SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH
SERVICE PERSON DETAILS
Service Person’s
Name
Rank
Service Number
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron
Arthur Charles Homer
Trooper
115
5th Australian Light Horse Regiment
Date of Birth
1889
Place of Birth
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Family Details
Father: Thomas Homer
Mother: Margaret Homer
Brother: Charles William HOMER – served in World War 1 - Service No. 4437
Age at Enlistment
Place of Enlistment
26
Brisbane
Date of Death
28 June 1915
Place of Death
Gallipoli, Turkey
Cemetery or
Memorial Name
Grave or Memorial
Number
PHOTO:
No known portrait photo
Shell Green Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula
II. K. 12.
Members of the 5th Australian Light Horse - Chermside, Queensland
Regimental Books - Australian Military History June 18, 2014
https://www.facebook.com/regimentalbooks/photos/a.431511564523.228961.327763524523/10152516859684524/
?type=1&theater
SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:
Prepared by Cade Mabo-Edwards
Trooper Arthur Charles Homer is one of the five known Aboriginal soldiers buried at Gallipoli. Trooper
Arthur Charles Homer was born in Bathurst, New South Wales in 1889. He was a labourer from Coraki,
Richmond River, NSW. He was 26 years old when he enlisted.
He joined the 5th Light Horse Regiment which was raised in Brisbane in September 1914, entirely from men
who had enlisted in Queensland, and became part of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. Sailing from Sydney on
21 December 1914, the regiment disembarked in Egypt on 1 February 1915.
The light horse were considered unsuitable for the initial operations at Gallipoli, but were subsequently
deployed without their horses to reinforce the infantry. The 2nd Light Horse Brigade landed at Cape Helles
on the evening of 18 May 1915 and was attached to the 1st Australian Division. The 5th Light Horse
Regiment played a defensive role for most of the campaign but was involved in several minor attacks.
On 24 May 1915, Homer took part in the armistice agreed to between the Australian and Turkish Forces.
The armistice, from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm, allowed the men to bury the enormous number of dead which
were lying between the two sides.
On 25 May he viewed the torpedoing of the British battleship, HMS Triumph which turned over and sank.
On 28 June, the 5th Light Horse Regiment took part in a diversionary attack at Gaba Tepe while the main
attack occurred at Cape Helles. The 5th Light Horse Regiment attacked the Turkish trenches towards Gaba
Tepe and towards the lower ridges of the Lone Pine position. The 5th Regiment moved along Harris Ridge
as far as the Balkan Gun Pits, where they were subjected to heavy machine gun and rifle fire from the
Echelon trenches. It was here that Trooper Arthur Charles Homer was killed in action.
Homer’s fellow soldiers fought on but were shelled by one of the British destroyers, off the coast, who was
not aware of the attack and assumed they were Turks. Eventually the 5th Light Horse Regiment was
ordered to withdraw to their trenches. The operation was considered a success but Homer along with 22 of
his comrades lost their lives that day.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Australian Light Horse 2015, History of the Fifth Light Horse Regiment 1914 – 1919,
http://www.anzacs.org/5lhr/pages/5lhr_history_full_a.html (Accessed 21 February 2015)
Australian War Memorial 2014, Roll of Honour: Trooper Arthur Charles Homer
https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1631608/ (Accessed 21 February 2015)
National Archives of Australia 2015, HOMER Arthur Charles: Service Number - 115
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/NameSearch/Interface/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=5833509&isAv=N
(Accessed 20 February 2015)
Spirit of Gallipoli 2015, Families - Homer, http://www.spirits-of-gallipoli.com/families/files/HOMER-ACGen.pdf (Accessed 21 February 2015)