Second Lieutenant Simon Fraser, 58th Battalion
Australian War MemorialSimon Fraser was a 38-year-old farmer from Western Victoria when he enlisted in July 1915. Before the war he had served nine years with the Victorian Mounted Rifles, and when he was posted to the AIF's 57th Battalion he was given the rank of sergeant. The battalion arrived in France in late June. Within weeks it was involved in the battle of Fromelles, its first major operation on the Western Front. Fraser was sent out over several nights before the main attack to cut through barbed-wire entanglements. He had become something of an expert at this, and was mentioned in despatches for his work. When the battle was over, Fraser and others began the dangerous and difficult task of retrieving the wounded from no-man's land. Over three days he and others went out looking and listening for those still alive. Fraser's heroism was recognised in a sculpture of him by artist Peter Corlett that stands in the Australian Memorial Park at Fromelles. A copy of the sculpture, Cobbers, was unveiled on Melbourne's St Kilda Road at the Shrine of Remembrance. Fraser would not survive the war. He was killed at the second battle of Bullecourt on 12 May 1917. He was 40 years old.
- Studio portrait of 2nd Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Simon Fraser AWM https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C73213
