He was one of thousands of Australian soldiers killed during the attempt to capture The Windmill (Hill 160) from the Germans.

He was childless, but his nephew Ron Brooks, from Wollongong, relayed his war story and family history.

Ron said his ancestors, the Brooks and the Jarretts, sailed from England to settle in Kangaroo Valley over a century earlier.

“Jarrett is a common name in Kangaroo Valley now. Jarrett’s Lane is a road a little way out of town,” he said.

“My great-grandfather Joseph Brooks sent his two oldest sons here and they eventually bought land at Budgong on what is now the Budgong fire trail.

“When my grandfather married, they settled on a property in Barrengarry and had 14 children. It’s one way to get helpers on the farm.”

Ron said everyone pitched in to build a home and work the farm, including his uncle Bill Brooks who helped fell cedar trees with manpower alone and used bullock carts to move the logs from the forests.

“One of the first things they built was a slab hut. That hut still exists and has been restored quite well,” he said.

When World War I was declared, England’s ally was France. The Germans invaded France and England joined the war effort. As a result Australians were also recruited to fight. 

“Tom joined up on the same day as Eric Tate – he came from the Oaklands Farm on the Upper Kangaroo Valley River and they were good mates. Not long afterwards there were others from the Valley who all joined up on the one day,” Ron said.

Tate wrote home to his mother, after arriving in Egypt on HMAT Euripides, and referred to the collective group of soldiers as the “Valley Boys”, some of whom were involved in the battle at Gallipoli.

Those letters are now stored at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

From Egypt the Valley Boys were sent to the south of France and then via train to face battle in Pozieres.

“On the train trip up, locals would bring out things for the troops like cakes with plenty of cream and wine. These of course were very popular with the troops,” Ron said.

“Australians are very popular in that part of France.

“Tom Brooks was direct hit by a shell, during the capture of The Windmill hill. Tate and Harvey went back looking for him but couldn’t find him at all. Now Tom’s name is on a special memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. 

“This wall contains a lot of soldier’s names whose bodies were never recovered.”

Pozieres was wiped out from the shelling. 

After Tom was killed his belongings were sent home. His brother Bill was in town to collect the package.

“He thought his dad would want them pretty quickly, so he got on his horse and rode home like mad and fell and was killed.

“There’s a gravestone in the Kangaroo Valley cemetery which is a memorial to Tom and headstone for Bill.”

After his death, Tom’s parents received a certificate from Cambewarra Shire and another signed by the king of England and a memorial plaque.

“The Aussie soldiers, being a bit flippant, called them the Dead Man’s Penny,” Ron said.

Tom’s plaque and certificates are now kept in the Kangaroo Valley Museum. His war medals were left to Ron’s father and later passed on to him.

“We were away on holidays and some rotten thing got in and burgled our house. Amongst the things taken were my Uncle Tom’s medals,” he said.

“That was a blow to me because to start off with I treasured those medals and secondly I felt responsible for having lost them while they were in my possession. 

“So I thought, ‘What can I do now?’ and decided to write a book.”