The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX24) Temporary Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker, Headquarters 1 Australian Corps, Second World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (VX24) Temporary Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker, Headquarters 1 Australian Corps, Second World War.

VX24 Temporary Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker, Headquarters 1 Australian Corps
Presumed dead 12 September 1941
Story delivered 6 June 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Major Ivor Whittaker.

Ivor Kingsley Whittaker was born on 14 August 1910 in Brunswick, Victoria, to Robert and Muriel Whittaker. He had two younger sisters, Shirley, who was born when he was four years old and Marcelle, who was born when he was seven.

The young Ivor Whittaker was educated at Scotch College where he was involved in rowing, athletics, and was the school pianist.

He was also a noted skier, representing Victoria and becoming a founding member and president of the University Ski Club. In 1931 he won the prestigious silver K trophy in Switzerland. In line with his passion for skiing, Whittaker was an expert accordion player, performing a range of Swiss and Austrian skiing songs at ski lodges in the evenings.

Whittaker began his military career with the Scotch College Cadet Corps. When he went on to study commerce at Melbourne University, he joined the Melbourne University Rifles, and even served as a guest officer in an English regiment on Salisbury Plain during an overseas visit.

By the age of 25, Whittaker was secretary of the family business of Whittaker Clothing, and had visited clothes manufacturers as far away as New York and London in order to study their practices.

His sister Shirley, who was a promising tennis player, died in June 1939 aged 25, after suffering a long illness.

Shortly after war broke out in Europe, Whittaker enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force in October 1939. He was appointed an intelligence officer of the 17th Infantry Brigade, part of the 6th Division.

After attending Staff and Command School in Sydney throughout December, Captain Whittaker became engaged to Margaret Symons before joining his unit at Puckapunyal in February 1940.

The 17th Infantry Brigade left Australia on 14 April 1940, arriving in Kantara, a town on the western side of the Suez Canal, in May. During the trip, Whittaker gave lectures on map reading.

According to later newspaper reports, while he was intelligence officer for the 17th Brigade, Whittaker received head injuries in a head-on car collision in Libya. Apparently he was taking information to a general who was captured a few hours later.

Following his recovery, in late 1940 he was promoted to temporary major and seconded to the 1st Australian Corps Intelligence Section. During this time he was attached as the army’s Air Intelligence Liaison Officer to the Royal Air Force’s Middle East Command Headquarters
Major Whittaker was on a reconnaissance flight in a Blenheim which went missing over the Mediterranean. On 12 September 1941, Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker was declared missing, presumed dead. His body was never recovered, and today he is commemorated at the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.

He was 31 years old.

Following his disappearance, money from his will went to the creation of a skiers’ retreat on Mt Buller. Known as the Ivor Whittaker Memorial Lodge, run by the Ski Club of Victoria, it is now known as “the Whitt”.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section