The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX23875) Private Frederick John Lynagh, 2/12th Field Ambulance, AAMC, 2/3rd AHS Centaur, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (QX23875) Private Frederick John Lynagh, 2/12th Field Ambulance, AAMC, 2/3rd AHS Centaur, Second World War.

QX23875 Private Frederick John Lynagh, 2/12th Field Ambulance, AAMC, 2/3rd AHS Centaur
KIA 14 May 1943
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 14 May 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Frederick John “Jack” Lynagh, who was killed when the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Second World War.

Frederick Lynagh – known as “Jack” or “Jacky” – was born in Dalby, south-east Queensland, on 5 September 1905. He was the second child and first son of Laurence “Larry” and Jessie Lynagh, who worked as shopkeepers, builders, and timber-getters on the Darling Downs. All four of the couple’s boys later served in the army during the Second World War; one would become a prisoner of the Japanese following the fall of Singapore in February 1942, while two others served in the Middle East.

Lynagh attended school at Bell, and he became a provisional teacher in the Bell State School in 1920. On completing his training he was appointed assistant teacher at Kangaroo Point Boys School in Brisbane. Later he was posted to various schools across south-east Queensland, including in Ipswich and Toowoomba, and at the one-teacher school at Whetstone on the Queensland/New South Wales border.

In 1931 Lynagh returned to Bell to work with his father and brothers, building houses and farm buildings in the local area. The work was physically demanding, often involving long-distance travel between jobs and camping out on remote building sites.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, Lynagh volunteered in November 1939 for the Australian Imperial Force but was soon discharged as medically unfit. Eight months later he enlisted in the
Militia as a nursing orderly with the 6th Casualty Clearing Station, and in September 1941 he finally joined the AIF, where he was later allocated to the 2/12th Field Ambulance in Darwin with the rank of acting sergeant. In February 1942 he reverted to the rank of private, and just a few days later Darwin was bombed by the Japanese for the first time. For the next year northern Australia was regularly attacked by Japanese aircraft.

In January 1943 the 2/12th Field Ambulance moved to New South Wales, and in May was boarding the hospital ship Centaur to return north. Built in Scotland in the 1920s as a merchant vessel, Centaur was converted to a hospital ship in early 1943. It had a fully equipped operating theatre and dental surgery, and could carry 252 patients. Centaur was also clearly marked as a hospital ship: with a thick green band around its white hull, broken in several places by large red crosses. At night, it was brightly illuminated by powerful spotlights.

In the early afternoon of 12 May the hospital ship steamed from Sydney Harbour for Cairns. Two days later, shortly after 4 am, a torpedo fired by a Japanese submarine struck Centaur’s port side, hitting the oil fuel tank and igniting in a massive explosion. The bridge superstructure collapsed and the funnel crashed onto the deck. Everything was covered with burning oil and a fire quickly spread across the ship. Water rushed in through the gaping hole in the ship’s side, and many of those not killed in the explosion or fire were trapped as the ship went down. In just three minutes Centaur was gone.

From the 332 people on board, only 64 survived. The survivors were at sea for a day and half before they were rescued.

Private Lynagh was among the dead. He was 37 years old. His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 others 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 Private Frederick John Lynagh, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Ross Peake and Dr Karl James
Historian, Military History Section