Throughout the commemorations of WW1 I have thought often about my great aunt, a tiny woman with a great heart and a great burden to bear. I believe she epitomises the stamina and fortitude of many Australian women of the last century.

In the maelstrom of battle on 15 April 1917, former gold miner Thomas Edwin Guilmartin and another 11th Battalion soldier were sent up to the front line with a supply of grenades, or “bombs”, to help their A Company comrades hold a machine gun post.

It was one of many Australian positions near the village of Lagnicourt in Northern France under attack by a vastly superior German force. The machine gun crew fought to their last bullet and last grenade before being overrun by the enemy.