The Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG) cares for the official commemorations of more than 321,000 Australians who died during war (or after a war or conflict) and whose deaths have been determined to be related to their war service. Commemorations are located in more than 2,300 cemeteries, crematoriums and Gardens of Remembrance around Australia. The number of official commemorations grows by 2,500 - 3,000 each year.
The Office also cares for 13,000 of Australia’s war dead of the world wars who are at rest in 75 war cemeteries and plots in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon and Norfolk Islands.
Commemoration for a veteran can take the form of an ashes placement in a crematorium, or at a burial in a general or lawn cemetery. Some eligible veterans and their families choose to have a private memorial, but take up the option for OAWG to place a plaque in one of 10 Gardens of Remembrance around Australia. All official commemorations are maintained in perpetuity by the OAWG.
Not all ex-service men and women are eligible for official commemoration. Many who return after service in the two world wars, and died in the decades that followed it, are at rest and commemorated in places organised and cared for by family.
Of the 270,000 service men and women who returned to Australia at the end of WWI, many were laid to rest in unmarked graves. While there are no available statistics, the Office of Australian War Graves believes that this is likely due to the war and its impact on physical and mental health, productivity and lifestyles, as well as prevailing economic conditions like the Great Depression.
Private Leslie Thomas Simpson (originally known as Thomas Leslie Simpson) was born on 15 August 1882 in Port Pirie, SA. Before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force he worked as a labourer at Morphettville. Private Simpson embarked from Hobart on 20 October 1914 on the transport ship, Geelong, and served with the 12th Infantry Battalion in France and Belgium for the duration of the war. During the second Battle of Bullecourt in May 1917, while on stretcher-bearer duties, he and another soldier were awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field.
Private Simpson was discharged on 31 January 1919 in Australia. He never married and died on 27 June 1928, aged 45 years.
The recent centenary of WWI has resulted in many Australians examining family and community military history. Around Australia, they, along with historical, ex-service and cemetery groups, often passionate volunteers, have been discovering men like Leslie Simpson.
In 2018 the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Darren Chester announced a 2-year pilot program that provides financial support for work of these individuals and groups. The program offers up to $450 per application to assist with the costs of a grave marker to identify the grave of WW1 veterans interred in unmarked graves.
To date 133 applications have been submitted to the Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG), who administer the program. Amongst them is one for Leslie Simpson. His resting place, unmarked since his death, will shortly be/is now identifiable with a headstone and bronze plaque that attests his war service.
All Australian veterans are entitled to have the relevant service emblem on a privately arranged memorial, the cost of which is borne by the family, estate or interested party. The OAWG under Section 83 of the Defence Regulations, provides the permission to incorporate the relevant service emblem for individual Australian service men and women only.
OAWG can help veterans and their families to access information about using the service emblem, and direct any enquiries about entitlements to the appropriate team within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. For further information please contact OAWG by using the toll-free number 1800VETERAN or via email at wargraves@dva.gov.au.
Note: Danielle Chervatin is an Information and Administrative Officer for the Office of Australian War Graves.