One hundred and two years after his death, a First World War Light Horseman has at last been duly recognised and included on the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour. The correction came after I alerted the memorial staff to the oversight. I shared the good news on West Bremer Radio this morning.

In August 1919, two Ipswich police constables retrieved from the Bremer River the floating body of a man wearing the uniform of the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment. The man was Private Ernest William Weeks (pictured above) who had slipped through the cracks when he’d tragically died just weeks after returning home but while still serving in the army.

The council of the Australian War Memorial in its most recent meeting approved Private Weeks’ inclusion. He is now listed in the roll of honour database and his name will be cast in bronze on roll of honour walls in Canberra.

Members of the council that voted to include Weeks include its chairman the businessman and philanthropist Kerry Stokes AC, former prime minister Tony Abbott AC, and Victoria Cross holder Corporal Daniel Keighran VC.

August had always been a significant month for Ernest Weeks: his parents were married on the 14th of August 1888 and he was born three years later, Ernest participated in his first fighting at Gallipoli in August 1915, he arrived home in Brisbane four years later on the 3rd of August 1919, was reported missing by friends on the 14th of August, and was found drowned on the 30th of August.

And now that Ernest William Weeks has been added to the Roll of Honour, for the first his name will be projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial on Saturday the 7th on August 2021 at 1:21am.

I first told the story on West Bremer Radio earlier in the year, it then became one of more than two hundred short stories here on History Out There, and it was picked up by the Brisbane Times.

Today I thank the staff and council of the Australian War Memorial for correcting the error of a century ago. Next time you go to the memorial in Canberra, please be sure to look up Ernest’s name on the brass plaques.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS NEWS BEING SHARED ON WEST BREMER RADIO

Photo credits:
Ernest Weeks c1915 – Helen Smith Dragon Genealogy HVS Research
Australian War Memorial brass honour roll 2014 – my own
Australian War Memorial projections 2015 – my own