A coronial inquiry was conducted by the acting district officer in Talasea, which did not find a cause of death but concluded that there were no suspicious circumstances. It is believed that he died of complications from his war wounds. The men of the 10th Battalion AIF Club contacted his widow to ask that his remains be reinterred in the AIF Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia, and offered their assistance, but she declined, choosing to have him remain buried on Garua Island in New Guinea. On 23 April 1927, a photograph of Wilder-Neligan's grave was published on the front page of the Adelaide newspaper, "The Mail", along with a summary of his exploits during the war.