Herbert Collett

Who was Herbert Collett?

Herbert Brayley Collett CMG DSO was an Australian politician, librarian and soldier.

Collett was born in St. Peter Port, Guernsey and arrived with his family in Western Australia in October 1884. He was educated at Perth Grammar School and became a librarian at the Victoria Public Library in 1891. He married Anne Whitfield in April 1904.

Collett joined the Metropolitan Rifle Volunteers at the age of 16 and rose to command the 11th Australian Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant-colonel in 1908. With the outbreak of World War I he commanded the 28th Battalion of the first Australian Imperial Force from 23 April 1915 and he served at Gallipoli, in Egypt and Sinai and in France. On 29 July 1916, he was wounded at the battle of Pozières. He returned to action on 12 October 1917 at the First Battle of Passchendaele. He was promoted to colonel in June 1918 and discharged in September 1919. He was mentioned in dispatches and was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 1916, a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1919 and was promoted brevet-colonel.