Naming Private Ngakyunkwokka

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people please be advised that the following article contains the names and depictions of deceased persons.

The Roll of Honour sits at the heart of the Australian War Memorial.

It consists of 353 bronze panels, inscribed with the names of more than 103,000 members of the Australian armed forces who have died during or as a result of their eligible service – all with a unique story deserving of recognition, respect and commemoration.

Of these names, 275 are known to belong to Indigenous service personnel.

Uncovering the name and story of one of these individuals – Private Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka, who, in accordance with cultural protocols should be verbally referred to as “Waal Waal Ngakyunkwokka” until June 2026 – has helped shape the Memorial’s understanding of cultural protocols and mourning practices of Indigenous communities.

A Wanam man of the Wik people, Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka was born on 7 January 1912 at Aurukun Presbyterian Mission in Far North Queensland. He enlisted with the Australian Army at Aurukun on 13 September 1943, joining the 2nd Australian Water Transport Group, before being transferred to the 14th Australian Water Transport Operating Company. In March 1945, Ngakyunkwokka was transferred to the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion.

While on leave at Aurukun in April 1945 he contracted influenza. Shortly after, on 20 April 1945, he died of pneumonia. He was 33 years old.

As he died during his war service, he was eligible for commemoration on the Memorial’s Roll of Honour. His name was cast on the original panels for the Second World War, incorrectly recorded as Charlie Ngarkwokka.

It is unclear how the error occurred. Perhaps an administrator spelled the name as they heard it, or perhaps it was the result of limited documentation, or lack of access to his family in Aurukun; either way, it was incorrect.

During a review of the panels by the Central Army Records Office between 1967 and 1969, a discrepancy in the name was identified. In June 1976, it was amended and added to the Second World War panels.

From details recorded in Ngakyunkwokka’s service record, held at the National Archives of Australia, and the Memorial’s Roll of Honour cards, it is understood that the reviewers of the past believed they correctly amended his name to Charlie Bob.

This is how Ngakyunkwokka’s name remained for several decades, until the discrepancy was identified by the Memorial and raised by Dr Tim White.

So began a multi-year project to correct the error, involving research of archival collections, including a visit to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies to review the Aurukun Mission Papers.

At the time of Ngakyunkwokka’s birth, government-issued birth certificates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were limited. The Memorial instead relied upon a statutory declaration provided by a senior family representative from the Ngakyunkwokka family. In the declaration, he advised on the correct spelling and pronunciation of the family name.

The Memorial was provided with advice on cultural protocols to be observed during a 12-month mourning period, which begins at the time of amendment to a public funerary monument.

This presented a new challenge for the Memorial.

The Roll of Honour was not the only funerary monument in existence for Ngakyunkwokka, and it wasn’t the only one to commemorate him with incorrect spelling.

The Office of Australian War Graves, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have their own funerary monuments and commemorative databases, which feature the name. This included his Commonwealth War Graves headstone in Aurukun Mission Cemetery, which was also spelled incorrectly.

If an amendment were to be made to any of these monuments, it would begin another 12-month mourning period for the family.

Recognising this impact, the Memorial engaged with the Office of Australian War Graves in an effort to align our updates.

As a result, in May 2025, the Memorial installed two new supplementary panels in the Commemorative Area, one of which now accurately records the name of Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka.

The Memorial’s Roll of Honour website was updated the following day.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s headstone has been recast. It was installed in Aurukun in June 2025.

The correction to Ngakyunkwokka’s name not only took co-ordination from the Honour Rolls team, and input from the Memorial’s Indigenous Liaison Officer Michael Bell, but also involved liaison with the Ngakyunkwokka family through Dr Tim White, and ongoing discussion with the Office of Australian War Graves.

Through this process, the Memorial has gained a deeper understanding of cultural practices and mourning periods, particularly those of the Ngakyunkwokka family and the Wanam Clan. However, we also understood that each clan, nation and community have their own cultural protocols to respect. With this new knowledge and experience in hand, the Memorial is able to better acknowledge and respect the wishes of Indigenous communities in the future.

On National Reconciliation Day 2025, the Memorial held a Last Post Ceremony sharing Private Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka’s story. Members of his family and his unit laid wreaths beside the Pool of Reflection and placed a poppy beside his true name, now inscribed forever on the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour.