Can you help us find Hector?

Hector McDonald McLeod was born in 1881 at Apsley, a small farming township in western Victoria close to the South Australian border. He was the eldest son of Angus McLeod (1851–1930) from the Isle of Skye, and Elizabeth McDonald (1857–1888), a Scottish-Australian farming family that moved around the colonies in search of work.His Grandfather Alexander had arrived in 1855 at Port Adelaide. Hector McLeod grandparents and extended family lived at Apsley. Uncle Donald McLeod lived at Newlands station, Apsley.

Angus and Elizabeth’s children:

When Hector was about seven, his mother died unexpectedly, less than a month after giving birth to Elizabeth, leaving Hector, his younger brother Donald Angus Lindsay (1886–1945), and baby sister Elizabeth Margaret (1888–1910) in their father’s sole care. The family soon relocated north-west to South Australia and later to the Riverina district of New South Wales, where Angus share-farmed at properties such as “Clifton,” Buddigower, and “Spy Hill.”

Hector grew up helping his father with seasonal farm work and became an experienced bush labourer. By 1915 he had followed the harvest trail as far as Nanango in Queensland’s South Burnett, earning a living as a farm hand and working in the timber industry. He would have been very fit.

After enlisting at Brisbane on 20 July 1915, Hector began training at Enoggera Camp as part of the 2nd Reinforcements for the 31st Battalion. Life in camp did not come easily to him — the structure and discipline of army life was a stark contrast to his years as an independent bush labourer. While at Enoggera, Hector was charged on three separate occasions. His conduct, though not uncommon for older recruits, may reflect the adjustment period many rural men faced when transitioning into military service.

On 3 January 1916, Hector embarked from Brisbane aboard HMAT A55 Kyarra, bound for Egypt. The reinforcements disembarked at Suez on 31 January 1916, arriving in the midst of the reorganisation of the AIF following the Gallipoli campaign. Unlike many battalions, the 31st had been raised entirely after Gallipoli and was spared much of the upheaval — it remained largely intact during the redistribution of experienced men across the force.

Hector officially joined the 31st Battalion at Duntroon Plateau on 1 April 1916 and was assigned to A Company, which included several other Queenslanders from the Nanango region. In the following weeks, the battalion moved into the Suez Canal zone, rotating through camps at Serapeum, Tel el Kebir, and Moascar. On 16 June, the 31st Battalion boarded trains at Alexandria to embark for the Western Front.

After six days at sea, they landed at Marseilles on 23 June 1916 and immediately began the long train journey north to French Flanders. By early July, they were billeted in the Morbecque area — their introduction to Europe marked by rain, mud, and a new kind of warfare. Within weeks, the untested battalion would be thrown into one of the most brutal and tragic battles in Australia’s military history — the assault at Fromelles.

On 15 June 1916, the 31st Battalion began its move to the Western Front, travelling by train from Moascar to Alexandria and embarking on the troopships Hororata (for most of the battalion) and Manitou (for C Company). They arrived in Marseilles on 23 June 1916 and continued by train to Steenbecque, then marched to Morbecque, about 35 kilometres from the front at Fleurbaix.

Eyewitnesses later described seeing Hector fall soon after leaving the start trench:

Sergeant R.C. Wilson later added:

By early July, the 31st was receiving instruction in trench warfare. On 11 July, they entered the trenches for the first time, relieving the 15th Battalion near Bois-Grenier. Over the following days, they adjusted to the realities of life on the Western Front — including night patrols, sniping, gas alerts, and the use of grenades. All of this was in preparation for a large-scale attack planned to divert German attention from the Somme. The original date of the attack was 17 July, but heavy rain caused a delay. By the afternoon of 19 July, the 31st Battalion was in position in the front-line trenches.

At 5.58 PM, the men launched their assault in four waves, A and C Companies in the first and second waves, followed by B and D Companies in the third and fourth. The preliminary bombardment had damaged the German forward trench, and by 6.30 PM, Australian troops had taken control of the German’s first line system (Trench B), which was described as:

However, this early success turned tragic. Some forward troops were shelled by their own supporting artillery, unaware that Australians had already taken the trenches. Others were exposed to fire from German machine guns positioned behind their advance. By 8.30 PM, the Australian left flank — held by the 32nd Battalion — came under intense bombardment. Orders came through that the trenches were to be held at all costs.

Source: AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, p. 12

Fighting continued through the night. The Australians made another push toward the German support lines, but they were low on grenades and facing withering machine gun fire from Delangre Farm. Some were so far forward that they began receiving fire from both the German and Australian artillery. At 4.00 AM on 20 July, the Germans began a counterattack from the left flank, retaking parts of the line. With key rear trenches undermanned, the German forces were able to envelop Australian positions.

By 5.30 AM, they attacked from both flanks in force. Lacking grenades and exhausted, the Australians were forced to retreat across No-Man’s-Land under devastating machine gun and artillery fire. One battalion account described it plainly

“The enemy swarmed in and the retirement across No Man’s Land resembled a shambles, the enemy artillery and machine guns doing deadly damage.”

Source: AWM4 23/48/12, 31st Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 29

By the evening of 20 July, what remained of the 31st had withdrawn. From the original strength of 1019 soldiers, 77 were confirmed killed or died of wounds, 414 were wounded, and 85 were missing. Later records determined that 166 men from the battalion were killed, with 84 of those missing or unidentified. Australia’s official war historian, Charles Bean, visited the battlefield more than two years later and reported that Australian uniforms, equipment, and bones still lay on the ground. By dawn on 20 July, it was clear the attack had been a catastrophe.

The 31st Battalion, which had entered the line with nearly 1,000 men, suffered over 570 casualties — killed, wounded, or missing. The 5th Division as a whole lost more than 5,500 men in a single night, including over 2,000 Australians killed. It remains the worst day in Australian military history. For months afterward, families at home waited for news of loved ones. Hector was initially listed as missing, but a Court of Enquiry held over a year later declared him killed in action. His remains were never recovered.

A note in his casualty file states:

A reference to a map sheet later associated with mass graves uncovered after the war, and again at Pheasant Wood in 2009. Several of Hector’s comrades were later recovered from mass graves at Pheasant Wood and identified through DNA, including men recorded on Sheet 36 NW — the same map reference noted in Hector’s service file. Soldiers such as Haslem Kendall, Harold Woodman, and Henry Victor Willis, all from the 31st Battalion, were found in this area. It is possible that Hector’s remains are among those still unidentified in the same burial site.

The day after the attack, the battlefield at Fromelles lay strewn with the dead and wounded — many of them beyond reach in No-Man’s-Land. The Germans allowed a brief truce for the recovery of the wounded, but hundreds of bodies remained unrecovered. Those who had advanced the furthest were often never seen again.

Hector was initially listed as missing. His family — including his father Angus, then living in West Wyalong — waited in hope for word that he might be wounded or taken prisoner. For months, no definitive information emerged. In early 1917, witness reports began to filter through to the Red Cross from wounded soldiers and survivors of A Company, confirming that Hector had likely been killed almost immediately after going over the top. On 1 August 1917, over a year after the attack, a Court of Enquiry formally determined Hector’s fate as "Killed in Action, 20 July 1916."

His personal effects, if any, were never recovered, and no known grave was identified. Back in Australia, Angus McLeod lived on for another 14 years, outliving not only Hector but also his daughter Elizabeth Margaret. His obituary, published in 1930, noted that his only other son had been “killed in the war.” Hector's sacrifice left a permanent void in his family and community. Although Hector has no known grave, his name and sacrifice have not been forgotten.

He is formally commemorated at:

The Fromelles Association of Australia continues to search for DNA donors to help identify those still buried anonymously. Hector may yet be found and named.