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Thursday, 22 March 2012
Page: 4005

Ms SMYTH (La Trobe) (13:57): As we approach Anzac Day I would like to reflect on and honour the story of one Anzac from my electorate of La Trobe who died in the service of this country. Berwick local Arthur Norman Tetley enlisted on 16 September 1914 as a trooper with the rank of private in B squadron of the 8th Australian Light Horse and was subsequently promoted to lance corporal. Arthur received gunshot wounds to the right knee and abdomen at Lone Pine, Gallipoli. How Arthur received his wounds is recorded in a letter from Sergeant WA McConnon:

He was wounded in the Light Horse charge at Anzac on 7th August. A line of machine-gun bullets caught him just above the knee. Though the wound was bad, it was reckoned he could recover.

Sergeant McConnon was right: Arthur's wounds were indeed serious. He died on 8 August 1915 at the age of 26 while being transported aboard the hospital ship Delta from Gallipoli to Lemnos. His eagerness to stay with his unit was evident. Despite being reported sick before the Suvla landings he had returned to his regiment only a few days before he was wounded. As Sergeant McConnon wrote:

He was far from right at the time but dodged sick parade so that he could play his part in our advance.

Arthur fell at one of the most memorable attacks in Australian military history. The 8th formed the first two waves of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade's tragic attack on the Neck at dawn on 7 August and they suffered heavily. Arthur was buried at sea on 8 August 1915 between Anzac Cove and Lemnos. It is recorded that his personal effects amounted to his prayer book and his horsewhip. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. I honour his memory.