The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Major Dugald Maxwell Lockwood Graham, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, First 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 Melanie Cassar, the story for this day was on Major Dugald Maxwell Lockwood Graham, 2nd Light Horse Regiment, First World War.

Major Dugald Maxwell Lockwood Graham, 2nd Light Horse Regiment
KIA 13 May 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Major Dugald Maxwell Lockwood Graham.

Dugald Graham was born on 8 February 1873, the eldest son of Georgina and John Lockwood Graham. He was born on his father’s property, Calliope Station, near Gladstone in Queensland, and was educated in Toowoomba, completing his education at the Grammar School. Dugald went on to work his father’s property as a sugar farmer, and was well known in the Townsville and Charters Towers districts.

Dugald was particularly interested in the military. He served in the local citizens’ militia, and in early 1900 enlisted in the fourth Queensland Imperial Bushmen contingent for service in the Boer War. In a speech to a gathering of his friends from the Aubigny Football Club, the Mayor of Toowoomba “referred to the many good qualities possessed by Lieutenant Graham, and felt confident that he would faithfully carry out his duties, no matter what position he was placed in”.

In September 1900 Graham wrote home: “our horses have suffered terribly; we could only muster about 100 to go out yesterday after some Boers at Crocodile River, as the rest are all dead or dying … one never knows when he will be off again; in fact, we hear nothing of what is going on round about us; we hardly know who is command of us.”

Lieutenant Graham would go on to see action at Rhenoster Kop, the Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal, and was awarded the Queen’s Medal with four clasps.

Dugald Graham continued his military career after returning from South Africa, and in 1903 was promoted to lieutenant in the Queensland Rifles. The following year he joined the 14th Australian Light Horse, and he maintained a relationship with the Light Horse until the outbreak of the First World War, serving as an officer in a number of different units.

Dugald Graham applied for a commission in the Australian Imperial Force shortly after the outbreak of war in August 1914. Aged 41, he was older than the prevailing enlistment standards, but his status as captain in the Light Horse, and his distinguished military career saw him accepted for active service, and he became of the founding officers of the 2nd Light Horse Regiment.

The 2nd Light Horse Regiment left Brisbane on 25 September 1914, and arrived in Egypt on the 9th of December. Graham was promoted to major on the voyage, and while he gained a reputation as a “strict disciplinarian” it was reported that “he was extremely popular among all ranks … and while enforcing his will upon his commands always retained the esteem and respect of his men.”

The Australian Light Horse regiments did not take part in the dawn landing on Gallipoli in April 1915. However, with mounting casualties it soon became clear that the Anzac force needed reinforcement, and so the men of the light horse were sent without their horses. The night before he left for the trenches, Graham visited a friend, Major “Cam” Robertson, who later wrote that Dugald “was cheerful and confident”. Major Graham landed with C Squadron of the 2nd Light Horse Regiment on 12 May, and the following day was sent up to Quinn’s Post to relieve the 15th Battalion.

At midnight on 14 May, the day after entering the front line, C Squadron was called on to recapture some Australian trenches lost in front of Quinn’s Post. The Turks who had occupied the trenches were constantly creeping up and throwing bombs into the Australian position, and it was decided that they must be pushed back. Major Graham was in charge of the squadron, with Captain Birkbeck his second in command. Birkbeck took an advance party forward and drove the Turks out of the position, and signalled Graham to bring his men forward. As Graham and his men climbed over the parapet, seven Turkish machine guns opened fire on them “with most disastrous results”. Suffering heavy casualties, the squadron was forced to retire, with Graham and Birkbeck “repeatedly expos[ing] themselves in their endeavours to get their wounded into safety”.

While Graham was doing this, he was hit by fire from the machine-guns. The men he was trying to help in turn helped him back to the trenches, and he was carried down to the dressing station, wounded in the head and body. By the time he arrived he was unconscious and nothing could be done for him. He died shortly afterwards.

Dugald Graham had arranged for a friend to write home to his mother in the event of his death, but that man went missing before he could do so. Nevertheless, the Graham family received a number of messages of condolence from Dugald’s comrades. “Cam” Robertson wrote, “he died a soldier’s death and no soldier ever acted more bravely”. Lieutenant Colonel Stoddart also wrote to say that the loss of Graham was a great one for the 2nd Light Horse Regiment, adding that he trusted “that your grief in your severe loss, may, if possible, be somewhat lessened by the knowledge that no man could ever have possibly died more nobly”.

Dugald Graham was buried not far from where he fell, and today his remains lie in Quinn’s Post Cemetery at Anzac. He was 42 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First 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 Dugald Maxwell Lockwood Graham, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section