Once-forgotten Claremont battalion receives first memorial in more than 20 years with 15-hour service

A once-forgotten battalion raised in Claremont during World War I will be commemorated with a 15-hour service this Saturday after a local teen discovered the unit had gone without any memorial in more than 20 years. Luca Muir Anderson said the lives of more than 2000 soldiers who served in the 44th Australian Infantry Battalion would be remembered during a dawn-to-dusk memorial at the Perth War Cemetery in Nedlands. It will be the first time the battalion has had an official memorial since the early 2000s, thanks to the Australian army cadet, whose interest in war history led him to discover the largely forgotten WWI unit. “I’ve always been interested in military history,” he said. “Earlier this year, I discovered that this unit, called the 44th Battalion, was the only major unit in WA that’s not really commemorated in any way.” Mr Muir Anderson embarked on a mission to memorialise the battalion and the 2800 soldiers who served in it over three years, working with Christ Church Grammar School to revitalise the banner so he could march for it at an Anzac Day ceremony. “We got Christ Church Grammar School, which is in Claremont, to redo the banner . . . which remains very faithful to its original design from 1916,” he said. The Battalion was raised at Claremont Showground midway through the Great War, and its men went on to fight in the trenches in Belgium and France between late 1916 and 1918. Sadly, the unit suffered significant casualties during its fight on the western front. “It suffered pretty heavy casualties. About 20 per cent of all soldiers died, and about 70 per cent were casualties in some way,” Mr Muir Anderson said. “At any time there’d be about 1000 men in a battalion . . . but by the last battle there were only 80 men left capable of fighting, so it got pretty shattered.” The 44th Battalion was disbanded in 1919. Mr Muir Anderson, along with other interested people and an army of volunteers, is working to create an online directory that will include a biography for each soldier who served in the unit. “If you go to the Australian War Memorial website, it will only really say when they’re born, when they died, what unit they served in, but it’s important to also get their whole life story,” he said. “So I’ve had to get lots of volunteers . . . but we’re hoping to set up some workshops at the local libraries where just regular people can come in and help write up a biography of a soldier.” Mr Muir Anderson also hopes to get the ball rolling to be able one day to establish a physical memorial for the battalion. “All the other major units in WA have a memorial,” he said. “We’d want to establish it in one of two places: either Kings Park, because that’s where most of the other major memorials are, or somewhere in Claremont, as that’s where the unit was raised.” Saturday’s dusk-till-dawn ceremony will commemorate all 15 of the unit’s WWI battles, with local schools, cadets and officials — including WA Governor Chris Dawson — attending throughout the day. “Each hour will commemorate a different battle, and during that hour, a few hymns will be played by the band, as well as poems and short stories read out,” Mr Muir Anderson said. “But the main thing we’re doing is reading out the names of the around 480 soldiers that were killed.” “So every hour, we’re reading out about 40 names, as well as where they are from, what their job was, and what battle they died in.” The entire WA Fire and Emergency Services Band — which was formed by 44th Battalion veterans more than 100 years ago — will join the day’s main ceremony at 11am.