“They were born and raised in Armidale,” Salvation Army Major Kaye Townsend said of her uncles. 

She said the tragedy instilled a deep respect among the family for those who served. 

“We had their three bronze death plaques that they gave out to the families of the soldiers who died,” she said. Their story, and the treasured photo of the trio is on display at the Inverell Salvation Army Family Store this week where Major Townsend works.

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All in their early 20s, Theo and George Seabrook were both privates, while their younger brother William was a second lieutenant, thanks to his earlier military experience with the AIF in 1915.

The trio left Sydney together in 1916 with the 17th Infantry Battalion. They joined their unit in Belgium in June 1917, where preparations for the famous Battle of Ypres were underway. 

The young men’s first and last fight was the Battle of Menin Road on September 20, 1917. Although it was hailed a success for the Australian infantry, it was a tragedy for the Seabrook family, with all three mortally wounded in the action.

“One can scarcely begin to imagine what went through the minds of William and Fanny Seabrook, and how they might come to terms with this perhaps baffling and seemingly pointless loss of their three cherished sons,” the Australian War Memorial record reads.