East Devonport Anzac honoured at Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will commemorate the service and sacrifice of East Devonport resident Private Keith Albert Lawler at the Last Post Ceremony on Saturday 3 May 2025, the eve of Saint Florian’s Day. Saint Florian is the patron saint of paramedics, firefighters and other first responders.

“Keith Lawler was born on 22 July 1919 in East Devonport, Tasmania, the youngest of 13 children of Arthur and Annie Lawler,” Australian War Memorial senior historian Craig Tibbitts said.

“When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Keith was living at Smithton, where he was chief postal clerk. Aged 19, he joined the Australian Imperial Force on 28 June 1940 in Launceston.”

Keith served in the Middle East from March 1941 to February 1942. In August 1942, he again embarked for overseas service, this time to Papua, with the 2/4th Field Ambulance.

On 27 November 1942, several Japanese Zero fighters attacked the main dressing station at Soputa, killing about 30 men in the main hospital area and wounding another 50. Five cooks were killed and the 2/4th Field Ambulance lost seven killed outright and one who later died of wounds. One of those killed outright was Private Keith Lawler. He was 23 years old.

The Last Post Ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day except Christmas Day in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial.

Each ceremony shares the story behind one of 103,000 names on the Roll of Honour. To date, the Memorial has delivered more than 4,100 ceremonies, each featuring an individual story of service from colonial to recent conflicts. It would take more than 280 years to read the story behind each of the 103,000 names listed on the Roll of Honour.

“The Last Post Ceremony is our commitment to remembering and honouring the legacy of Australian service,” Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.

“Through our daily Last Post Ceremony, we not only acknowledge where and how these men and women died. We also tell the stories of who they were when they were alive, and of the families who loved and, in so many cases, still mourn for them.

“The Last Post is now associated with remembrance but originally it was a bugle call to sound the end of the day’s activities in the military. It is a fitting way to end each day at the Memorial.”

The Last Post Ceremony honouring the service of Private Keith Albert Lawler will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/awmlastpost.

The stories told at the Last Post Ceremony are researched and written by the Memorial’s military historians, who begin the process by looking at nominal rolls, attestation papers and enlistment records before building profiles that include personal milestones and military experiences.

HANDOUT images:

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1128066

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C319080