Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

26/10/1892

Place of Birth

Rochester, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Melbourne Continuation School

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Arthur Dawkins (father), Ferntree Gully, Victoria

Burial Place

Beach Cemetery (Gallipoli), plot 1, row H, grave 3

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

2 Field Company Engineers AIF

Died (killed in action) on 12 May 1915, Gallipoli, Turkey, aged 22 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 23, Canberra ACT
Roll of Honour, Parade Ground, Royal Military College, Duntroon
St. John the Baptist's Church, Canberra, Roll of Honour and Book of Remembrance

Dawkins was a teacher in Victoria when he was accepted in the first intake of cadets to the Royal Military College at Duntroon, entering the college on 22 June 1911. When war broke out his class was graduated early on 14 August 1914 and Dawkins was appointed as a lieutenant in the 2nd Field Company Engineers. He landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and was in charge of a section of men detailed to control the water supply for the Anzacs. Dawkins Point at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli is named after him as this was the place where he established his headquarters. He directed parties of men to sink wells in Victoria Gully and Shrapnel Gully and by the second day he had sunk twenty wells supplying 20,000 gallons of water. On 12 May 1915 he went out to cover one of the pipes about 200 yards north of Dawkins Point when a shell exploded nearby mortally wounding him in the head, throat and chest. He was buried the same day.

Description - height 5 feet 4 inches, weight 150 pounds, chest 34-37 inches, Church of England.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Collections Record : A04160, C03170, C05284, H06743
Judith Ingle, 'From Duntroon to the Dardenelles: A biography of Lt. William Henry Dawkins', 1995
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial