Australia's Last ANZAC

Mr Alec William Campbell, Australia's last ANZAC

Alec William Campbell (26 February 1899 – 16 May 2002) was the final surviving Australian participant in the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. His death broke the last living link of Australians with the Gallipoli story. Image File history File links A picture of the last Australian ANZAC, Mr Alec William Campbell File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links A picture of the last Australian ANZAC, Mr Alec William Campbell File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Battle of Gallipoli took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli in 1915 during the First World War. ... World War I was a basically European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns and poison gas. ...

At the age of 16, Campbell left his job as an insurance clerk and lied about his age to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915. Not even being old enough to shave, Campbell gained the nickname 'The Kid' during his training in Hobart. One of his cousins had died already at Gallipoli and the idea of Campbell's deployment terrified his parents. He landed at ANZAC Cove in early November 1915 and assisted in carrying ammunition, stores and water to the trenches. Illness forced his evacuation in December 1915 and Campbell was formally discharged in 1916. He only fought in the war for six weeks. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was the name given to two all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, Australia had a very small regular army and reservists in the Australian Citizens Military Forces... 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Later in life, Campbell was a union organiser in the Launceston and Hobart railway workshops and an organiser with the Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners (now part of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union). He was president of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Rail Union between 1939 and 1941 and president of the Launceston Trades and Labor Council between 1939 and 1942. He completed an economics degree at the age of 50. A lover of sailing, he built boats and competed in six Sydney to Hobart yacht races. Launceston City Council, Tasmania Launceston is a small city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, population of approximately 98,000, located at the juncture of the North Esk, South Esk, and Tamar rivers. ... View from the port of the city centre and Mt Wellington Hobart is the state capital of Tasmania, Australias island state. ... The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is Australias main trade union in construction, forestry and forest products, mining and energy production. ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... Wooden sailing boat Sailing is motion across a body of water in a sailing ship, or smaller boat, powered by wind. ... The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day) and finishes in Hobart. ...

Suffering a chest infection, the condition of the 103-year-old veteran deteriorated with Mr Alec William Campbell passing away peacefully in the presence of his wife, Kate.

As Australia's last ANZAC he represented the last physical link with the campaign that forms a large part of Australia's nationial identity described by Prime Minister John Howard "a unity of purpose and a willingness to fight against the odds". Campbell never understood the intense public attention on his later life and his longevity and was unhappy at times that he was lauded by conservative politicians who ignored his later union activity.

He realized the public attention also was because of his longevity. Every year Mr Alec William Campbell would lead the ANZAC Day Parade in Hobart. In 2002 he sat in his car, before the parade, and shook hands with dozens of young children. ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Australian War Memorial, 25 April 2005, 90th anniversary Australia and New Zealand commemorate the ANZAC Day public holiday on the 25th of April every year to honour the bravery and sacrifice of the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), and of...

In recent months his legs were no longer able to support him and he became confined to a wheelchair.

Last December, at 102, Mr Alec William Campbell still used a walking frame while unveilling an ANZAC memorial stone at Hobart's Anglesea Barracks.

Like many veterans, he was reluctant to talk about his times in the trenches, dodging the bullets in a barren, bitterly cold country. The blizzards of late 1915 were one thing that he did remember.

Despite his very short war, Mr Alec William Campbell went on to have a full life in Hobart. He put himself through university, gaining a degree at fifty years of age. He loved sailing, built boats and sailed in six Sydney to Hobart races.

Alec also worked on the first Parliament House in Canberra 1927 and went on to work in the union movement. He fathered the last of his nine children at the age of sixty-nine.

Tasmanian Returned and Services League (RSL) State President Ian Kennett, said that Mr Alec William Campbell was a great Australian.

"We must also remember that he lead a full and happy life and put his energies, upon returning to Hobart, back into his career and family."

Mr Alec William Campbell is survived by his wife, Kate, thirty grand-children, thirty-two great grand-children, and two great-great grand-children.

A state funeral at St David's Anglican Cathedral for Private Alec William Campbell, 15th Battalion 1 Australian Imperial Force (AIF), was held in Hobart on May 24, 2002. A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. ...

External Link:

ANZAC Database