HAYES, Louis Carroll

Louis was one of six children born to Francis and Margaret Hayes of Robertson NSW.  He enlisted in Sydney In November 1916 and was given a Farewell at the Robertson School of Arts where he was presented with a silver luminous watch. He joined the 1st Pioneer Battalion which sailed from Sydney two weeks later on HMAT A78 Beltana and arrived in England at the end of January 1917.  Three months later he was sent to France.

After receiving a gunshot wound to the abdomen in October 1917, Private Hayes was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station in Belgium where he died of his wounds. He was buried at Lijssenthock Military Cemetery, Belgium.

Private Hayes has his name recorded on the Robertson School of Arts Honor Roll and at Inverell his name is on the town’s Honor Roll and Cenotaph.  In 1919 he was one of the men for whom a memorial tree was planted in Kurrajong Parade, Inverell.

The Tamworth Daily Observer newspaper, 17 November 1917, reported the Private Hayes had ‘enlisted from Robertson’ NSW and that for two years he had worked with his brother on their farm at Oakwood near Inverell.