Private William `Billy` SingPrint Page

The memorial commemorates William (Billy) Edward Sing, a soldier from Clermont who served in World War One. The memorial is in the form of a bunker with Billy Sing and his rifle preparing to shoot. 

Sing`s considerable skills with a rifle were well-known in his central Queensland home district, even before the outbreak of World War One. He was a member of the Proserpine Rifle Club and a leading kangaroo shooter around his home town of Clermont . In May 1915 he embarked on his lethal occupation as sniper killing 150 Turkish soldiers and earning the reputation among ANZACs in the trenches as "The Assassin". On October 23, 1915, General Birdwood issued an order announcing his compliments on Billy`s performance in killing 201 Turkish soldiers. The general was obviously happier in accepting the higher, but less official score.

On March 10 1916, Sing was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous gallantry as a sniper at Anzac Cove. When Billy and his wife arrived in Proserpine in late 1918 or early 1919, the town`s residents turned out in force. A large procession, led by a local band, accompanied the couple from the railway station to the town hall, local dignitaries made welcoming speeches. The transition from the green hills and ancient culture of Edinburgh to the dust and rough life of the mining district around Clermont must have been traumatic for his wife and she left only a few years after she and Billy had arrived in the area.

As the post-war exuberance waned, Billy returned to Clermont. He moved on to a mining claim on the Miclere goldfield. In 1942, he left the district for Brisbane. On Wednesday, May 19, 1943, William Edward Sing died alone in his room with five shillings in his pocket at the house where he boarded in West End, Brisbane.

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