Edward Honey (1885-1922)

Remembrance Day is an annual day of observance throughout much of the Commonwealth yet no one has ever looked at its Australian origins. The tradition of a minute’s silence on 11 November was partly the work of one soldier, Edward Honey, an Australian journalist who served with the British Army. After being discharged with shellshock and taking up a job in Fleet Street, Honey wrote an editorial that suggested ‘five silent minutes of national remembrance’. He died of tuberculosis in 1922. Edward Honey is commemorated with a plaque at the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne.