Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

13/10/1916

Date of Discharge

15/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Claremont, Tasmania

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Jack'

Date of Birth

29/03/1897

Place of Birth

Brunswick, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Canberra ACT

Occupation

Mechanic

Next of Kin

James David Brilliant (father), Canberra ACT

Service Number

7438

Final Rank

Sergeant

Final Unit

40 Battalion AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW

Military Medal (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: 12 December 1918, page 2350, position 128)

Brilliant probably arrived in Canberra in 1911 when his father, James David Brilliant, was appointed as Clerk of Works. His father remained in Canberra until 1917 by which time he was Walter Burley Griffin's executive officer. Jack Brilliant worked as a mechanic, played football for the Power House and Queanbeyan Warrigals and won sprint races at sports carnivals.

He enlisted in Sydney on 19 May 1916 however, on 9 October 1916, he deserted the camp at Liverpool. At the time his father was involved in a Royal Commission investigating the administration of the Federal Territory. On 13 October 1916 he enlisted for the second time at Claremont in Tasmania, embarking in Sydney on 14 June 1917 and being taken on strength with the 40th Battalion in France on 29 January 1918. He was awarded the Military Medal for his actions on 18 April 1918 at Ville-sur-Ancre (near Albert) where he "rushed the enemy and bayoneted one of the party. He assisted in carrying back to our lines under heavy machine gun fire from both flanks, one of the enemy.. from whom identifications which were urgently required were obtained". On 13 July 1918 he was promoted to Sergeant but shortly afterwards was bayoneted in the knee. He rejoined his battalion as they fought along the north bank of the Somme River towards Peronne and took part in the 3rd Division's fight along Bouchavesne Ridge in September 1918. Later that month he was hospitalised with influenza, convalescing until December. Brilliant returned to Australia in May 1919 and was discharged in Sydney on 15 July 1919. He died at Lake Illawarra on 12 May 1973.

Description - height 5 feet 11 inches, weight 168 pounds, fair complexion, red hair, blue eyes, Catholic.

AWM Honours & Awards
Charles Bean, 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18' (Vol. VI, p.63)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Queanbeyan Age - 1 November 1912, 17 April 1914, 9 June 1914, 20 October 1914, 22 January 1915, 9 April 1915, 27 July 1915, 19 August 1919
Illawarra Mercury - 14 May 1973
Sydney Morning Herald - 14 May 1973
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Brilliant Redemption', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial