CAIRNS WAR CEMETERY
Queensland
Australia
Location Information
Cairns is a town and seaport on Trinity Bay on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, and is 2,029 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.
Cairns Cemetery is at the end of Martyn Street, off Bruce Highway. It contains a special plot of service war graves. A paved entrance leads into this plot from an internal roadway of the civil cemetery. Immediately to the left of the entrance is a stone seat into the back of which, facing the approach, is set a panel bearing the name " Cairns War Cemetery ". On the right is a stone pier containing a bronze box in which the register is kept. Opposite the entrance stands the Cross of Sacrifice.
Historical Information
After the first Japanese raid on Darwin, on 19 February 1942, a shuttle service of small merchant ships between Cairns and Darwin was introduced. Cairns was also an important air base, from which two Catalina General Reconnaissance Bomber Squadrons (Nos. 11 and 20) operated.
Cairns War Cemetery contains 100 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War There are also 19 Dutch war burials.
Total Burials: Australia 99, Netherlands 19, United Kingdom 1. Total 119.
Cairns is a town and seaport on Trinity Bay on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, and is 2,029 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.
Cairns Cemetery is at the end of Martyn Street, off Bruce Highway. It contains a special plot of service war graves. A paved entrance leads into this plot from an internal roadway of the civil cemetery. Immediately to the left of the entrance is a stone seat into the back of which, facing the approach, is set a panel bearing the name " Cairns War Cemetery ". On the right is a stone pier containing a bronze box in which the register is kept. Opposite the entrance stands the Cross of Sacrifice.
Historical Information
After the first Japanese raid on Darwin, on 19 February 1942, a shuttle service of small merchant ships between Cairns and Darwin was introduced. Cairns was also an important air base, from which two Catalina General Reconnaissance Bomber Squadrons (Nos. 11 and 20) operated.
Cairns War Cemetery contains 100 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War There are also 19 Dutch war burials.
Total Burials: Australia 99, Netherlands 19, United Kingdom 1. Total 119.
404543 Flight Lieutenant
John William Newell (Left)
Royal Australian Air Force
5th March 1945, aged 27.
Plot A. C. 16.
Son of William Graham Newell and Adeline Purvis Newell, of Mareeba.
Click on image to enlarge
Two members of 'C' Flight standing in front of a Mosquito aircraft of No. 456 Squadron RAAF of Fighter Command, based at RAF Station Middle Wallop. They are 404543 Flying Officer (later Flight Lieutenant [Flt Lt]) John William Newell of Mareeba, Qld (left) and 403654 Flight Sergeant (later Flt Lt) Allen Joseph Keating of Sydney NSW. Flt Lt Newell was accidentally killed off the coast of Queensland on 5 March 1945.
John William Newell (Left)
Royal Australian Air Force
5th March 1945, aged 27.
Plot A. C. 16.
Son of William Graham Newell and Adeline Purvis Newell, of Mareeba.
Click on image to enlarge
Two members of 'C' Flight standing in front of a Mosquito aircraft of No. 456 Squadron RAAF of Fighter Command, based at RAF Station Middle Wallop. They are 404543 Flying Officer (later Flight Lieutenant [Flt Lt]) John William Newell of Mareeba, Qld (left) and 403654 Flight Sergeant (later Flt Lt) Allen Joseph Keating of Sydney NSW. Flt Lt Newell was accidentally killed off the coast of Queensland on 5 March 1945.
The Funeral at Cairns of Major General George Alan Vasey, Major General R. M. Downes and Lieutenant Colonel George Anthony Bertram who died in a Military Air Crash. Vasey and Bertram are buried in this cemetery.
Leaning against the front end of a Jeep are 260968 Squadron Leader Leslie Roy Dawson (left), late of Headquarters, RAAF (NEI) Melbourne, and Lieutenant Colonel B S Fiedeldij (right), of the Dutch Army, Netherlands East Indies (NEI). They are having a discussion on the base of the composite 18 Squadron (NEI), RAAF which is equipped with Dutch B-25 Mitchell bombers. Squadron Leader Dawson was accidentally killed on 7 September, 1944 while on operations off Cairns, Queensland. He is buried in the Cairns cemetery.
RAAF officers and other ranks paying their final respects alongside the graves of 409400 Warrant Officer Berrol Samuel Frieze and 404543 Flight Lieutenant John William Newell. Both servicemen were killed in an accident as passengers in the crash of Lockheed Hudson aircraft A16-118 off of Cairns Queensland on 5 March, 1945. The Jewish burial service was read by NX77338 Captain Lynn Harvey Joseph, Medical Officer, Headquarters 1 Corps
Informal portrait of QX6222 Major (Maj) Bruce Dowsett Strange, 2/5th Battalion, (left) and his unidentified driver. Maj Strange was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his 'utmost vigour, aggressive spirit and initiative' on 28 October 1942. He later died in Queensland on 20 September 1944, and is buried in the Cairns War Cemetery.
Major General
George Alan Vasey, C. B. C. B. E. D. S. O. and Bar. Mentioned in Despatches
A. I. F. H. Q. 7. Australian Division
5th March 1945, aged 49.
Plot A. D. 16.
Son of George Brinsden Vasey and Alice Isabel Vasey, of Melbourne, Victoria; husband of Jessie Mary Vasey, of Wantirna, Victoria.
George Alan Vasey, C. B. C. B. E. D. S. O. and Bar. Mentioned in Despatches
A. I. F. H. Q. 7. Australian Division
5th March 1945, aged 49.
Plot A. D. 16.
Son of George Brinsden Vasey and Alice Isabel Vasey, of Melbourne, Victoria; husband of Jessie Mary Vasey, of Wantirna, Victoria.
