In Our Neighbours' Soil Our Anzacs Sleep

Abstract

The Sarawak Heroes Memorial Park in Kuching contains a black marble plaque, installed on 29 August 2016, honouring the Australian military personnel who died during the Indonesian Confrontation with Malaysia. Incomplete records however, led to this plaque containing minor errors and omissions. Three years later, as a member of the South Australia and Northern Territory Branch of the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association of Australia Inc, I was invited to deliver a commemorative address for Malaya-Borneo Veterans Day in Kuching on 29 August 2019. This presented the opportunity to extensively research the fallen, and a new plaque was installed prior to this ceremony. My address, included here, drew attention to the 50 Australian fallen from the Malayan wars who remain buried overseas, acknowledging Malaysia and Singapore for looking after our ‘Anzacs’. In particular, of the Australians who died during Confrontation, I noted that eight died in Sarawak (while a further three died after being evacuated from Sarawak). This paper includes this commemorative address, followed by an analysis of the circumstances of each of the eleven Australian defenders of Sarawak in 1965-66 who lost their lives. Concluding this research, the graves of the Australian fallen in Kranji Military Cemetery in Singapore were visited and photographed in December 2019, including the four Australian soldiers who died in Sarawak and remain buried overseas. The significance of the 2019 ceremony in Kuching has been heightened by the inability of veterans to schedule any further reunion visits because of the coronavirus pandemic.