The Walk of Remembrance traces a path through Esperance’s town centre, offering a space to reflect on the service and sacrifice of those connected to our community.

While the walk features 20 servicemen, they represent only a small number of the local men and women who served. Not every serviceman or woman has a known photograph, but information about all identified local World War I service personnel can be found in our local history archives.

Rather than telling every individual story, the walk invites visitors to consider the broader impact of service on families, the town, and the nation. It is a reminder of the courage, loss, and resilience that continue to shape our community today.

As you walk, take a moment to pause, reflect, and remember those who served and sacrificed, and the enduring legacy of their service to our nation.

 

1. Private Robert Henry (Bob) Blake was a grocer’s assistant in Esperance when he enlisted 15 February 1916. Served in the 28th Battalion during WWI, returned to Australia on 24 July 1919.

2. Private Keith James Daw was working as a shop assistant at his family’s Esperance store when he enlisted in November 1915. He left Australia with the 44th Battalion AIF in December 1916 and served in Europe. Keith was gassed twice during his service, leading to his returning home in January 1919.

3. Trooper Malcolm Sinclair Cook was a 30-year-old grazier from Israelite Bay. He enlisted for service in August 1916 and set off from Fremantle on board HMAT Port Sydney in May 1917. Malcolm spent two years on foreign soils with the 10th Light Horse Regiment before he returned to Australia in July 1919.

4. Private Frederick Cozens Daw was farming in Esperance when he enlisted for duty at the end of 1916. He departed Australian shores in January 1917 and served with the 44th battalion. Fred returned from the war in August 1918 and went to marry Florence Orr from Esperance, whose brothers had also served in World War one.

5. Private George Edward Doust was born in Esperance and was working as a labourer when he enlisted for service at the age of 28. George embarked from Fremantle on board HMAT A29 Suevic on 6 June 1916, disembarked at Plymouth, England on 21 July 1916 and proceeded overseas to France that November. He returned to Australia on board the Somali on 8 July 1919.

6. Private James Alfred Doust was born in Esperance in 1894. He enlisted in February 1915 served with the 28th Battalion in Gallipoli and on the Western Front.  He was wounded in 1916, returned to his unit the following year  and returned to Australia in early 1919.

7. Private Francis (Frank) Albert Victor Dunn was the son of Andrew and Mary Ann Dunn, who ran cattle and sheep at their property, Boyatup, east of Esperance. At the time of his enlistment Frank had been working as a woodcutter near Norseman.  He left Australia in October 1916, fell ill shortly after arriving in England, and returned home the following year.

8. Private James Richard (Jim) Dunn was working as a local horse driver when he first enlisted in April 1916. After being discharged medically unfit he enlisted again in November 1916.  He served with the 28th Battalion AIF on the Western Front, and was killed in action on 4 October 1917 at Passchendaele in Belgium. He has no known grave but he is named on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres.

9. Private William Henry (Bill) Dunn was a 27 year old station hand when he enlisted in August 1916. He served with the 11th Battalion in Europe.  In October 1917 Bill was wounded, and he returned home in March 1918.

10. Gunner Gordon James Cavanagh enlisted in January 1915 aged 19. He initially served with the 10th Light Horse in Gallipoli and was later transferred to the 4th Division Artillery Brigade, serving in Europe. He was awarded the Military Medal in November 1917 for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty”. Gordon returned to Australia in April 1919.

11. Corporal Archie Gordon Lewis was a farmer at Circle Valley when he enlisted in September 1914.  He served with the 16th Battalion, and took part in the landing at Gallipoli, when he was shot in the leg. After the evacuation of Gallipoli, he went on to serve on the Western Front. At the end of August 1916 he was wounded, passing away a few days later at the age of 26. Archie is buried in the Worloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension in France.

12. Private Charles Stephen (Charlie) Lewis, a farm contractor, enlisted in March 1915. He served with the 28th Battalion in Gallipoli, where he was wounded, and later the Western Front. He died of wounds in August 1916 and is buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery in France.

13. Private James Walter (Jim) Lewis was a 35-year-old farmer from Esperance, he served in the 16th and 32nd Battalions on the Western Front. He was the only one of James and Annie Lewis’ four sons to return from World War One.

14. Trooper John Percival (Percy) Lewis enlisted for service in 1914 and served with the 10th Light Horse regiment at Gallipoli.  He was killed in action at the age of 31 on7 August 1915 during the battle at the Nek. Percy has no known grave, but his name is included on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli.

15. Private George Charles Dickinson was 20 when he signed up in April 1916 alongside his old school mate Jim Jones. He left Australia on board the HMAT Suffolk that October and served with the 28th Battalion in Europe.  On 3rd May 1917 George was killed in action. He has no known grave but his name is among those on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in France.

16. Private Frederick Edwin Evans was a senior telegraph lineman at Israelite Bay when he enlisted in 1916. He served with the 46th Battalion in Europe. Fred returned home in August 1918 after being gassed and suffering multiple illnesses.

17. Trooper Malcolm Moore Sinclair of Israelite Bay enlisted for war in 1917 when he was just shy of 18 years of age. After initially being assigned to the Signallers Training Unit, he was transferred to  the 10th Light Horse Regiment. He returned in July 1919.

18. Sapper Thomas Andrew Stewart was working as a labourer when he enlisted in May 1917. He served with the 1st Tunnelling company in Europe before returning to Australia in late 1919.

19. Able Seaman Alfred (Alf) James Logan joined the navy as a 16 year old in January 1913, long before the war had started. By the time war was declared he had joined the Battle Cruiser HMAS Australia, and he remained with this ship until September 1919. Alf was discharged from the Navy in 1923.

20. Private Alexander Philip (Phil) Stewart was a 20 year old farmer at Dalyup when he signed up in April 1916. He served in Europe with the 11th Battalion AIF, returning home in January 1919 not long after suffering gas wounds.

 

Other servicemen not displayed on the remembrance flags

Private Clarence John (Jack) Doust was born in Esperance in 1896. He had joined the navy in early 1914, but in 1915 when his ship was at Sydney, he enlisted in the Australian Infantry Forces.  He served in the 53rd battalion and on 19 October 1917, at just 21 years of age, he was killed in action in Belgium. His name is one of 6000 Australians engraved on the walls of the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Flanders in Belgium.

2nd Lieutenant Neville James Heenan’s family owned the Pier Hotel in the early 1900s.  He was a law student when he signed up for the war in November 1915, and he served in Belgium and France. In 1917 Neville was awarded the Military Cross, after single handedly extinguishing a fire that threatened his unit and their ammunition. He returned to Australia in 1919.

Private Ernest Henry (Harry) Esperance Doust was born in Esperance and enlisted for duty in September 1917. He served in the Middle East in the 1st Light Horse Machine Gun Squadron, and returned home in July 1919, after having contracted malaria.

Lance Corporal Harry Togarmah Jenkins was a young farmer at Gibson when he enlisted in May 1915. He served with the 16th Battalion and was killed in action in France in April 1916. His parents, who had established the Gibson Soak Hotel shortly after his birth, planted a blue gum tree outside the hotel in his memory, which remains there to this day.

Corporal Edward (Ted) James McCarthy signed up for the war while in Adelaide In January 1916 and initially served in the 9th Light Horse Regiment. Later that year he was transferred to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade Machine Gun Squadron, and in 1917 he took part in the Battle of Beersheba. Ted returned to Australia at the end of 1919.

Lance Corporal James (Jim) Bransom Orr was the first of the three Orr brothers from Esperance to enlist in the First World War, in August 1914 only two weeks after war was declared. He served with the 3rd Field Company Engineers in Gallipoli and later on the Western Front. In October 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery in the Field. He was wounded in March 1918, and returned home that September. 

 

 

Please note: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented, the Shire of Esperance acknowledges that some details may be incomplete or contain errors.