Centenary of Armistice: A soldier’s tour in pictures

One hundred years ago people around the world celebrated the end of the First World War. The

Armistice was signed at 11am on 11 November 1918.

After the Second World War, Armistice Day became Remembrance Day, a time to commemorate

soldiers from all conflicts.

In 1909, Arthur Bennett began working at the Queensland Railways in Ipswich as an apprentice fitter. In 1915 he volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The AIF were raised for overseas war service in 1914 and were a separate and purely volunteer army.

Mr Bennett became a drill instructor, rising to the rank of Sergeant-Major in the 4^th Pioneer Battalion.

The battalion consisted largely of volunteers drawn from Queensland and Mr Bennett served with many other Ipswich men in his unit. While they were trained as infantrymen they were also tasked with engineer functions with a large number of soldiers possessing trade qualifications from their civilian life.

Mr Bennett was wounded twice in Belgium from gas and mortar attacks and he spent two years in hospital recovering from his injuries. These injuries continued to burden him for the rest of his life.

A keen photographer, Mr Bennett took many pictures of his larrikin mates that he called ‘the Ipswich lads’.

Rosewood

RSL Memorial Hall

Mill St, Rosewood

From 10:15am

Goodna

Soldier’s Memorial Stone

Corner Queen and Church Streets

Goodna

From 10:40am