15. Gallipoli Veteran’s Gravesite – Collie Cemetery
Gallipoli Veteran, 300 CSM George Francis ELLEMOR
Saluting their Service - Grahame Old
Died in the Collie Hospital on the 2nd February 1942, he was buried in the Collie Cemetery on the 4th of February 1942, plot C72. Sadly the WW1 veteran lay in an unmarked grave for 81 years. In 2023 the gravesite was discovered and the Collie Cardiff RSL Sub Branch erected a temporary Cross in honour of the WW1 soldier.
THE STORY
After lying in an unmarked grave at the Collie cemetery for 81 years, Gallipoli veteran George Francis Ellemor’s war service was recognized on Thursday 20 July 2023.
The service commenced with the opening address by Collie-Cardiff RSL Sub Branch President, Mr Gary Benton; We are gathered here this morning to pay homage to a soldier of the Great War. Service No 300, Company Sergeant Major, George Francis Ellemor, 11th and 51st Infantry Battalion’s AIF. A prayer for the Fallen was recited by Pastor Shayne Goldfinch and CSM Ellemor’s grave was marked with a white cross constructed by members of the Collie-Cardiff RSL Sub Branch. At 1100hrs the ‘ODE’ was recited, Last Post rang out followed by a minute's silence and ‘Reveille’.
A WW1 veteran now truly identified and at rest.
About George Francis ELLEMOR, 1892-1942
Military Service WW1
• At the outbreak of WW1 George Francis Ellemor was working with his brother Harry at the Worsley Timber Mill near Collie. Both brothers enlisted into the AIF in September 1914 and were posted into WA’s own 11th Infantry Battalion.
• On the 25th April 1915 at the Gallipoli landing both brothers went ashore with the 11th Bn.
• The brothers were both wounded at Gallipoli they survived and went on to serve on the Western Front in France. George was transferred to the 51st Infantry battalion prior to departure to France.
• George Ellemor was promoted to Company Sergeant Major, 51st Bn, in July 1917 in the field France. He was wounded on a second occasion in France.
• In August 1917 George was hospitalised in France with defective hearing and eyesight. No longer fit for active service he was returned to England for treatment.
• In December 1917, George Francis Ellemor was returned to Australia and discharged from service, medically unfit. (Defective hearing and vision resulting from wounds received at Gallipoli)
Post WW1 - (1919 to 1942)
• George married in 1919.
• It is known that George represented the country party and stood for the pastoral seat of Cue in the WA elections 1921, his listed occupation being pastoralist.
• George was working as a carpenter in Collie in 1942 when he became ill and was hospitalised. He died in the Collie Hospital on 2 February 1942 and was buried in this gravesite on the 4th February 1942 – (Church of Christ section plot C72).
• He was survived by his only son, Maurice, who died in Perth in 1974.
Post the year 2000
• Fast forward to the year 2022 and Tania Roberts from the Collie Shire Local Studies section, whilst researching gravesites at the Collie Cemetery, kicked a jam jar containing a letter from George Ellemor’s elderly nephew, Colin Newington and his wife. The letter gave detail of the person interned in the unmarked grave (George Francis Ellemor). Tania contacted Mr Newington and found the Jar had been placed there some years earlier by Mr Newington.
• After consultation with the nephew, Tania contacted the Collie Cardiff RSL Sub Branch Secretary, Grahame Old, to see if something could be done to have the grave properly marked.
• The RSL sprang into action and as an interim measure RSL members, Alan Bowers, Peter Tyler and William Goltz constructed and installed the white cross.
• The RSL then contacted DVA (War Graves) and requested an assessment of George Francis Ellemor’s service to see whether he was eligible for a War Grave Commemoration.
Gallipoli Veteran’s gravesite now officially marked with a War Grave
October 2024
In August 2023, on behalf of the elderly distant relative of George Ellemor, the Collie Cardiff RSL Sub Branch applied to the Dept of Veterans Affairs for an assessment of CSM Ellemor’s service records to ascertain whether he was eligible for an official cemetery commemoration. DVA approved the commemoration in July 2024 and on the 16th of October 2024 the gravesite was officially commemorated with a War Grave (see pics below).
One of the aims and objectives of the RSL is to preserve the memory and records of those soldiers who have suffered and died for Australia, and in the case of 300 CSM George Francis Ellemor that objective has now been reached.
‘Lest we Forget’