Tasman James Batiste (SN 1619) was just 18, a cook from Dana Street in Ballarat when he enlisted on February 15th 1916. He trained in Ballarat with the 14th Depot Battalion and the 39th Battalion before transferring to 60th Battalion reinforcements at Broadmeadows. He embarked from Melbourne on May 4th aboard the Port Lincoln and reached France in early August 1916. The remainder of 1916 and early 1917 were marked by a series of discipline breaches including, while being absent without leave, ‘being in possession of a document purporting to be a genuine pass well knowing it was not genuine’ for which he was sentenced to 60 days in detention. He was transferred to the 58th Battalion with whom he was serving when, on April 17th 1918, he was wounded in action, suffering gas poisoning. He was evacuated to the Norfolk War Hospital in Norwich England before then being repatriated to Australia where he was discharged as ‘medically unfit’. He died in September 1974 at the age of 76 and his ashes were scattered at the Ballarat New Cemetery.

Lucas’s Staffs Appreciation of Brave Men, the original Avenue register, records his name as Tasma J. Batiste.