The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX52878) Lieutenant Harry Doncaster, 19th Australian Infantry Training Battalion, 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 (VX52878) Lieutenant Harry Doncaster, 19th Australian Infantry Training Battalion, Second World War.

VX52878 Lieutenant Harry Doncaster, 19th Australian Infantry Training Battalion
Killed on Duty: 5 August 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Harry Doncaster.

Harry Doncaster was born in Ballarat East on 17 July 1906, the son of William and Alice Doncaster.

He grew up in Ballarat and attended school locally. Harry was an excellent athlete and particularly excelled at running. He was a member of the Ballarat YMCA Harriers Club and won numerous trophies, particularly for middle-distance running events.

After leaving school he became a master stonemason and monumental mason, or maker of tombstones. He married Jessie Laurie in 1930 and their son John was born in early 1937. Before the outbreak of the Second World War the family was living on Doveton Street in Ballarat.

Having served in the cadets at school, Doncaster continued his service in the militia until after the start of the Second World War, when he was mobilised for service with the 8th Battalion in late November 1939. During his time in uniform he acquired the nickname “Hack”. He was also known to be a crack shot with a rifle.

He enlisted in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force in Ballarat on 7 April 1941 and was allocated to the 10th reinforcements to the 2/8th Battalion. Five months later, he embarked for the Middle East with other reinforcements, sent to join the 2/8th Battalion, which was part of the garrison force in Syria.

With the entry of Japan into the war, the 2/8th Battalion was ordered home to Australia in late January 1942 and sent to the Northern Territory, where it was based around the Adelaide River south of Darwin.

In late January 1944 he was posted to the 19th Australian Infantry Training Battalion, where he became an instructor to 18-year-old recruits. In June the commanding officer of his battalion received a warning about a possible breakout attempt by Japanese prisoners held in the camp at Cowra.

Several of the battalion’s officers, including Doncaster, were frustrated by their commanding officer’s orders not to carry live ammunition – and in the case of the officers, no side arms. However, this did not stop them taking Owen machine carbines out during night patrols, just in case.

In early August a Japanese prisoner warned the Australians of an impending attack. The Cowra camp guards and the local training battalions went onto high alert and patrols were increased around his own camp and out towards Cowra.

In the early hours of 5 August, the peace of the camp at Cowra was broken by a bugle call – the signal for a mass-breakout by Japanese prisoners of war.

At an orders group later that afternoon, the officers of the 19th Training Battalion had been told not to carry personal weapons, and that their men would only be armed with bayonets in scabbards. Doncaster and another officer intended to defy this order, but the orders group went on so long that when it ended they were forced to load up onto the trucks immediately with their men. By this stage it had been over 12 hours since the breakout.

Unable to retrieve his pistol, Doncaster turned to one of his fellow platoon commanders, Lieutenant Stan Platz, and said, “I don’t like this, Platzie. We should at least be given our revolvers.”

By the time Doncaster and his platoon were dropped off, the daylight was waning. As the men made their way up a wooded hill, Doncaster spotted several Japanese and called to them to stop. Armed with knives and clubs, the Japanese advanced on Doncaster.

Unfortunately for him, his trainees had become increasingly unsettled as they advanced into the twilight. Now they broke and abandoned their leader, with several of them being pursued by the Japanese.

Harry Doncaster went down fighting. He had picked up a large rock which he threw at one of the Japanese before being surrounded by as many as ten Japanese armed with knives, nail-studded baseball bats and clubs. Doncaster resorted to his fists, but despite a valiant attempt to hold his attackers at bay, he was first stabbed then bludgeoned to death.

A number of the culprits committed suicide soon after and their bodies were found during the night and the next day. Harry Doncaster’s body was recovered soon after by another platoon. Later he was laid to rest in the Cowra War Cemetery. He was 38 years old.

After the Cowra breakout several enquires were held which called into question the slow response from the training battalions in mounting search parties. Had search parties been sent out during the morning, Doncaster (who had still been returning from leave) would not have been among them – and the Japanese would have been confined to a much smaller area around the camp.

Today, a memorial stands near the spot where Harry Doncaster was killed.

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 Lieutenant Harry Doncaster, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.


Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section