One of the names inscribed on the Lismore War Memorial featured in Memorial Way No. 7 is that of Private Patrick Bugden VC. In Briefing Room No.6 we look at Private Bugden’s final resting place Hooge Crater Cemetery Zillebeke Belgium.
Hooge Crater Cemetery is located opposite Hooge Crater at GPS 50°50’46.67″N, 2°56’36.11″E. The crater is the result of a mine explosion set by the British on 19 July 1915. The crater now forms a pond adjacent to the present day theme park. For more details on the formation on Hooge Crater click here.
The Cross of Sacrifice at Hooge Crater Cemetery is located in a symbolic depression to represent the crater. The cemetery was started in October 1917 with 76 burials. After the Armistice the bodies of 5,800 soldiers were brought in from smaller outlying cemeteries.
The Australian Government’s website Australians on the Western Front 1914-1918 gives details of the Australian involvement in the area during the fighting of September 1917.
Opposite the cemetery is the privately owned Hooge Crater Museum. Click here for a virtual visit to the museum.
Photo: Hooge Crater Museum [Munro Collection]
Patrick Bugden is one of 183 names listed on the Honour Roll at the Lismore (NSW) Memorial Baths.
Photo: Private Patrick Bugden [Australian War Memorial]
Patrick Bugden was born, educated and worked in and around the Lismore district before enlisting on 25 May 1916. At the time of his enlistment Patrick was working as a hotelier in Alstonville, NSW.
Private Patrick (Paddy) Bugden was killed on 28 September 1917 and was awarded, posthumously, the Victoria Cross for his most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when on two occasions our advance was temporarily held up by strongly defended ‘pillboxes’ on 26 – 28 September 1917 at Polygon Wood, near Ypres, Belgium. Pte Bugden, under heavy machine gun fire, led small parties to attack the machine guns and captured the garrison. On another occasion he single handedly rescued a fellow soldier who had been taken prisoner. On five other occasions he rescued wounded men under heavy shell and machine gun fire.
Photo: Tony Edwards, CWGC, examines the headstone of Private Bugden, as FFFAIF member Chris Munro looks on. Mr Edwards is responsible for ensuring that engravings on CWGC headstones are legible and for their re-engraving or replacement as appropriate in CWGC cemeteries in Belgium. [Munro Collection]
Private Bugden’s medals are on display on the Brisbane Museum. Held within the museum’s collection are family photos and letters. For more details click here.
Photo: Brisbane Museum display. [Munro collection]
Private Bugden is commemorated around his home town in a memorial at Alstonville (GPS 28°50’31.53″S, 153°26’24.59″E) and a bridge bearing his name at South Gundurimba, NSW (GPS 28°52’24.84″S, 153°15’25.89″E).
Photo: Private Patrick (Paddy) Bugden Memorial, Alstonville NSW.
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The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.