On 10 July 1915 ‘Unomi’ lamented in The West Australian, “British Associationists in general and the Perth Club in particular will be grieved to learn that Aubrey J. C. Hardwicke, who enlisted with the New South Wales contingent, has played his last game. He has been killed in action at the Dardanelles. ‘Bessie,’ as he was named by his friends, was an old boy of the High School, and was, perhaps, the best exponent of the game that came from that institution. ‘Bessie’ became associated with the Perth Club in 1907 and besides holding the secretaryship he captained the “Magpies” when they won the Presentation Cup and the premiership. Vale ‘Bessie’.”
Aubrey arrived from Victoria in 1903 with his father and attended Perth High School where he learned the game. Private Hardwicke embarked from Sydney on 11 February 1915.
Three months later he was killed in action at Gallipoli on 26 May 1915. He was 25 years of age.