Ernest was born in Bacchus Marsh, VIC in 1886 to Charles Oliver and Clara Grace Mills. Ernest married Alice Linda Saunders in 1910 and they had a daughter, Linda Grace, born in Brighton in 1911. Ernest had two brothers, Charles and Robert , also KIA, who are also remembered in the Avenue.

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from the internet

KIA

Ernest was a painter, living at Brighton, VIC when he enlisted in the AIF on the 13^th of July 1915, aged 29. He embarked aboard the HMAT A11 Ascanius in November with the 29^th Battalion, A Company, disembarking at Suez, Egypt in December.

Embarking from Alexandria, Egypt, Ernest disembarked at Marseilles, France in June 1916. A month later during the Battle of Fromelles, Ernest was first listed as missing and later reported killed.

He was my particular pal. He was coming back a few yards behind us. We heard him shout and a shell burst behind us. We got the live and injured men out afterwards, but nothing was seen of Oliver. It was coming back from a dummy trench on the morning of the 20th.

Source: Pte OShannassy 317

In 2009, 250 bodies were recovered from a mass grave at Pheasant Wood, France and in 2014 Ernest was identified as one of the bodies using DNA technology⁽¹⁾ and his remains are now buried at Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery, France.

He is listed on the Bacchus Marsh Roll of Honour and the Holy Trinity Church Roll of Honour.

Notes

1. The Courrier 4 Jun 2014