Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Date of Discharge

31/08/1916

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

18/02/1893

Place of Birth

Ballarat, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

W.J. Broadbent (father), Bank of NSW, Corowa NSW

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

1 Light Horse Regiment AIF

Broadbent entered the Royal Military College on 22 June 1911 in the first intake of cadets and was a member of the Honour Guard at the naming ceremony in Canberra on 12 March 1913. His class was graduated early on 14 August 1914 and Broadbent was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 1st Light Horse Regiment. The AWM record shows Broadbent with his men at Rosebery in Sydney in 1914. Also in the photo is Richard Hetherington of Queanbeyan. Bean describes Broadbent, positioned on Popes Hill with his machine guns in June 1915, as constantly performing high service and his unit as "excellent". Illness ended his war and he returned to Australia in March 1916 where he was declared medically unfit and his appointment was terminated. In September 1916 Broadbent returned to Duntroon as an Instructor at the Officer Training School and served with the Instructional Staff at RMC until 1920 when he was attached to the British Embassy in Tokyo. He served in Japan for two years where he took the opportunity to learn the language. He returned to RMC in 1922 as an Instructor and worked there until he resigned from the Staff Corps in 1926. Broadbent had married Elma Rutledge, from Gidleigh station, in January 1925 at Bungendore and they later settled at Merigan, Mt. Fairy near Bungendore where he became a grazier. Broadbent served in World War 2 initially with the 8th Division in Malaya but returned to Australia before the fall of Singapore. He joined New Guinea Force with the rank of Brigadier and helped establish the supply lines over the Kokoda Track for which he was awarded a CBE in 1942. He died on 28 February 1942.

Description - height 5 feet 7½ inches, weight 158 pounds, chest 35-40 inches, Church of England.

Charles Bean, 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18' (Vol. II p.316n)
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
AWM Collections Record : P01208.019, A03123
The Duntroon Society, ‘The First Class’, Newsletter 2/2011
Goulburn Evening Penny Post - 17 January 1925
The Canberra Times - , 29 February 1972, 2 March 1972
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883 (Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)
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