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
Fraser
FORENAME
Ronald Angus
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX68894
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 07.03.1919, Boggabri, New South Wales
son of William Simon and...
-
SURNAME
Franks
FORENAME
Allen Bernard
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX47288
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Ernest Hill and Linda Muriel Franks,Gundy,New South Wales...
-
SURNAME
Flood
FORENAME
William Edward
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
QX8467
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
25
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Thomas John and Alice May Flood,North Rockhampton,Queensland...
-
SURNAME
Fagan
FORENAME
William John
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
QX14023
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
28
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of James Patrick and Margaret Mary...
-
SURNAME
Everingham
FORENAME
William Leslie
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX58628
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Arthur James and Ann Isobel Everingham,Narromine,New...
-
SURNAME
Evans
FORENAME
Lloyd Carvel
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX53002
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
28
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Henry William and Logan Evans,Elizabeth Bay,New South Wales...
-
SURNAME
Eddy
FORENAME
Colin McWhirter
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX69465
DATE OF DEATH
2nd February 1942
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Ernest Bause and Alice Eaglisham Eddy,Grenfell,New...
-
SURNAME
Densley
FORENAME
George Robert
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
WX9936
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
25
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Benjamin Herbert and Elsie Matilda...
-
SURNAME
Dennis
FORENAME
William Eric Rule
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
WX8167
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
29
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Egbert Stephen and Alice Gertrude...
-
SURNAME
Day
FORENAME
John Wilson
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX53100
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
26
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Henry Stuart and Isabella Jane Day,Perth,Western Australia
POW...
-
SURNAME
Davis
FORENAME
Alexander Lewis Charles
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX35679
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Walter Alexander and Elizabeth May...
-
SURNAME
Curtis
FORENAME
Stanley Gordon
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
WX10626
DATE OF DEATH
2nd February 1942
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Horace Gordon and Olive May Curtis
husband of Arvonia...
-
SURNAME
Curtis
FORENAME
Reginald George
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX66279
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 4
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Stanley George and Evelyn Josephine Curtis,Goulburn,New...
-
SURNAME
Cracknell
FORENAME
Walter Thomas
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
NX32378
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
29
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Raymond and Margaret Martha Cracknell,Chatswood,New...
-
SURNAME
Cook
FORENAME
Eric Henry
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX69680
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial,Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 11.11.1919 Sheffield,Yorkshire,England
son of Frank and Leah...
-
SURNAME
Carter
FORENAME
James Turner
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX68061
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
26
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial, Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 24.09.1915 Barraba, New South Wales, Australia
son of Charles...
-
SURNAME
Carr
FORENAME
Albert
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Sergeant
NUMBER
VX29724
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
39
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial, Papua New Guinea Panel 11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 02.08.1902 Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia
son of Henry...
-
SURNAME
Byrne
FORENAME
Patrick Joseph
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX26672
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial, Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 23.05.1919 Bulli, New South Wales, Australia
son of Joseph...
-
SURNAME
Burrell
FORENAME
David Claude
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX50405
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial, Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 12.12.1919, Merbein, Victoria, Australia
son of John Lewis...
-
SURNAME
Browne
FORENAME
Patrick Thomas Leopold
UNIT
2/1 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX68349
DATE OF DEATH
1st July 1942
AGE
27
GRAVESITE
Rabaul Memorial, Papua New Guinea Panel 12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
resided Balgowlah, New South Wales
born 25.12.1914...