Lyle Aubrey Blackman MC had served with the 71st Infantry Regiment before joining the AIF on August 24th 1914 as a Lieutenant. In civilian life he was a 24 year old accountant from Macarthur Street in Ballarat. He joined the 8th Battalion and embarked from Melbourne in October aboard the Benalla. He landed on Gallipoli on April 25th 1915 but two months later he was evacuated to hospital at Alexandria, Egypt, suffering from gastroenteritis. He rejoined his unit in early August, just in time for the fierce fighting of the August offensive. In October, influenza caused his evacuation to hospital on Lemnos. He spent most of 1916 in England and on February 15th 1917 he married Vida Vickers at Bourne in Lincolnshire. In April he crossed over to France and avoided injury until March 1918 when he received a gunshot wound to his right forearm. This necessitated his evacuation to hospital in England but he returned to his unit in France in mid-May. In August he was wounded again although was able to remain on duty. However, the following day he was wounded for a third time, sustaining wounds to his right wrist, left shoulder and both thighs and was again evacuated to hospital in London. His gallantry had not gone unnoticed and he was subsequently awarded a Military Cross "For conspicuous gallantry and determination during the attack north of Rosieres on 9th August, 1918. He led the right forward company splendidly, and secured his objective against heavy odds in face of intense machine gun fire. Though wounded early in the advance he carried on, and personally led several bayonet charges on enemy posts, setting his men a fine example, which they were not slow to follow." He returned to duty in France just a month before the Armistice was signed. He returned to Australia on the Wahehe and disembarked at Melbourne on June 28th 1919. He died in November 1964 aged 74.
Tree No. 198
His brothers Leslie (Tree No. 798) and Thomas (Tree No. 186) also served in the AIF and are both honoured with trees in the Avenue.