World War I soldier, Private Alan James Mather was today laid to rest with full military honours in a solemn ceremony held by the Australian Army at the Prowse Point Military Cemetery, Ploegsteert, Belgium. Private Mather's relatives, together with Dr Brendan Nelson, Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg representing the Australian Government, the Chief of the Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie and other dignitaries, joined to commemorate Private Mather of the 33rd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force.

"We stand here today, some 93 years after the tragic loss of this gallant Australian soldier, so that a grateful nation, the Army and family can finally provide the honourable farewell that he so justly deserves," Dr Nelson said.

"As a young man, Alan had served as a Second Lieutenant with the Inverell troop of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles from 1901 to 1903. With the commencement of World War One, Alan was already 35 years old - he could have left the fighting to men fifteen years or more his junior, but such was his spirit, and the spirit of the times, that he left his comfortable life in rural New South Wales and responded to the call to arms. The Australian nation is proud of the exceptional service Private Mather rendered to his country and we are now able to pay our respects at a known grave."

Carried by members of Australia's Federation Guard to his final resting place, Private Mather was buried with full military honours, afforded the same treatment he would have received had his remains been discovered in the post-battlefield clearances between 1919 and 1921.

Private Mather was one of 216,000 men from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom who fought in the Battle of Messines against German forces in west Flanders from June 7 to 14, 1917, and later listed as missing, alongside 6,178 Australian soldiers on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium.