Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

27/10/1914

Place of Enlistment

Liverpool NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Ernie', also referred to as 'Sam'

Date of Birth

08/04/1888

Place of Birth

Majura ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Queanbeyan NSW (previously Duntroon ACT)

School(s) Attended

St. John's School (Canberra), Williamsdale School

Occupation

Labourer

Next of Kin

Son of John Mayo (deceased) and Wilhelmina Ellen Mayo (nee O'Donnell) of Duntroon, Jerrabomberra, Tharwa and Queanbeyan. Brother of John Charles Mayo (5402, Private 54th Battalion) who was killed in action on 15 May 1917.

Service Number

1098

Final Rank

Sergeant

Final Unit

13 Battalion AIF

Died (killed in action) at Bullecourt, France on 11 April 1917 aged 29 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 70, Canberra ACT
26 Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France
Memorial plaque to Ernest Frederick and John Charles Mayo in Christ Church, Queanbeyan NSW
Memorial plaque in porch of Christ Church, Queanbeyan NSW
World War 1 Memorial, corner of Lowe St and Farrer Place, Queanbeyan NSW
Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Queanbeyan Public School Roll of Honour, Isabella St, Queanbeyan NSW

There is no Roll of Honour Circular for this man. Mayo's father Jack worked for the Campbell family of Duntroon and was probably employed on their various properties in the district. Records show that Ernie attended school at Williamsdale and he had a younger sister born at Rob Roy (Royalla). When his father died in 1903 the Mayos were living at the Anderson cottage in the modern-day suburb of Campbell and shortly after that at the old St John's schoolhouse (see Hewitt) where Mayo attended school during the 1890s.

Mayo was living in Queanbeyan when he enlisted in Liverpool on 29 October 1914. He landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 with the 13th Battalion and was wounded twice in the first week and evacuated to Egypt. He returned to Gallipoli in August 1915 and was involved in the attack on Hill 60. He arrived in France in June 1916 and participated in the fight at Pozieres and the attack on Mouquet Farm in August 1916. The following March he was promoted to Sergeant and took part in the First Battle of Bullecourt on 11 April 1917 where he was killed in action as the 13th Battalion were forced to retire through "a hail of bullets from 4000 rifles and 15 machine guns". There is no known burial place for Mayo but he is commemorated on the national memorial near Villers-Bretonneux. He was the younger brother of Charlie Mayo who was killed a month later at the Second Battle of Bullecourt.

Description - height 5 feet 8 inches, weight 172 pounds, chest 34-37½ inches, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, Church of England, no civil convictions.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
Wendy McLennan, 'The Mayo Connection', 1996
Peter Procter, Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan, Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001 (p.75)
Our Queanbeyan 'Boys' No.2, Howard & Shearsby, Yass (postcard)
Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Students roll, Schoolhouse Museum, St John's, Reid
Hope Hewitt, 'Canberra's First Schoolhouse', 1987 (p.94)
Thomas A. White, 'The Fighting Thirteenth', 1924
Queanbeyan Age - 18 October 1912, 24 November 1914, 21 May 1915, 19 November 1915, 7 December 1915, 4 May 1917, 22 May 1917, 29 June 1917, 24 July 1917, 29 June 1917, 9 April 1918
Queanbeyan/ Canberra Advocate - 18 May 1916
ArchivesACT - (AA1968/269.5) Williamsdale Register of Admissions and Class Roll
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'Swinging the Banjo from Gallipoli to Bullecourt', ACT Heritage Library, www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial