Captain Hugo Throssell V.C.Print Page

A stone pavilion which serves as a bus shelter commemorates Captain Hugo Throssell who was awarded the VC (Victoria Cross) for his actions in World War One. He committed suicide in 1933. 

On 29 August 1915 the 10th Light Horse was brought into action to take a long trench, of which 100 yards was held by Turkish troops on the summit of Hill 60. As a guard, Throssell killed five Turks while his men constructed a barricade across their part of the trench. When a fierce bomb fight began, Throssell and his soldiers held their bombs on short fuse until the last possible moment before hurling them at the enemy on the other side of the barricade.

Throughout the remainder of the night both sides threw more than 3000 bombs, the Western Australians picking up the bombs thrown at them by the Turks and hurling them back. Towards dawn the Turks made three rushes at the Australian trench, but were stopped by showers of bombs and heavy rifle-fire. Throssell, who at one stage was in sole command, was wounded twice. His face covered in blood from bomb splinters in his forehead, he repeatedly yelled encouragement to his men. For his part in the battle Hugo Throssell was awarded the Victoria Cross. It was the first to be won by a Western Australian in World War One. 

About 150 people attended the unveiling of a memorial tablet to the late Capt. Hugo Throssell, V.C., at Greenmount yesterday. The tablet was unveiled by the G.O.C. Western Command (Major-Gen. Bierwirth). The ceremony took place at the junction of Old York-road and Great Eastern-highway. The headmaster of Greenmount School brought 60 of his pupils to the unveiling.
The West Australian (Perth), 25th February 1954.

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