Alan Cordner Joseph Alan Cordner ( 6 May 1890 – 25 April 1915 ) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong and Collingwood in the Victorian Football League ( VFL ) . He was killed at Cape Helles in Turkey during the initial invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula by the forces of the First AIF ( Australian Imperial Force ) on 25 April 1915 . Family . The son of Isaiah Joseph Cordner ( 1860 - 1934 ) , a bank manager , and Jessie Cordner ( 1865 - 1901 ) , née Walker , he was born at on 6 May 1890 at Bridgewater On Loddon , Victoria . His father remarried Mabel Emilie McKay ( 1860 - 1969 ) in 1902 . He had one full brother , Edward Clement Cordner ( 1892 - 1943 ) , three half - brothers and one half - sister . He attended the Hamilton and Western District Boys ' College from 1902 to 1906 , and was a prefect in 1905 and school captain in 1906 . Footballer . As a schoolboy he was renowned for his long drop - kicks and his very strong marks . Recruited from Warrnambool , he played his first senior VFL match , aged 21 , for Geelong , against Carlton , at Princes Park , on Saturday , 19 August 1911 ( round sixteen ) . He was given the single game to gauge his prospects for the 1912 season ; he played well for Geelong in a high standard match , which Carlton won in the last quarter . Although he played well in Geelong ' s first match of the season , he was not selected again until the match against University on 8 June 1912 ( round eight ) . On a very windy day , with a bad football ( it had been over - inflated ) , and in a very low standard game , which Geelong eventually won by 37 points , 8 . 15 ( 63 ) to 3 . 8 ( 26 ) , he was not amongst Geelong ' s best players . Cleared from Geelong to Collingwood on 9 April 1913 , he played his first senior game for Collingwood , at Victoria Park , against Carlton , on 17 May 1913 ( round four ) ; he played well , in the backline , in a Collingwood team that won a hard - fought match by six points . In 1913 he played a total of ten senior games ( of a possible nineteen ) for Collingwood , including its Semi - Final 37 point loss to Fitzroy on 13 September 1913 . He injured his collar - bone during the match , which was played in the rain , on a very wet and muddy ground . He remained on the field of play once injured , but was of little use . His half brother Laurence Osmaston " Larry " Cordner ( 1911 – 1992 ) , and two of his cousins , Dr . Henry " Harry " Cordner ( 1885 - 1943 ) and Dr . Edward Rae " Ted " Cordner ( 1887 - 1963 ) , also played senior VFL football . Dr " Ted " was the father of the Don Cordner , Dennis Cordner , Ted Cordner and John Cordner who all played for Melbourne in the 1940s . Soldier . In 1914 he was working as a clerk , but he enlisted in Melbourne on 22 August 1914 ; the same day that he played his last match for Collingwood . He was the first Collingwood footballer to enlist . He served as a private in B Company of the 6th Battalion , First AIF , and embarked on 19 October 1914 , aboard HMAT " Hororata " , for service overseas . His brother , Sergeant Edward Clement Cordner ( 89 ) , enlsted on 18 May 1914 , serving in the 13 Light Horse . His cousin , Captain Edward Rae " Ted " Cordner , served as a medical officer in the 6th Field Ambulance . His other cousin , Dr . Henry " Harry " Cordner , overseas at the time that war broke out , was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps , and served in France . Death . He died on 25 April 1915 , shot some four miles inland , after being cut - off by the Turks and becoming separated from his Battalion at Cape Helles , the rocky headland at the southwesternmost tip of the Gallipoli peninsula . His body was never recovered . He was initially posted as " wounded " ( in April 1915 ) ; following a fruitless search of the relevant hospitals , he was posted as " wounded and missing " ( in October 1915 ) . He was not officially declared to have been " killed in action " until after some twelve months of investigation had been conducted by the Red Cross . In an apparent act of kindness , the final declaration of his death was conveyed to his mother and father by the Reverend Thomas Pearse Bennett , the vicar of Christ Church , Warrnambool . Pearse , who was also an Anglican military chaplain , had received the news by wire , that Cordner had been declared " killed in action " , along with " expressions of sympathy with the deceased ' s parents from the King and Government " , and took the news immediately to Cordner ' s parents at the Warrnambool National Bank . Remembered . He is commemorated at the Lone Pine Memorial , on the Gallipoli Peninsula ; his name is located at panel 46 in the Commemorative Area of the Australian War Memorial .