Private Charles Evan Hancock Memorial Tablet

The memorial is a marble tablet, attached to a timber plaque. It features a portrait of Private Charles Evan (Tam) Hancock, surrounded by a laurel wreath with crossed rifles. The dedication is inscribed below the portrait and the text is blackened. 

The memorial was previously located at Hancock's former place of work, the Condobolin branch of the Commercial Banking Company (C.B.C.), where it was unveiled on 10 June 1914. It remained there until it was transferred to the Condobolin RSL Club on 25 April 2003. A ceremony on 24 May 2003, attended by officials from the National Australia Bank, the RSL Club, and Hancock's nephew David Hancock with his wife and great nephew Brian Hancock, marked the transfer to the new location.

History

Hancock was employed as junior clerk with the C.B.C. Bank at Port Macquarie in 1909. He transferred to Condobolin where he was ledger keeper in 1915.

On 25 April 1915, Hancock enlisted at Liverpool, NSW. He took an oath of service to the King on 18 May 1915 and was appointed to the 6th Reinforcements 2nd Battalion on 15 June 1915. The next day he embarked 'Karoola' for service overseas.

On 25 July 1915, he sent a postcard from Heliopolis in Egypt to his brother Robert writing, '"Expect to be in the firing line within a fortnight. Love from Tam".

Hancock joined the 2nd battalion at Gallipoli in Turkey on 6 August 1915, the day the offensive at Lone Pine started. The battle lasted several days and caused many casualties for both the Anzac and Turkish armies. Officially, Hancock's death is recorded as 7–14 August 1915. He is remembered at Lone Pine Cemetery with an individual memorial, which among others, surrounds a common grave of soldiers fallen on this field. He is also commemorated at the Condobolin Memorial Park and Memorial Wall. 

Source: Information supplied to the Lachlan Shire Library by Mr Brian Hancock, 25 May 2003.