William Thomas Burley was born in Tasmania, but by 1914, his father had retired from farming and both parents were living in Warnambool, Victoria. William was nearby, working as a rabbiter in Dunkeld at the foot of the Grampians. By 1916, however, the family structure had changed and Harriet Burleigh, as she called herself, was living at 94 Vale St., East Melbourne with her two daughters, one a pastry cook and the other a pantry maid, while she herself worked as a dressmaker. It was this address that William Burley gave as his home address too. In 1916, when he enlisted, he was single, 33 years old and working as a labourer.

He enlisted on 1 April, 1916 and was called up on 19 February. On his enlistment application, he claimed to be thirty years old. He went into training at Castlemaine and then joined the 2/46 Battalion Reinforcements at Broadmeadows. They embarked for overseas on 25 June, bound for England, on board the HMAT Medic A7, arriving on 4 October, where they joined the 12th Training Battalion at Rolleston. On 22 September, the reinforcements left for France, landing at Etaples and were taked on strength with the 46th Battalion on 4 October 1916. From here on, they were in the thick of the fighting on the Western Front. The 46th Battalion had been both behind the lines and in the thick of the fighting at Pozieres, first as carrying parties for supplies and ammunition during the 47th Battalion's attack on 4 August, then having two periods in the trenches, as well as a period in reserve. On 17 November, William Burley was sent to the 36th Casualty Clearing Station with Shell Shock, an officer writing 'This man did not leave his unit on 17/11/16 through wounds'. He appeared to have been sent almost immediately back into active service.

William Burley was made Lance Corporal on 14 January, 1917. Following the bitter winter of 1916-17, the 46th Battalion were still at the Western Front, resisting the German Spring offensive. On 11 April, 1917,  they were at Bullecourt, a village heavily fortified by the Germans as part of the defence of the Hindenburg line. The attack, according to the Australian War Memorial account 'was hastily planned and mounted and resulted in disaster ... The Australians were hemmed in and forced to retreat ... the 4th and 12th Divisions ' suffered over 3,300 casualties; 1,170 Australians were taken prisoner'.

It was in this attack that William Burley was killed. At first, he was posted as 'wounded and missing' , but following the Court of Enquiry, he was posted as 'Killed in Action'.   Two witnesses gave testimony to the Court.

Private Deller, 3776, wrote from the Convalescent Hospital: I saw him wounded in both hands and going down in a German dugout where a lot of our wounded were sent during the attack on Bullecourt. We could not hold the position and had to retire leaving our wounded there.  This was corroborated by Private L.V.Keely, 5706, 

He was in the A Co. 1st Battalion. We were attacking at Bullecourt on the 11th April in the early morning. We took our objective and held it for six hours and then retired to our lines which we held. I saw L/Cpl Burley in the German trenches. He was wounded in the fingers - only slight wounds. He was left in the dugout when we retired - there was no time to take any of the wounded away.

William Burley  is listed at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Panel 141 in the Commemorative Area, on the Roll of Honour Cards 145 and at Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.