon Park

Significance

Bedford House Cemetery is a World War One Commonwealth Cemetery located in Ypres in Belguim near Zillbeke Village. Bedford House is the name given to Chateau Rosendal - a country house in a small wooded park surrounded by moats. The area was held by Commonwealth forces for much of World War One with the property becoming largely covered by small cemeteries. A total of 5139 Commonwealth servicemen from the First World War are buried or commemorated in the cemetery, of which 3011 are unidentified.

Beltana

Relevant street

  • Beltana Street, Lota

Significance

HMAT A72 Beltana was one of His Majesty's Australian Transports (HMAT) ships.

A fleet of transport ships was leased by the Commonwealth government for the specific purpose of transporting the various Australian Imperial Force formations to their respective overseas destinations. When not committed to military transport, these ships were employed to carry various commodity exports to Britain and France. The fleet was made up from British ships and captured German vessels.

HMAT A72 Beltana weighed 11,120 tonnes, with an average cruise speed of 14 knots or 26 kilometres per hour. It was owned by the P&O Steam Navigation Company in London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 14 September 1917.

Benalla

Relevant street

  • Benalla Street, Manly

Significance

HMAT A24 Benalla was one of His Majesty's Australian Transports (HMAT) ships.

A fleet of transport ships was leased by the Commonwealth government for the specific purpose of transporting the various Australian Imperial Force formations to their respective overseas destinations. When not committed to military transport, these ships were employed to carry various commodity exports to Britain and France. The fleet was made up from British ships and captured German vessels.

HMAT A24 Benalla weighed 11,118 tonnes, with an average cruise speed of 14 knots or 26 kilometres per hour. It was owned by the P&O Steam Navigation Company in London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 6 August 1917. 

Berrima

Relevant street

  • Berrima Street, Wynnum

Significance

HMAT A35 Berrima was one of His Majesty's Australian Transports (HMAT) ships.

A fleet of transport ships was leased by the Commonwealth government for the specific purpose of transporting the various Australian Imperial Force formations to their respective overseas destinations. When not committed to military transport, these ships were employed to carry various commodity exports to Britain and France. The fleet was made up from British ships and captured German vessels.

HMAT A35 Berrima weighed 11,137 tonnes, with an average cruise speed of 14 knots or 26 kilometres per hour. It was owned by the P&O Steam Navigation Company, London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 10 October 1917.

Birdwood

Relevant streets

  • Birdwood Road, Holland Park West/Tarragindi​
  • Birdwood Road, Carina Heights
  • Birdwood Street, Coorparoo​
  • Birdwood Street, Zillmere​
  • Birdwood Terrace, Auchenflower​
  • Birdwood Terrace, Toowong

Significance

Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood, a senior officer in Britain’s pre-1914 Indian Army, was appointed in December 1914 to the command of the Australian and New Zealand forces then assembling in Egypt. These units were soon formed into a corps, the ‘A and NZ Army Corps’, of two divisions – the first Australian Division Australian Imperial Force commanded by Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges and the New Zealand and Australian Division, commanded by Major General Sir Alexander Godley.

Blackburn

Relevant streets

  • Blackburn Street, Moorooka
  • Blackburn Lane, Moorooka

Significance

Brigadier Arthur Seaforth Blackburn VC, CMG, CBE, ED was born in 1892 and became the first South Australian to receive the Victoria Cross in World War One. Blackburn was among the first to enlist in the 10th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force in 1914. He was the Battalion Scout at the Gallipoli landing and served throughout the campaign and in France in 1916. On 23 July at Pozières, Second Lieutenant Blackburn led a party of 50 men in four successive bombing parties to destroy an enemy strong point. There was fierce opposition and many casualties, but 366 metres of trench was captured establishing communication with the rest of the battalion. This ‘most conspicuous bravery’ and dogged determination earned him the Victoria Cross in 1916.

Blackburn was awarded service medals for both wars, the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, and long service and coronation medals as well as being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1946, and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1955.

Blamey

Relevant streets

  • Blamey Street, Kelvin Grove

Significance

Field Marshall Thomas Albert Blamey (1884-1951) is perhaps best known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces in World War Two. However, when World War One was declared in 1914, Blamey was already a captain in the Australian Military Forces.  Blamey landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and led a patrol behind enemy lines to locate Turkish guns. Promoted temporarily to lieutenant-colonial, he returned to Egypt to help form the 2nd Australian Division in Egypt in 1915.

In 1916 on the Somme, Blamey was promoted to Chief of Staff. Soon afterwards, promoted further to temporary brigadier and Chief of Staff of the Australian Corps, Blamey helped Lieutenant General Sir John Monash plan the battle of Hamel in 1918, which crucially broke the Hindenburg line.

Bohain

Relevant street

  • Bohain Street, Moorooka

Significance

Bohain Station Military Cemetery was initially made by the Germans, with plots of graves added by the British in October 1918. The cemetery contains 806 German graves, 155 British, 14 Russian, 12 French, one Italian and one Romanian. Allied graves were later added to the nearby Premont British Cemetery. This was used by four Casualty Clearing Stations located here after the British 6th Division captured Bohain in preparation for the Battle of the Sambre. Premont Cemetery in Bohain-en-Vermandois contains the graves of Australian Imperial Force soldiers who died of wounds and diphtheria.

Boorman

Relevant street

  • Boorman Street, Sunnybank

Significance

R.N. Boorman enlisted from the Sunnybank District in World War One. No records of his service have been found to date, although the Sunnybank District Honour Roll for the Great War 1914-18 in the Sunnybank RSL Memorial Hall records that he was killed in action.

Borella

Relevant street

  • Borella Street, Sandgate

Significance

Albert Borella (1881-1968) was a second lieutenant in the 26th Battalion and was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1918 for “most conspicuous bravery in attack”, (London Gazette, 13 September 1918, page 11075). Borella ran into a machine gun barrage at Villiers-Bretonneux and single-handedly captured the gun which would have shot advancing Australian troops. He led his men to capture the trench and 30 prisoners. Weeks later he was invalided home due to wounds and illness.

Bovelles

Relevant street

  • Bovelles Street, Camp Hill

Significance

Bovelles is a location in France, halfway between Arras and Bapaume, where fighting occurred between the Germans and the French. In 1917, the Germans claimed that they forced back the French at Bovelle Ride, near Cerny, after bitter hand-to-hand fighting and downing 75 enemy aeroplanes. Months later, the French proclaimed that they regained the enemy-occupied territory between Les Bovelles and Chevrigny Spur.

Bovelles Street contains an Anzac Cottage built on donated land by volunteers. It was given to the widows of soldiers killed in the war or soldiers returning with tuberculosis and disabilities.

Burton

Relevant street

  • Burton Street, Indooroopilly*

Significance

Corporal Alexander Stewart Burton VC was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross with two companions for conspicuous bravery during an engagement with the Turkish forces at Lone Pine. Burton was born in Kyneton, Victoria in 1893 and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force when the war broke out. He was posted to the 7th Battalion and fought in the trenches from 1915.

On 9 August, the Turks advanced on a newly-captured trench held by Corporal Burton, Lieutenant Frederick Tubb, Corporal William Dunstan and others. The Turks destroyed the sandbag barricade but were repulsed and the barricade was rebuilt by Tubb, Burton and Dunstan. The barricade was destroyed twice more and twice rebuilt, although Tubb was wounded and Burton killed by a bomb as he reconstructed a parapet.

Burton’s final resting place is unknown but his name is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli and by an oak tree at Euroa, Victoria. His Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth’s highest and most prestigious award, was presented to his father, who later wore it for the homecoming of Tubb and in 1967 donated the VC to the Australian War Memorial.

*The street may also have been named for Private Thomas Burton, a member of the third contingent fighting in the South African War whose family lived in nearby Musgrave Road, Indooroopilly and who returned home wounded in August 1900 – although the street is not so-named before 1916.

*In 1922 there was also a Councillor Burton in the Indooroopilly Progress Association and local Shire Council. In the 1890s George Burton was active in the local school committee and a meeting of the Indooroopilly Divisional Board was held at “Burton’s Hill”- although there is no Burton Street in the 1924 Refidex.

Canberra

Relevant street

  • Canberra Street, Hemmant

Significance

SS Canberra was one of His Majesty's Australian Transports (HMAT) ships.

A fleet of transport ships was leased by the Commonwealth government for the specific purpose of transporting the various Australian Imperial Force formations to their respective overseas destinations. When not committed to military transport, these ships were employed to carry various commodity exports to Britain and France. The fleet was made up from British ships and captured German vessels.

SS Canberra weighed 7707 tonnes with an average cruise speed of 16 knots or 31 kilometres per hour. It was owned by the Australian Steamships Ltd (Howard Smith), Melbourne.

Cartwright

Relevant street

  • Cartwright Street, Taigum
  • Cartwright Street, Windsor

Significance

George Cartwright (1894-1978) was a private in the 33rd Battalion, which attacked a formidable enemy position at Mont St Quentin in 1918. Cartwright single-handedly captured a machine gun post and nine soldiers, enabling the troops to advance. He was awarded the Victoria Cross by King George V, having been evacuated to England after suffering head and arm wounds in the attack on the Hindenburg line.

Castleton

Relevant street

  • Castleton Street, Hamilton

Significance

Sergeant Claud Castleton VC was born in England in 1893, but emigrated to Australia in 1912. Castleton was an itinerant worker and at the outbreak of the First World War was in New Guinea prospecting for gold. He made his way to Port Moresby and joined a local force in charge of communications and coastal defence. He returned to Australia and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1915. The Battalion reached Gallipoli in August and took part in the attack on Hill 60. He was promoted to Corporal in December and temporary Sergeant in February 1916. Castleton transferred to the Australian Machine Gun Corps and was a Sergeant in the 5th Machine Gun Company serving on the Somme.

On the night of 28 July his unit took part in an attack on enemy trenches at Pozières Heights in France. The infantry were driven back by intense machine gun fire and shelling with numerous casualties. Many of the wounded were left in ‘no man’s land’ lying in shell holes for hours. Castleton went out twice in the face of withering fire to carry back wounded men. Tragically he was hit in the back on his third mission and died instantly, aged 23. Castleton was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his conspicuous bravery. His body was retrieved and Castleton is buried at Pozières British Cemetery at Ovillers-la-Boiselle, France. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Castleton Street, Hamilton was called Maud Street until 1938 when Council renamed streets with names duplicated in more than one suburb.

Chaprowe

Relevant street

  • Chaprowe Road, The Gap

Significance

In 1956, The Gap Progress Association requested that Council name a road off Settlement Road in honour of Mr Chapman and Mr Rowe, who served with the first A.I.F and were early residents of the district.

Robert Auburn Chapman enlisted in February 1916 at age 38 and fought in France. After the war he lived on portion 103 parish of Enoggera adjoining what is now Fish Creek and Chaprowe Road. Samuel Ruewenzori Kerangosi Rowe enlisted in June 1916 at age 18 and served with the Field Engineers in France before living on portion 104 at the end of the war. The portions were part of the Enoggera Soldiers Settlement Group formed under the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act of 1917. Chapman and Rowe occupied the land under a Perpetual Lease and paid annual rents from 1921 and 1923 respectively.

Soldier Settlements were established in outlying districts with the aim of providing returned soldiers with land that they could farm to support themselves and their families. Unfortunately, many were abandoned as often the land was unsuitable for the intended purpose, and the soldiers lacked the resources and skills to be successful.

Chowne

Relevant street

  • Chowne Street, Fig Tree Pocket

Significance

Born on 19 July 1920 in Sydney, before the outbreak of the Second World War, Lieutenant Albert Chowne VC, MM had worked in the retail sector and was a keen sportsman. On 27 May 1940, Chowne enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force having briefly served with the Militia's 36th Battalion.

Chowne deployed to the Middle East with the 2nd/13th Battalion and served at Tobruk in 1941. He returned to Australia with his unit in January 1943 where they were deployed to New Guinea. Chowne was awarded the Military Medal for his actions at Finschafen in September 1943. He was commissioned as an officer in late-1943.

In October 1944, he joined the 2nd/2nd Battalion, which then deployed to New Guinea. On 25 March 1945, he was involved in an action in the hills southwest of Dagua. During this action he knocked out two Japanese machine guns but was killed in action. For this action he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. As the citation for his VC noted:

"The superb heroism and self-sacrifice of this officer, culminating in his death, resulted in the capture of this strongly held enemy position, ensured the further immediate success of his Company in this area and paved the way directly for the continuance of the Division's advance to Wewak."

On 15 March 1944, Chowne married Daphne Barton, a Corporal in the Australian Women's Army Service whom he had known before the Second World War. His wife received his VC from the Governor-General, the Duke of Gloucester in 1946. He is buried at the Lae War Cemetery, Lae, New Guinea.

Combles

Relevant street

  • Combles Road, Camp Hill

Significance

Combles is a village in northern France in the Somme district. Combles was taken by the II Royal Bavarian Corps in September 1914. During the Battle of the Somme in 1916 it was used as a shelter for German reserves, supplies and engineering stores and as a staging area for reinforcements. British and French troops recaptured the village and supplies in September 1916 and it remained in Allied control until March 1918. Combles Communal Cemetery was made for French and British burials in October and December 1916, with a Guards’ Cemetery operating from September 1916.

On 24 March 1918, German troops recaptured Combles and German graves were added to the cemetery. The Allies again recaptured Combles during the Second Battle of Bapaume in August 1918.

While some graves have been removed from the cemetery, others from nearby smaller wartime cemeteries have been added. There are now over 1500 World War One graves in the Combles Communal Cemetery Extension with over half unidentified. There are also nearly 200 casualties in the Guards’ Cemetery with more than 10 unidentified. Special memorials are erected in both cemeteries to particular soldiers from the United Kingdom and South Africa, including those whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

Corbie

Relevant street

  • Corbie Street, Ashgrove

Significance

Corbie is a small town 15 kilometres east of Amiens on the Somme where the ANZACs fought the German advance, which was halted at Villers-Bretonneux. Corbie was heavily shelled by the Germans in April and May 1918 in their attempt to capture the strategic hub of Amiens. On 21 April 1918, combined Australian and Canadian gunfire brought down the famous German fighter the ‘Red Baron’ a few hundred metres north of Corbie.

With German troops massing south of Villers-Bretonneux, an anticipated assault was overshadowed by aerial ‘dogfighting’ between planes from both sides. The German ‘Red Baron’, Captain Baron Manfred von Richthofen, Germany’s greatest ace pilot, was shot down over Australian lines, either by the Lewis gunners of the 53rd Battery, Australian Field Artillery or a Canadian pilot in the air.

Cresswell

Relevant street

  • Cresswell Street, Sunnybank

Significance

Sydney Cresswell was a 20 year old farm hand when he enlisted in the 15th Infantry Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in September 1914. His father was George Henry Cresswell of Acacia Ridge and later Browns Plains. Private Sydney Cresswell was killed in action on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 8 August 1915.

Arthur Herbert Cresswell was just over 18 years old and a farm hand when he enlisted in the in August 1916. His mother, Mrs Cecilia Cresswell, lived at Browns Plains, via Kingston, on the South Coast Line. Cresswell embarked from Melbourne in December 1916 and marched into the Australian Depot at Belton Park after disembarking at Plymouth, England. He spent some time in an isolation hospital before undertaking training in Folkestone. Cresswell was stationed in Rouen in September 1917, but was wounded in action in October and transported to England for treatment for leg wounds. Private Cresswell returned to duty in France and was assigned to the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion AIF. He remained in France and was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's despatch in May 1915. For this, he was awarded two oak leaf badges in 1920.

Sydney and Arthur Cresswell are commemorated on the Sunnybank District Honour Roll for the Great War 1914-18 in the Sunnybank RSL Memorial Hall.

Currey

Relevant street

  • Currey Avenue, Moorooka

Significance

Private William Matthew Currey (1895-1948) attempted to enlist in World War One twice, but was unsuccessful due to his youth and medical reasons. Following a successful third attempt, he fought at Polygon Wood, Amiens and then at Peronne with the 53 Battalion of the 14th Brigade. Currey was awarded the Victoria Cross for 'conspicuous gallantry and daring'. In September 1918, he twice dashed forth and single-handedly captured machine gun posts. Currey later carried a message to withdraw to a company isolated by shelling and gunfire. Despite being gassed, he located the company and returned with valuable information. Currey's disregard of danger inspired his comrades and saved countless lives.

Cutler

Relevant street

  • Cutler Avenue, Moorooka

Significance

Sir Arthur Roden Cutler (VC, AK, KCMG, KCVO, CBE) (1916-2002) joined the Australian Imperial Force in May 1940 having been commissioned in the Sydney University regiment in November 1939. He served as a forward observer with the 2/5th Field Regiment in Syria in mid-1941. In this capacity, he courageously directed artillery fire against the enemy, was involved in military action and assisted medical evacuations. At Merdjayoun, Cutler was wounded while laying a communications line under heavy fire. He subsequently lost his leg after lying isolated and exposed for six hours. Cutler was presented with the Victoria Cross in June 1942 and went on to have an illustrious career as a diplomat before being appointed as Governor of New South Wales in 1965.

Table of abbreviations and titles

AbbreviationMeaning
AKKnight of the Order of Australia
CBECommander of the Order of the British Empire
CMGCompanion of the Order of St Michael and St George
EDEfficiency Decoration
KCMGKnight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
KCVOKnight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
VCVictoria Cross

 

Last updated:

Brisbane City Council acknowledges this Country and its Traditional Custodians. We pay our respects to the Elders, those who have passed into the dreaming; those here today; those of tomorrow.