Francis Gordon Morrell (SN 4976) born in Ballarat, was a 27 year old soldier when he enlisted in the AIF in Adelaide on August 16th 1917 at the rank of warrant officer class 2. He embarked aboard the Ulysses on December 22nd and in April 1918 he reached France to serve with the 32nd Infantry Battalion. In May he was wounded, suffering a gunshot wound to the buttock and was evacuated to England. He rejoined his unit in France in August, three months before the war ended. He returned to Australia aboard the Friedrichsruh, disembarked at Melbourne on March 9th 1920 and was discharged on April 8th. He served again in WW2, reaching the rank of major.

His brother Arthur was killed in action in September 1917 in Belgium and his brother George also served in the AIF and they are honoured with trees in the Avenue.

Lucas’s Staffs Appreciation of Brave Men, the original Avenue register, records his name as Gordon F. Morrell.