Can you help us identify Charlie?

Charles Albert Woods, known as "Charlie," was born in 1895 at Meroo Meadow, near Nowra, New South Wales. He was one of a large family born to Alfred Henry Woods (1865-1946) and Emma Ada née Smith, (1868-1952) a dairy farming family. Alfred’s family were descended from a Cheshire ‘Yarwood’ convict while Emma’s family came from Somerset. They had ten children, most born at Meroo Meadow near Nowra, and in 1904, they moved way north to settle at “Glen Elgin”, where Alfred developed an award-winning Ayrshire farm, at Oakwood, outside Inverell —and it is no surprise that Charlie gave his occupation as dairy farmer on enlistment.

He was one of nine children:

Emma and Alfred Woods, both lived into their 80s. When Alfred died in 1946 and Emma in 1952, their obituaries disclosed much of the Woods family life. In public life Alfred filled positions such as Director of the Butter Factory, Councillor and President of the Bannockburn Shire and Director of the P.P. Board. He was also a valued committee man of the P. & A. Society, where in addition to dairy cattle he exhibited, and raced, trotters. He was one of those genial, easy to get along with souls, whom to know was to like. It sounds as though the children were brought up in an active and busy farming life, first in Nowra and then from 1904 in Inverell.

Mrs. Woods' skill in the culinary arts was in no small way responsible for success at their local show. She had worked tirelessly for many years in the service of others, the Glebe Methodist Mission being one of her chief interests. Her gentle ways endeared her to all who knew her . Charlie attended Inverell Public School, where he was remembered as a diligent and respectful student. His teacher, Mr. H. Denshire, later remarked that Charlie was the sixth pupil from his class to volunteer for service in the Great War — a legacy of local pride and sacrifice. By his early twenties, Charlie was working as a dairy farmer on the family property.

A farewell event was held in his honour at Oakwood Hall in September 1915, where over 200 residents gathered to pay tribute. Local leaders, schoolteachers, and community members spoke of his "manly qualities" and presented him with a fountain pen as a symbol of their admiration and hopes for his safe return. His father, though visibly moved, spoke with great pride:

His decision to enlist came not from adventure, but from a sense of duty — a theme echoed by his fellow soldiers and remembered by his community long after his death.

Charlie enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 30 August 1915 at Inverell, New South Wales, at the age of 20. He was assigned to the 30th Battalion, 3rd Reinforcements, and after training, embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT A70 Ballarat on 16 February 1916. He wrote from aboard the ship and later from Egypt, recounting parts of his journey:

On 1 April 1916, Charlie was taken on strength with B Company, 30th Battalion at Ferry Post, Egypt. After just over two months in the Middle East, the battalion was sent to the Western Front. Charlie embarked from Alexandria on 16 June 1916 and disembarked at Marseilles, France, on 23 June 1916. By mid-July, the 30th Battalion was positioned in the Fleurbaix sector, near the village of Fromelles. Orders soon came for the battalion to participate in what would become Australia’s most tragic 24 hours on the Western Front.

The following letter was received by the Woods family just days before confirmation of Charlie’s death and details his last few days in the trenches before the battle:

Only weeks after arriving in France, the 30th Battalion was thrown into its first major action — the disastrous assault at Fromelles, on 19–20 July 1916. On 19 July, 29 officers and 927 other ranks of the 30th Battalion were committed to the battle. Their initial role was to support the attacking 31st and 32nd Battalions by digging trenches, carrying supplies and ammunition, and reinforcing the line if needed. But the chaos of battle soon drew them directly into the fight. Amid this chaos, Charlie’s fate was sealed.

His close friend, 2036 Private John A. Frisby, who had enlisted and trained alongside him, provided a moving account of his final moments:

More accounts were given of Charlie’s fate:

A second letter from his friend Private Archibald W. Addison, also of Inverell, reassured the family:

And finally, Chaplain Rev. F. G. Ward, writing from the field, offered these words:

The 30th Battalion were initially assigned a support role at the commencement of the Battle. At 5.53 PM, the 32nd Battalion charged over the parapet, followed by the 31st at 5.58 PM. German machine guns swept the field from emplacements at Delangre Farm and to the left of the attacking waves. Despite the odds, the Australians managed to seize the German front-line trench by 6.30 PM, though it was described as:

Though the 30th was assigned a support role, commanders on the scene ordered them forward to reinforce the front. This decision — born of necessity — had grave consequences, disrupting the supply chain and costing lives. By 8.30 PM, the Australians’ left flank came under heavy artillery and shrapnel bombardment. Despite their own exhaustion and losses, the 32nd was instructed “the trenches were to be held at all costs.” The 30th was called in formally at 10.10 PM, but their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, gave a grim report:

Fighting continued through the night. Australian soldiers attempted to push beyond the German first line, but they were low on grenades and under fire from both enemy and friendly artillery. German counterattacks began at 4.00 AM from the left flank and escalated to a full assault at 5.30 AM, when they attacked from both sides with bombing parties. An Australian witness wrote:

By 10.00 AM on 20 July, the Germans had fully repelled the assault. The 30th Battalion was withdrawn — badly wounded in a battle they had not even been intended to lead. Despite their original support role, their losses were devastating, 54 killed, 230 wounded, and 68 missing. Ultimately, 125 soldiers of the 30th Battalion were either killed or died of wounds, and 80 remain missing or unidentified.

Years later, Australia’s official war correspondent Charles Bean returned to the battlefield. He noted bones, torn uniforms, and Australian kit still strewn across No-Man’s-Land — grim evidence of what had occurred. As one soldier, Private Jim Cleworth described it:

“he died just after I left him, reading his Bible, with a perfect faith and trust in Jesus Christ.”

Charlie was only 21 years old when he was killed in action during the Battle of Fromelles. His body was never recovered from the battlefield, and he has no known grave. He is commemorated at the V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial, Fromelles, France, where the names of 1,299 missing Australians are engraved in stone.

His name is also honoured at home, appearing on multiple memorials in Inverell, including:

On 8 September 1916, the Bannockburn Shire Council held a special meeting to express public condolences. The Shire President, Mr. A. S. Pigott, led the motion of sympathy:

Charlie’s father, Cr. A. H. Woods, who was present, made an emotional response:

Charlie’s memory lived on in the words of family and friends, in the community’s tributes, and in the long shadow cast by Australia’s first major battle on the Western Front. Charlie’s mother, Emma Ada Woods, never stopped honouring her son's memory. Over four decades after the war, she wrote to the AIF Base Records Office requesting the Mother’s Badge she never received — a token of recognition for her family’s sacrifice.

On the first anniversary of his death, Charles’s grieving family published a heartfelt memorial in the Inverell Times:

In 1919, the Inverell Municipal Council established the Kurrajong Parade Avenue of Honour — a living memorial to the nearly 200 local men who died in the First World War. Each tree was planted to represent a fallen soldier, with a plaque bearing their name and unit.

Tree No. 165 was planted in memory of Private Charles Albert Woods, 30th Battalion, Killed in Action 20 July 1916

At the dedication, Alderman McIlveen expressed the importance of the avenue for families who could never visit their loved ones' graves in France:

Charlie’s father, Alfred Henry Woods, also contributed to the Tablet Fund to ensure his son’s name would be honoured with a permanent marker beneath the tree.

Charlie has no known grave. Like many others killed during the Battle of Fromelles, he may lie among the unidentified soldiers recovered from the mass grave at Pheasant Wood in 2008. These remains were reburied in the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, but over 80 men from the 30th Battalion remain unidentified.

Family have come forward to assist with identification, and DNA samples have been provided. We remain hopeful that ongoing comparisons with the unidentified soldiers at Fromelles will lead to Charlie being formally identified and named.