Welcome to the Montmorency Eltham RSL!

Montmorency Eltham RSL

14 hours ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 1978 Private Henry Bernard McAlary, a clerk from Eltham who gave his life in one of the most significant battles fought by Australian troops on the Western Front.

Henry Bernard McAlary was born at Nagambie, Victoria, and was living in Grove Street, Eltham, when he enlisted on 19 June 1915. He joined the 21st Battalion and embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Anchises in August 1915. He served during the latter part of the Gallipoli campaign before illness saw him evacuated. After recovering, he returned to duty and later served in France.

In early 1917 he was wounded by shrapnel in the back, but after treatment in England he once again rejoined his battalion in time for the Third Battle of Ypres. On 4 October 1917, the 21st Battalion advanced as part of the attack on Broodseinde Ridge, a carefully planned assault that struck German forces just as they were preparing their own attack. The battle was fierce and fought in appalling conditions, yet it resulted in one of the most successful advances achieved by Australian forces in the war.

Amid that intense fighting on Broodseinde Ridge, Private McAlary was reported missing. A later Court of Enquiry determined that he had been killed in action.

He has no known grave.

His name is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, alongside thousands who fell in the battles around the Salient. At home, he is remembered on Eltham cenotaph.

Today we honour the service and sacrifice of Private Henry Bernard McAlary a man who stood with his battalion in the attack at Broodseinde and gave his life on that hard-won ridge in Belgium. His name endures among those who secured one of the defining victories of the Australian Corps in 1917.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

22 hours ago

Two Free Band Nights back to back this week!

🎶Friday 20th February - Research Blues Club 7pm
Featuring Paul Buchanan's Blues Xpress

🎸Saturday 21st February - BLUSH Band 8pm
Live music featuring funk, classic rock and dance anthems!

Come on down and enjoy these two nights of music!
No booking required! These are free events!

🍽Meals can be purchased upstairs until 8.30pm!

#montmorency #BandNights #freeevents #livemusic #entertainment ... See MoreSee Less

Montmorency Eltham RSL

2 days ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 2440 Private Kenneth Gordon Sharpe, a husband, father, and working man whose war ended not in battle, but in illness, only days before peace was declared.

Though born at Lobethal in South Australia on 26 July 1891, Kenneth Sharpe’s family ties drew him into the Greensborough district. Before enlistment, Kenneth was living in North Fitzroy with his wife, Eunice and their young children and worked as a wool carter’s assistant.

Kenneth enlisted on 4 July 1916 and joined the 3rd Pioneer Battalion, embarking from Melbourne aboard HMAT Karroo in September of that year. The Pioneer battalions were trained as infantry, but also carried out engineering and labouring tasks, digging trenches, laying light railways, building strong points and clearing battlefields. It was demanding, exposed work, often carried out under fire.

On the Western Front, Kenneth endured repeated illness and the effects of gas warfare. In May 1918, during a heavy mustard gas bombardment near Villers-Bretonneux, large numbers of his battalion were evacuated suffering burns and eye injuries. He returned to duty, only to be gassed again in September 1918. Invalided to England, he was recovering at Hurdcott in Wiltshire when influenza swept through the camps.

On 8 November 1918, just three days before the Armistice was signed, Private Kenneth Gordon Sharpe died at Fovant Military Hospital from influenza and broncho-pneumonia. He was buried with full military honours at St George’s Churchyard, Fovant, Wiltshire, his coffin borne on a gun carriage and draped with the Australian flag. Among those present were his brothers, themselves serving members of the Australian forces.

He was twenty-seven years old.

Today we honour the service and sacrifice of Private Kenneth Gordon Sharpe, a man who endured gas, sickness, and the long strain of war, and whose life was claimed just as the guns were about to fall silent.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

3 days ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 1339 Lance Corporal Charles Frederick Bromfield, a young Australian whose war did not end on the battlefield, but in captivity, only days before the armistice was declared.

Charles Frederick Bromfield was born at Childers, Victoria, and later lived in Thorpdale, Gippsland. He was educated at Eltham Primary School, hence his connection with the district. He worked as a farm labourer before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 6 October 1914. It appears he understated his age to gain acceptance. He joined the 14th Battalion and embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Anchises in December 1914.

Charles served through some of the fiercest fighting of the war. He was wounded in the hand in August 1916, but returned to duty within weeks. In April 1917, during the fighting near Reincourt in the Bullecourt sector, he was again wounded, suffering shrapnel injuries to his thigh, knee, and elbow. After being reported missing, it was later confirmed that he had been captured.

As a prisoner of war, he was eventually transferred to internment in Switzerland. There, weakened by hardship and captivity, he contracted influenza which developed into double pneumonia. On 7 November 1918 and aged just twenty-one, Lance Corporal Bromfield died at Interlaken Camp — only four days before the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918.

He was first buried at Unterseen Cemetery in Switzerland. After the war, his grave was re-interred at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Vevey, Switzerland, where he now rests among other Allied servicemen.

Today we honour the service and sacrifice of Lance Corporal Charles Frederick Bromfield, a young man who endured wounds, captivity, and illness, and whose life ended just as the guns were about to fall silent.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

4 days ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 4169 Private Herbert Francis Creed, another local whose life was lost in the fierce fighting on the Somme.

Herbert Francis Creed, or Bert as he was known, was born in Richmond, Victoria, and before the war worked as a painter. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 23 July 1915 and joined the 8th Battalion. He embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Demosthenes in December 1915 and later served on the Western Front.

Though a Richmond man by birth and residence, his connection to the Eltham district came through family ties to the property known as “The Hawthorns” which was located on the northern corner of Main Road and John St, Eltham. It is through that connection that his name is remembered here.

In July 1916, the 8th Battalion was engaged in the bitter struggle for Pozières. On 24 July 1916, Private Creed was wounded in action during the fighting. He was taken to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance at Becourt Château, but died of his wounds later that same day.

He is buried at Becourt Military Cemetery in France, among many who fell in the early and devastating weeks of the Somme campaign.

Today we honour the service and sacrifice of Private Herbert Francis Creed, remembering a man whose life was claimed in the storm of Pozières, and whose name endures in the memory of this community and among the fallen of France.
Today, we honour the service and sacrifice of Private Herbert Francis Creed, remembering a man whose life was claimed in the storm of Pozières, and whose name endures in the memory of this community and among the fallen of France.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

5 days ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 1844A Private Arthur William Brown, a clerk from New South Wales who was educated at Research State School and whose life was lost in the bitter fighting at Pozières.

Arthur William Brown was born in 1878 in New South Wales. He enlisted in Melbourne on 4 August 1915 and joined the 29th Battalion reinforcements before embarking aboard HMAT Demosthenes in October 1915. He later joined the 14th Battalion and was sent to the Western Front in France.

In August 1916, his battalion was committed to its first major action in France at Pozières. The fighting there was relentless and devastating. On 9 August 1916, during the struggle for the ridge, Private Brown was killed in action. He has no known grave.

His name is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France and on the Eltham Cenotaph. Of the fighting at Pozières, the Australian official historian Charles Bean wrote that the ridge “is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.”

Private Brown’s sacrifice was not isolated. His cousin, Private Charles Fiddes Brown, was later killed in action at Ploegsteert, Belgium — another family touched deeply by war.

Today we remember Arthur William Brown, one of the many whose lives were given in the storm of Pozières, and whose names endure in the memory of this community.

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