Welcome to the Montmorency Eltham RSL!

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 802 Private George Stewart Brown, a young man from our community who gave his life during the fighting on the Somme.

George Stewart Brown was born in Vermont, Victoria, and later lived in Mt Evelyn and Eltham. He was educated at Eltham Primary School and, before the war, worked as a labourer. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on this day, 3 February 1915 and joined the 21st Battalion, embarking from Melbourne aboard HMAT Ulysses in May that year.

Private Brown served through the Gallipoli campaign and later on the Western Front. In July 1916, the 21st Battalion was committed to the Battle of the Somme. George Brown was wounded during the fighting at Pozières, near the Chalk Pit, and died of his wounds on 5 August 1916 while in the care of the 5th Field Ambulance at Bécordel-Bécourt, France.

He is buried at the Becourt Military Cemetery.

Today, we honour the service and sacrifice of Private George Stewart Brown, remembering a life shaped by hard work, family, and community, and lost amid the terrible fighting of the Somme. His name, and his sacrifice, endure.

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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 998 Sergeant Reginald Emmerson Sims, a local man who served his country during the final, decisive year of the First World War.

Sergeant Sims was born in Horsham, Victoria, and later lived in Greensborough at a home known as “Camelot”. Before the war, he worked as a post office porter. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on this day, 2 February 1916 and joined the 37th Battalion, embarking from Melbourne aboard HMAT Persic in June 1916.

Sergeant Sims served on the Western Front through the heavy fighting of 1918 and was killed on 10 August during operations south of the Somme. Private Stanfield (No.3395) of the 37th Battalion recalls,

“Casualty was sniping on the Proyart Road. He was getting up to have a shot when he was hit by a machine gun bullet in the abdomen severely wounding him. I was sniping next to him and I immediately went to his assistance and helped to carry him out. I put him on a stretcher and was relieved by four stretcher bearers who took charge of him and they had not got very far when a shell exploded a direct hit killing the casualty instantly. I saw his body afterwards. He was severely wounded all over. He was buried just where he fell and I saw the cross that was to be put over the grave. He was buried alongside Lieut. Col. Knight”.

He is buried at Heath Cemetery in France.

Today, we honour the service and sacrifice of Sergeant Reginald Emmerson Sims, remembering a working man who answered his country’s call and gave his life in the closing months of the war. His name endures, both here at home and where he now rests among his comrades.

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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 3466 Private William Joseph Bond, a seaman by trade and a local man whose life was lost in one of the most tragic battles in Australian military history.

Private Bond was born in Stawell, Victoria, in 1892, and later lived in Bridge Street, Eltham. Before the war, he worked as a seaman. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 10 September 1915 and served with the 23rd and later the 59th Battalion. He embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Afric in January 1916.

After training in Egypt, Private Bond proceeded to the 6th Training Battalion at Zeitoun and later joined the 59th Battalion in the field. He sailed from Alexandria in June 1916 and disembarked in France later that month, just weeks before the battalion was committed to action.

On 19 July 1916, during the Attack at Fromelles, Private Bond was reported missing in action. A Court of Enquiry held in the field in August 1917 later confirmed that he had been killed in action on that date.

He has no known grave and is believed to have been buried where he fell in No Man’s Land. His name is commemorated at V.C. Corner in the Australian Cemetery at Fromelles, where the remains of 410 Australian soldiers killed in the attack were buried but could not be identified. Their names are recorded on the memorial rather than individual graves.

We honour the service and sacrifice of Private William Joseph Bond, remembering a young man who left home to serve, and who fell in the darkness of Fromelles, a battle that stands as a solemn reminder of the cost of war.

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