In his welcome to the Anzac Day service in Corryong on Tuesday, RSL sub-branch secretary, Greg Nankervis, told of how two towns half a world apart were honouring the memory of a young Upper Murray soldier this year.
Malcolm Chisholm was the first Australian to die and the first of some 60,000 Australians who lost their lives on the First World War battlefields.
He was the elder son of Dr and Mrs William Chisholm. Malcolm’s mother was Emma Isabel Mitchell from Bringenbrong, daughter of Thomas and Charlotte Mitchell. Having passed out of the Royal Military College Sandhurst in England, Malcolm was commissioned into the 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment.
After only four days in action, he was wounded on 26 August, 1914 and died the following day in the church in the northern French village of Ligny-en-Cambresis.
Born on 25 February 1892 in his family’s Sydney home he was only 22 years old.
His grave lies with six other soldiers in a small Commonwealth War Graves Commission plot in the cemetery in Ligny-en-Cambresis.
Malcolm’s death has resonated through more than a century and well beyond the Upper Murray. His story captured the imagination of commemorative portrait painter George Petrou OAM who painted a striking likeness of the young soldier.
George presented his original portrait of Malcolm to L’ANZAC-Cambresis in France at its service on April 26th.
George’s painting and the generous purchase of the print by The Man from Snowy River Bush Festival Board for the Corryong Memorial and RSL Hall, has connected Upper Murray World War 1 heritage to another small town half a world away.
The print of the portrait of Malcolm now hangs in the RSL Hall.
This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 27 April 2023.
Related story: Malcolm Chisholm: The first to fall
