RABAUL MEMORIAL
HISTORY INFORMATION
Between 1884 and 1914, New Britain was known as New Pomerania and part of German New Guinea. On the 11th September 1914, in one of Australia's first actions of the 1914-18 war, its troops seized the German wireless station at Bitapaka near Rabaul. After the war, the island became part of the Territory of New Guinea, which was an Australian mandated territory. The site of the wireless station became the War Cemetery.
In January 1942, after three weeks of air bombardment, Rabaul was attacked by the Japanese from the sea, and overwhelming odds soon broke the defence. It is estimated that against the original garrison of 1,400 the Japanese landed 17,000 men in the immediate vicinity of Rabaul. The defenders split into small groups and while some 400 managed to escape by sea a great number were killed or captured. Of the latter, some 160 were murdered by the Japanese near Tol in February, whilst most of the remainder, plus some 200 civilians, were drowned when the ship, the Montevideo Maru, was torpedoed and sunk whilst moving them to the Philippines. Nevertheless a number of the original garrison ran the gauntlet of the Japanese patrol and reached Australian territory in small vessels, overlooked when the Japanese commander sent destroyers steaming up and down the coast smashing all the boats to be found.
Small forces on New Ireland, which lies near and north-north-east of New Britain, had been attacked and overwhelmed on January 21st, 1942. It was not until November 1944 that New Britain was again the scene of fighting, when the 5th Australian Division landed at Jacquinot Bay, and the 11th Division at Wide Bay. The two Divisions cleared the north and south coasts and bottled up the enemy in the Gazelle Peninsula. Here the Japanese were contained until the final surrender in August 1945, when the number of their troops was found to be nearly 90,000.
The Rabaul Memorial commemorates over 1,200 members of the Australian Army (including personnel of the New Guinea and Papuan local forces and constabulary) and the Royal Australian Air Force, who lost their lives in New Britain and New Ireland in January and February 1942 or who were lost as a result of the sinking of the S.S. Montevideo Maru in July 1942 and those in New Britain from November 1944 to August 1945, who have no known grave. Men of the Royal Australian Navy who lost their lives in the south-western Pacific region and who have no graves but the sea, are commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial in England along with many of their comrades of the Royal Navy and other Commonwealth Naval Forces.
The Memorial takes the form of an avenue of stone pylons leading from the entrance building to the Cross of Sacrifice. Bronze panels bearing the names are affixed to the faces of the pylons. A central stone lectern at the commencement of the avenue carries a bronze plate with the following dedicatory inscription:
AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM
IN THIS PLACE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS WHO DIED DURING THE 1939-1945 WAR IN THE NEW BRITAIN AREA, ON LAND, AT SEA AND IN THE AIR, BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNES OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH
The memorial was unveiled in October 1953 by Field Marshal Sir William Slim, Governor-General of Australia.
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SURNAME
Metcalfe
FORENAME
Joseph Ernest
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
VX20913
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
27
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Samuel Edward and Mary Beatrice Jane...
-
SURNAME
McNamara
FORENAME
Stanley Walter
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
NX30512
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of J. and Mrs McNamara,Toobeah,Queensland
POW...
-
SURNAME
McKeown
FORENAME
John Sydney
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX69443
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
25
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Pierce and Hannah McKeown,Narrabeen North,New South Wales...
-
SURNAME
McKeown
FORENAME
George Sinclair
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX53992
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
27
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Pierce and Hannah McKeown,Narrabeen North,New South...
-
SURNAME
McDougall
FORENAME
Duncan
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX23298
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
29
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Dugald and Ellen McDougall,Williamstown,Victoria
"MacDougall"...
-
SURNAME
McDiarmid
FORENAME
Anthony
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX31697
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Arthur Hallam and Esther McDiarmid,Altarnun,Cornwall,England...
-
SURNAME
McAliece
FORENAME
Clifford Glen
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
VX34459
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
25
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Thomas Crawford and Annie Elizabeth McAliece
husband of...
-
SURNAME
Mansfield
FORENAME
Kenneth James
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
WX9748
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Alexander James and Gladys Beryl...
-
SURNAME
Lyons
FORENAME
Michael Stephen
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX33432
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
25
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Michael and Agnes Victoria Lyons,Richmond,Victoria
POW...
-
SURNAME
Lowe
FORENAME
William John
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX65718
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
29
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Michael James and Catherine Elizabeth Lowe,Manly,New South...
-
SURNAME
Little
FORENAME
Douglas John
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX30647
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of A.E. and Mrs Little,Tingha,New South Wales
POW 2.2.1942 at...
-
SURNAME
Lees
FORENAME
Raymond
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX44688
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
19
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Andrew and Margaret Rachel Lees
POW 2.2.1942 at sea
lost when...
-
SURNAME
Lamborn
FORENAME
William George
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX13400
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of John R. and Matilda Ann Lamborn,Coolongolook,New South...
-
SURNAME
Lamble
FORENAME
George Robert
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Sergeant
NUMBER
VX34959
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
29
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of George Edwin and Louisa Lamble
Dip.Agric (Dookie)
POW...
-
SURNAME
Lambert
FORENAME
Leslie Allen
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
NX66033
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
30
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of William Addison and Edith Lambert,Haberfield,New...
-
SURNAME
Laird
FORENAME
Douglas Allan
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
NX33602
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Allan Douglas and Henrietta Mary Beryl Laird,Guildford,New...
-
SURNAME
Kelly
FORENAME
Bernard George
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX47922
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Edward Mountford and Florence Jane Kelly,South Grafton,New...
-
SURNAME
Jarrett
FORENAME
Jack Leslie
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX69971
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of George Ernest and Ada Elizabeth Jarrett,Parramatta,New South...
-
SURNAME
Jackson
FORENAME
Colin
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
QX12940
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Samuel and Beatrice Jackson
husband of Joyce Emily Mary...
-
SURNAME
Irvine
FORENAME
Frank Alexander
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
QX10308
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Frank Stanley and Susanah Priscilla...