Ronald Hamilton Sumner was a bank clerk from Ballarat. He was born in Learmonth. On enlistment he was 21 years old, single and living at home with his mother at 11 Essex Street, Ballarat. Private Sumner, as a member of the 8th Battalion, took part in the Landing at Anzac Cove in the second wave ashore on 25th April 1915. During the Landing he was wounded by a gunshot wound to the chest. The medical evacuation system at that time was in chaos. Many wounded died awaiting transport to a hospital. Fortunately Ron Sumner survived, and on the 30th April he was admitted to the Bombay Presbyterian Hospital at Alexandria, Egypt.

He was transferred to the Australian Records Section of the 3rd Echelon of the Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force at Ras-el-Tin, Alexandria. No doubt the fact that Private Sumner was a bank clerk was an important factor in his transfer. The official transfer from 8th Battalion to the 3rd Echelon took place on 2nd December 1915. On 2nd June 1917 Sergeant Sumner was transferred from the Anzac Section in France and posted to Headquarters in London, so that he could return to Australia for family reasons. He embarked on HMT Euripides on 21st July 1917, and after completing the necessary procedures was discharged from the AIF on 1st October 1917.
Tree No. 39, in the Ballarat Avenue of Honour, an elm was planted on 4th June 1917 by Miss R Williams, a ' Lucas Girl.'
Tree No. 191, was planted in the Ballarat Shire Avenue of Honour in his name.