The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX4318) Private Augustus William Charles Hollibone, 2/3rd Infantry 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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (NX4318) Private Augustus William Charles Hollibone, 2/3rd Infantry Battalion, Second World War.

NX4318 Private Augustus William Charles Hollibone, 2/3rd Infantry Battalion
Illness 27 March 1940


Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Augustus William Charles Hollibone.

Augustus Hollibone was born in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville on 16 August 1905, the son of Harry and Maude Hollibone. He worked as a general labourer and held a qualification with the St John’s Ambulance.

At the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, Hollibone was living in Brighton le Lands, near Botany Bay, with his wife Lyla and two children, Shirley and Kenneth.

Hollibone applied to serve in the army in late October 1939, less than two months after the beginning of the war, and soon began training with the newly formed 2/3rd Infantry Battalion. After a brief period of training at the Ingleburn camp south of Sydney, in early January 1940 he sailed with his unit from Darling Harbour as part of the first convoy to leave Australia for overseas service in the Second World War.

Hollibone and the 2/3rd Battalion were bound for Egypt, where they would assist in the Allied fight against Axis forces advancing across North Africa.

While making this voyage, Hollibone spent time working in the stokehold of his ship, the transport ship Orcades, assisting with the boilers and furnace. About 11 February, Hollibone completed three hours of this strenuous work, but was very weak and dizzy, and suffering from severe pains to his back and limbs.

On his ship’s arrival in Egypt he was rushed to hospital where he received treatment. His condition deteriorated, he was exhausted and had slow, slurred speech.

At 3 am on 27 March 1940, Augustus Hollibone died at the British Military Hospital in Ismailia, on the Suez Canal, Egypt. A post mortem showed that he had suffered a severe brain haemorrhage that affected the left side of his brain.

He was 34 years old.

He is buried at the Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery, where over 290 casualties of the Second World War now lie.

His grieving family left the inscription on his grave: “Dear Daddy, you are gone but not forgotten. Mummy, Ken and Shirley”.

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 Private Augustus William Charles Hollibone, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section