SERVICE PERSON DETAILS
Service Person’s
Name
Sylvester Sydney Day
Rank Lance Corporal
1155 Service Number
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
Family Details
16 th Battalion A I F / 4
8 December 1887 th Brigade
Adelaide, South Australia
Sylvester’s parents were Richard Barnes Day and Catherine Mary Martha Day (nee
O’Brien); Sylvester married Rosalind Mary (nee Robertson) on 1 September 1910.
Sylvester had two children, a son Robert Sydney Day born 24 March 1911 and a daughter Patricia Florence born 8 April 1914
Age at Enlistment
Place of Enlistment
27 years and 9 months
11 September 1914
Adelaide, South Australia
2 May 1915
The Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Turkey
Date of Death
Place of Death
Cemetery or
Memorial Name
Grave or Memorial
Number
PHOTO:
Lone Pine Memorial
51
Source: State Library of South Australia 2015, Sylvester Sydney Day, https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/8180996875/ (accessed 17 February 2015)

SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:
Prepared by Rhiannon Hassett
My great, great, great Uncle Sylvester Sydney Day was born in Adelaide on 8 December 1887. As a young boy he was educated at Christian Brother’s College and later as a young man at Adelaide University.
In 1902 Sylvester became a cadet of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of South Australia. Due to his courteous manner Sylvester became a favourite with the visitors of the institution, so he was appointed First
Library Assistant. Love was in the air in 1910 because that year he married Rosalind Mary Robertson on 1
September. Later on they expanded the Day family tree by 2, Robert Sydney born 24 March 1911 and Patricia
Florence born 8 April 1914.
Just five months after little Patricia was born, Sylvester enlisted on the 11 September, aged 27, and became a
Lance Corporal in the 16 th Battalion Australian Imperial Force Service No. 1155. To show their gratitude, his library colleges farewelled him with a party. Sylvester started his adventure in Melbourne where he embarked on the
HMAT A40 Ceramic on 22 December 1914. He finally got to Egypt in early February of 1915. It was there his battalion became part of the 4 th Brigade which was commanded by Colonel John Monash, the gentleman the university is named after in Melbourne.
As a part of the 4 th Brigade he landed at Gallipoli in the early evening of 25 April 1915. On the night of 30 April, after fighting the enemy at Pope’s Hill and Russell’s Top for five days, the 16 th Battalion was relieved by the 15 th
Battalion and sent to a spot known as Rest Camp where they stayed until Sunday 2 May.
Sylvester’s fateful time came on the night of 2 May 1915 when the 16 th Battalion attacked a hill called Bloody
Angle towards Quinn’s Post. It was on this night, through continual firing, that Sylvester Sydney Day was killed in action by a sniper.
He left behind a wife who received payment from the library which was four months long service leave which
Sylvester was entitled to when he enlisted. His children were four and one at the time of his death. Sylvester was laid to rest at Lone Pine Memorial in Turkey where his memory lives on.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bridge, Carl 1986. A trunk full of books: history of the State Library of South Australia and its forerunner, Netely,
South Australia.
Department of Veteran Affairs, 2010, ‘The 16 th Battalion AIF at Anzac, Gallipoli’, http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/1landing/s_sixteenth.html (accessed 17 February 2015)
National Archives, 2015,‘NAA: B2455, DAY S S’ http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3494327
(accessed 17 February 2015)
State Library of South Australia 2015, Sylvester Sydney Day, https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/8180996875/ (accessed 17 February 2015)