James Heane, CB, CMG, DSO, VD (29 December 1874 – 20 August 1954) was an Australian Army colonel and temporary brigadier general in the First World War.

[1] On 3 September 1914, Heane was appointed to the Australian Imperial Force with the rank of captain as a company commander in the 4th Infantry Battalion.

He was wounded so badly at Lone Pine that he was evacuated and hospitalised finally rejoining his battalion at Tel el Kebir, Egypt, in January 1916.

Afterwards, Heane personally walked the whole front and carefully thinned out the line so that the minimum number of men would be exposed to the enemy artillery when it discovered their location.

But on 7 December, after going up to the front line and crossing several empty and apparently unused saps that were little more than ditches half filled with muddy slime, Heane found himself in a trench occupied by German soldiers.

Heane rejoined his unit in January 1917, and led in his brigade the Battles of Bullecourt, Menin Road, Broodseinde, Passchendaele, Lys, Lihons and Chuignes.

For his services in command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, Heane was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) and Mentioned in Despatches five more times.