Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021
Four Auburn Memorial men did not make it to the front lines, and one did not leave Australia.
Private Cyril Long, 22, enlisted in Sydney on 23 October 1914 but he only got as far as Melbourne, where he had to be taken off the ship seriously ill. In August 1915, his father, the Auburn Town Clerk, was granted leave to go to Melbourne and bring his son back on a stretcher to Sydney, where he was admitted to Parramatta Hospital, still seriously ill. Private Long died in March 1916 and is buried in Rookwood Cemetery.
The date on which Private Long was discharged in Melbourne is not recorded, but he was in the AIF for around ten months. The nature of his illness is not recorded. It could have been cerebrospinal meningitis, a disease that killed 256 recruits in Australia in the year to 30 June 1916 (Official History Vol. XI p.296).
See: Council grants leave to Town Clerk. The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, Saturday, 4 September 1915, p2.
See: Death of Cyril Long. The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, Saturday, 18 March 1916, p12.
Cyril Long is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
On his gravestone in Rookwood Cemetery, there is no mention of military service.
