The folded handwritten note attached to the back page of a Catholic liturgical book held in the School Archives was penned by Old Boy Lieutenant Colin Hope Butler, 41st Battalion, A.I.F, in 1918. He wrote that the book, Paroissien Complet: A L'Usage des Fidèles du Diocèse D'Amiens (published 1846), was "souvenired" from the library of a large house in Villers-Bretonneux, a few days after the "Hun was repulsed" in that sector by the Australians. The 41st Battalion was occupying the lines in front of the town and had used the house to observe German troop movements.
Butler, a country boy from Kilcoy, attended BGS as a boarder between 1906 and 1909, where he played football and was described as "manly and public spirited". He returned to the land as a station overseer and grazier, marrying Alice Vera Fraser from Saltern Creek, Barcaldine where he was jackarooing. Butler enlisted on 4 December 1915 and was a private when he embarked with troops on the transport ship HMAT Clan McGillivray on 7 September 1915, subsequently serving with the 41st in France and Belgium. He was promoted to lieutenant on 20 June 1917.
It was at the start of the first great offensive by the Germans near Sailly-le-Sec from 30 March to 5 April that Butler, then a lieutenant and wounded three times in battle, was awarded the Military Cross. Shortly afterwards a bar was added to this decoration.
"The bar has been awarded for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. This officer led a night patrol into the enemy's lines with great dash, rushing a hostile post, killing nine and taking two prisoners. He had previously visited without finding the enemy, but he persevered in order to bring back identifications. He brought back his patrol without any casualties."
Butler survived the war. When he died in Brisbane on 7 April 1971 he was listed as a retired grazier from Quilpie.
Source: Grammar News Winter 2017. Read the original edition