Queanbeyan Anzac honoured on 80th anniversary of kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will commemorate the service and sacrifice of Queanbeyan resident Able Seaman Leslie Laurence Hart at the Last Post Ceremony on Sunday 5 January 2025, the 80th anniversary of a kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia.

“Leslie Hart was born in Queanbeyan on 1 November 1925, and grew up with his parents and sister in the Canberra suburb of Ainslie,” Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.

“Les Hart went on to work at the Department of Post-War Reconstruction after it was established in late 1942. On 1 July 1943 he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy and, after five months’ training, he joined the crew of HMAS Australia in early December 1943.

“On 5 January 1945, Able Seaman Leslie Laurence Hart was of one of 25 crewmen killed in an explosion caused by a kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia. He was 19 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 3,800 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,” Mr 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 Leslie Laurence Hart 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 image: Accession Number P09522.001