Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021
The first Auburn Memorial man to enlist directly into the AIF was 70 Sapper Cleveland Edward Page, 23, who signed up on 19 August 1914. Page, a native of Hamilton, Newcastle, was an apprentice plumber. He nominated his father, Captain R E Page, of 79 Macquarie Road, Auburn, as his next-of-kin. Cleveland was an ex-pupil of Auburn North Public School and a member of St Philip's Anglican Church Auburn.
See: 'Killed in Action', The Maitland Daily Mercury, Fri. 4 June 1915 p4.
Sapper Page embarked on the Afric on 18 October 1914, joining the first convoy that departed Albany in Western Australia in November 1914. After training in Australia, he journeyed to Egypt, where he underwent further training in the shadow of the pyramids.
Page was killed in action on the first day of the landings at Anzac Cove, 25 April 1915. He has the sad distinction of being the first Auburn man to die in the First World War. For his gravestone in the Shrapnel Valley Cemetery on Gallipoli, the father chose the inscription: SON OF CAPTAIN R E PAGE LOVED AND RESPECTED BY ALL. HIS LIFE WAS FREELY GIVEN IN HIS COUNTRY’S CAUSE.
Auburn Memorial men 70 Cleveland Edmund Page and 5754 Arthur Walter Page were not related.
Cleveland Page is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Auburn North Public School Great War Roll of Honor
- St Philip's Anglican Church Auburn First World War Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- Victory Medal
- British War Medal 1914-20
- 1914-1915 Star