Tragedy struck the O’Donnell family in 1905. Over the Christmas break, Stanley’s parents, Richard 53 and Sarah 45, left Malvern in Victoria for a holiday at Sorrento with their six children - Albert Luther 23, Rebecca Florence 22, Hilda Lily 19, Stanley Richard 16, Dorothy Ruth 14, and David Arnold 12.

After lunch on Christmas Day, Richard took four of the children fishing for bream off the rocks at Back Beach at Sorrento. Sarah had returned to Malvern to nurse her 90-year-old mother-in-law and took son, Stanley, and daughter, Dorothy, with her.

While fishing, the party were suddenly swept off their feet and Richard and three of his children (Albert, Rebecca, and Arnold) drowned. Hilda had tired of fishing and had retreated to the beach to read a book, when she looked up all were gone.

Only Sarah and three children were left to struggle on. Stanley, at 16, was the only male remaining in the family to support his mother and two sisters.

Born and educated in Armadale, Victoria, Stanley was working in Malvern as a warehouseman when he enlisted with the AIF some ten years after the death of his father and siblings. He arrived in Egypt in December 1915 with the 29th Battalion where they served and trained for six months before embarking for France in June 1916. After the disastrous Battle of Fromelles, Stanley was posted as missing.

A statement was given to the Red Cross by a fellow soldier from the 29th Battalion, 362 Private James Westwood, who was wounded at Fromelles. He stated:

Stanley’s name appeared on the German Death List and in February 1917 he was officially found to have been killed in action on 19 July 1916.

Stanley’s mother having lost the last of her sons was granted a pension of £2 per fortnight.

As next of kin, Sarah received Stanley’s identification disc but no other personal effects were returned.

After the war, her son’s war service medals – 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal – were issued to her in addition to the memorial plaque and scroll.

Stanley’s sisters, Hilda and Dorothy, both married but only Dorothy had any family.

Stanley’s name is recorded on the Malvern War Memorial - a beautiful granite memorial in the shape of a Victoria Cross – in the Malvern Cricket Ground.

Following extensive research by one of our researchers, a much-needed Y DNA donor was located and agreed to donate the vital, complimentary, DNA sample to Unrecovered War Casualties - Army. The sample proved a match and Stanley has finally been re-united with his family. Thus, in 2018 and more than a century after his death, Stanley’s headstone in the Pheasant Wood Cemetery reads:

Two of his 29th Battalion comrades were identified in the same year, namely, Captain Kenneth Malcolm Mortimer and 191 Private Henry Bell.