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 239 Private James Joshua Pryor, one of the first from this community to fall in the First World War.

James Joshua Pryor was born in Eltham, Victoria, on 26 September 1883. Before the war, he worked in the furniture trade. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 17 August 1914 and joined the 6th Battalion, embarking from Melbourne aboard HMAT Hororata in October 1914. After training in Egypt, his battalion sailed for Gallipoli.

On 25 April 1915, Private Pryor went ashore at Anzac Cove as part of the second wave of the landing. During the fierce fighting that followed, he was wounded in Shrapnel Gully. A witness later reported seeing him lying shot, struck in the stomach and the leg, and noted that he did not appear to have moved when passed again later that day. Private Pryor was killed in action on the day of the landing; a date that would become known as Anzac Day.

He has no known grave. Instead, his name is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli.

Today, we honour the service and sacrifice of Private James Joshua Pryor, remembering a man who stepped ashore in the opening hours of Australia’s involvement in the war and gave his life on its very first day. His name endures, both here at home and on the ridges of Gallipoli where he fell.

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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 1814 Private Henry Albert Norman, a young man from Eltham whose life was taken in the violence of the Somme.

Henry Albert Norman was born in Eltham, Victoria, and before enlisting worked as a labourer. He joined the Australian Imperial Force on 11 June 1915 and served with the 22nd Battalion. He embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Demosthenes in July 1915 and was eventually sent to the Western Front.

In early August 1916, Private Norman’s battalion was thrown into the desperate struggle for Pozières. The fighting was relentless. Over two nights, the 22nd Battalion endured extraordinary losses, with hundreds killed or wounded as the men fought to hold their ground under constant fire. Though the position was held, the battalion was reduced to a fraction of its strength and was finally withdrawn, shattered by the scale of the casualties.

It was during this fighting, on 5 August 1916, that Private Norman was killed in action. He has no known grave.

His name is instead recorded at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

He stands among the many whose courage was measured not in years lived, but in duty fulfilled.

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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 4151 Private Edwin John Bird, a local man whose service ended in the final, hard-fought months of the First World War.

Edwin John Bird was born in Eltham, Victoria, and before the war worked as a labourer. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on
2 August 1915 and joined the 8th Battalion. He embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Demosthenes in December 1915 as part of the battalion’s reinforcements.

Private Bird served on the Western Front and experienced the full hardship of prolonged warfare. During his service he was wounded and evacuated to England, but after recovery he returned to his unit and resumed duty in France. In August 1918, the 8th Battalion took part in the Allied advance known as the Hundred Days Offensive, a period of intense fighting that would ultimately bring the war to an end.

On 11 August 1918, during fighting near the village of Lihons, east of Harbonnières, Private Bird was killed in action at the age of thirty. He has no known grave. Though he was buried near where he fell, his resting place could not later be identified.

Instead, his name is commemorated at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, and in Australia. At home, he is also remembered on the Eltham cenotaph, where his name appears as “Pte Edward Bird”, a small error that does nothing to diminish the sacrifice it records.

Today, we honour the service and sacrifice of Private Edwin John Bird, remembering a man who endured wounds, returned to duty, and gave his life in the closing months of the war. His name endures, both here in his community and among those who fell on the fields of France.

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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 2239 Private William Jonas Prior, a local man whose life was lost during the brutal fighting on the Somme.

William Jonas Prior was born in Eltham, Victoria, and before the war worked as a bricklayer. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 13 July 1915 and joined the 21st Battalion. He embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Hororata in September 1915 and later served on the Western Front.

In August 1916, the 21st Battalion was committed to the Battle of the Somme, fighting in the shattered landscape around Pozières and Mouquet Farm. Mouquet Farm stood on a commanding ridge and formed part of the German defensive system. Though the buildings had been reduced to rubble, deep stone cellars beneath the ground were incorporated into the defences, making the position extremely difficult to capture.

Between early August and early September 1916, repeated attacks were launched against Mouquet Farm by Australian divisions, at terrible cost. On 26 August 1916, during fighting near the quarry at Mouquet Farm, Private Prior was killed in action. The struggle for the position would ultimately cost Australian forces more than eleven thousand casualties, and the farm itself would only fall after being bypassed later in the campaign.

Private Prior is buried at Knightsbridge Cemetery at Mesnil-Martinsart in France, where many of those who fell on the Somme now rest, including numerous unidentified soldiers. His grave stands as a reminder of the scale and ferocity of the fighting.

Today, we honour the service and sacrifice of Private William Jonas Prior, remembering a young man from Eltham who endured the horrors of the Somme and gave his life in one of the war’s most costly battles. His name endures, both here at home and among the fallen of France.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

5 days ago

5080 Lance Corporal William Moore Crellin, a local son whose life was lost during one of the most costly battles fought by Australian forces on the Western Front.

William Moore Crellin was born in Eltham, Victoria, on 1 January 1880, and was educated at Eltham Primary School. Before the war, he moved to Manjimup, Western Australia as a timber worker. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on this day, 9 February 1916, embarking from Fremantle aboard HMAT Shropshire in March 1916.

In May 1917, Lance Corporal Crellin’s battalion took part in the Second Battle of Bullecourt, fought during the final phase of the British Army’s Arras offensive. The battle involved repeated attempts to capture the heavily fortified village of Bullecourt, protected by the Hindenburg Line. Australian and British troops attacked across open ground against deep trenches, barbed wire, and well-prepared German defences. Although Australian units succeeded in penetrating the enemy line, fierce resistance and relentless counter-attacks led to prolonged and costly fighting over many days.

On 7 May 1917, on the day Australian and British forces finally linked up and German counter-attacks intensified, Lance Corporal Crellin was killed in action. The battle would ultimately cost the Australian Imperial Force more than 7,000 casualties, making it one of the most costly engagements of the war for Australian troops, despite the limited strategic value of the ground gained.

Lance Corporal Crellin has no known grave. Instead, his name is commemorated at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, as well as on the Eltham cenotaph, albeit incorrectly as a Private.

Today, we honour the service and sacrifice of Lance Corporal William Moore Crellin, remembering a man who endured the brutality of trench warfare and gave his life in a battle marked by extraordinary courage and terrible loss. His name endures, both here at home and among the fallen of the Western Front.

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