The Launceston Returned and Services League is undertaking a renovation of its headquarters in Wellington Street and it wants to honour two Tasmanians for their heroic roles in World War I.
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Launceston RSL secretary Peter Williams said the RSL used to house two snooker tables which were donated after the war in honour of Alan Hinman and William Kiel.
The snooker tables were later disposed of but when the refurbishment was announced it was proposed to name rooms after the two men.
Mr Williams said the RSL hoped to trace members of the respective families so that they could be present at the opening of rooms at the RSL.
"One was donated by the Hinman family that was involved in the well-known timber firm Hinman, Wright and Manser," he said.
Arthur Gurr Hinman was 24 years old when he enlisted in September 1914. He had been educated at the Launceston Church Grammar School and played football with the Launceston Football Club.
He studied mining engineering at the University of Melbourne from 1910-11 before returning to work at the Mount Bischoff tin mine near Savage River.
He was a member of the 15th battalion which left Australia in late 1914. He was promoted to Lieutenant after a period of training in Egypt in 1915. His battalion landed at Gallipoli on Anzac Day.
Over the three days of May 8-10, Lieutenant Hinman was involved in some of the heaviest fighting of the war as the Turkish forces tried to push the Anzacs off the ridge known as Quinn's Post-named after Captain (later Major) Hugh Quinn.
The two sides were separated by just 15 metres as two armies engaged in hostilities.
War records describe the desperate nature of the fighting confronting the fresh-faced Lieutenant Hinman in his first action.
"The counter party bayoneted such Turks as were found in the trench assaulted it they remained in the trench and sent back for the working party. When this arrived there was much congestion in the tren," the records said.
"The left party met with considerable opposition from the trenches they were attacking, but eventually drove off the enemy. It found the trenches suitable for our use but sent for the working party to connect them up with Quinn's Post. The party itself remained in the captured trench.
About 2am there were some 12 casualties. Some time during the morning Lieutenant Hinman died when retreating after an unsuccessful attempt by the 15th Battalion to take Quinn's Post on May 10, 1915. Lieutenant Colonel Hinman was killed on the ridge. With no time for the niceties of burial, Mr Hinman lay dead for several days until a fellow soldier recognised his body because of his spectacles about May 19.
Most soldiers were thrown into unused trenches but Mr Hinman's body was recovered and he was interred in a grave at Quinn's post.
Quinn's Post was the most advanced post of the Anzac line located on the northern edge of the main Anzac Line along with Pope's Hill. It was one of the keys to the Monash and Shrapnel Valleys. If it had fallen the Turks could have broken into the heart of the Anzac position. Quinn's Post was first formed in the days following the April 25 landing by small parties of several Australian and New Zealand units and later British Royal Marines.
Quinn's was the scene of some of the most dramatic events in the Gallipoli campaign.
They included the Turkish attacks in April and May particularly on May 19 and May 29, the May 24 truce, and a series of attacks in May and June, [war historian] Charles Bean described the holding of Quinn's as among the Australian Imperial Force's finest feats.
William Kiel from Ballarat was 21 years old when he embarked for service on May 17, 2015. He was a private who had worked as a salesman before enlistment.
After leaving Melbourne on the HMAT A16 Star of Victoria he arrived at Gallipoli but was immediately diverted to Lemnos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, where his unit prepared marques for expected heavy casualties.
Unfortunately, Private Kiel contracted mumps and spent Christmas 1915 in an infectious diseases marquee on Lemnos.
He was transferred to Egypt where the unit was transformed into the first Field Ambulance and was then sent to France to fight on the Western Front in 1916.
He served at Bullecourt, Pozieres and Ypres and was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry during the Battle of the Somme. His role was as a stretcher bearer, or runner for which his diminutive stature was well suited.
He was wounded at Zonnebeke and was evacuated to England to recover. After eight weeks recuperation, he returned to action for the final year of the war.
He was involved in the brutal Battle of the Somme. At the Battle of Menin Road, he was driving a truck after rain had turned the battlefield into a quagmire when it bogged. In a photograph by an official war photographer depicting the horror of the battle then Lance Corporal Kiel is observed seated as the chaos and tragedy surround him.
Lance Corporal Kiel won the Military Medal, the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory medal.
His citation for the Military Medal says: "For conspicuous gallantry under fire. Has acted as "runner" on all occasions during which the bearer division of the ambulance has been in action. During the recent advance from February 25 to March 3, 1917, this NCO [non commissioned officer] carried messages with great resoluteness and dash often under very heavy shell fire".
After the war he returned to the wholesale softgoods company which he worked for prior to the War.
He became state manager in Tasmania and lived in East Launceston.
In 1990, Mr Kiel revisited Gallipoli and died shortly after.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
