Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/07/1915

Date of Discharge

13/04/1918

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

05/10/1895

Place of Birth

South Yarra, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Charles Samuel Halkyard (father), South Yarra, Victoria

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

32 Battalion AIF

Halkyard entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 9 March 1913, just in time to be a spectator at the Canberra naming ceremony three days later. Like the other cadets in his class, Halkyard graduated on 28 June 1915 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant two days later. He served with the 32nd Battalion on the Western Front from June 1916. He fought at the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916 during which he and other men from his battalion found themselves isolated near Delangre Farm in an action which saw Halkyard's Duntroon classmate Kenneth Mortimer killed. After Fromelles his behaviour degenerated. In September 1917 he was Adjutant to the 31st Battalion when he was relieved from duty because he was drunk on parade for an inspection by General Haig. A few weeks later Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Davies (a former instructor at Duntroon), who was commanding officer of the 32nd Battalion, reported that Halkyard was not fit to hold a commission. "He is a Duntroon graduate, and I regret that he has not kept up the high standard that the college has been noted for." Halkyard was sent home and his appointment as an officer was terminated. The AWM item is a kitbag belonging to Halkyard.

After the war Halkyard moved to Western Australia and worked as a foreman for Rayners Preserves for two years and as a station hand in the north west of the state. In October 1921 he applied for a position as a patrol officer in New Guinea, which was then under Australian administration. He was initially successfully but in 1922 the job offer was withdrawn because he had not disclosed material facts relating to his war service in his application. He died in Sale, Victoria on 19 February 1984.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Charles Bean, 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18' (Vol. III, pp.375-376, 387n)
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM collections record : REL/06321
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
NAA RecordSearch - Series A1 1921/22613 (Mr Halkyard - Employment Patrol Officer New Guinea)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'Hell Opened at Fromelles', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial