Douglas Colefax, born at Murwillumbah on 16 November 1916, was the youngest of a family of six children. His parents were Augustus (Gus) and Adelaide, who lived at nearby Eungella where they operated a small farm growing mainly bananas, corn and potatoes, as well as having the usual farm animals. He was named Basil after his uncle, Basil Hope Colefax, killed in action in France just before his birth.
Douglas received his early education at Eungella Public School, a one room one teacher school near Murwillumbah. It still exists but now it is overgrown with vines.
It is likely that he went to Murwillumbah High School at least as far as the Intermediate Certificate. In those days very few farm boys went on to the Leaving Certificate as their services wer needed on the farm.
Douglas, along with his three brothers and two sisters, worked on the farm in their younger years, though one brother and one sister being profoundly deaf and dumb, spent most of the year at school in Sydney. His older brothers left the farm in the early 1930s to pursue other employment in Sydney, leaving Douglas as his father’s right hand man. His Army enlistment papers give his occupation as farm worker.
The family was very much involved with the Murwillumbah Methodist Church and the Eungella community activities, and the young Douglas would have found his social outlets centred on those interests.
Douglas enlisted at Murwillumbah on 24 April, aged 24. He was assigned to the Militia with the number N 165029, and his unit was the 53rd battalion. He is described as being 5 ft 4 1/2 inches tall with a fresh complexion, and dark hazel eyes.
In a letter from his mother to his eldest brother Jack, written a month before her death in August 1941, she spoke of ‘Doug being home for a weekend – he had a sore leg from marching’ and ‘now Japan is beginning to squeak, one cannot see far ahead.’ Writing of a lost nephew, she wrote, ‘hard to think of lads going over there never to return, makes one hate the war’.
H a r o l d , D o u g l a s , Adeline, Delena, John and Henry, August 1941 at their mother’s funeral.
The Militia was raised for the defence of Australia, but Douglas enlisted for overseas service and on 28 November 1941 he was transferred as a driver to the 2/12th Australian Field Ambulance. He was given a new number NX73339, indicating that he was now a member of the AIF, and was deployed to Darwin where the unit was stationed.
In Darwin, the 2/12th FA was attached to the 23rd Infantry Brigade, 8th Division. Most of the recruits were from rural NSW. During their training in the Northern Territory the members of the 2/12th provided medical support for the 23rd Brigade, helped with the construction of 5 small hospitals, and assisted sappers and pioneer assault units, earning the nickname “2/12th Pioneers”.
Douglas had joined the 2/12th at the end of November, and two and a half months later was with them through the thick of the bombing of Darwin which began on 19 February 1942. The raids continued for several months.
He wrote several times to his brother Jack both from Darwin and from the family home in Eungella when on leave. He mentioned playing rugby against another unit, talked of the heat and the monsoon rain, waiting for arrival of the cake from Jack’s wife, and how most of the troops sent their cake tins home because of the shortages.
The Japanese threat to Australia through New Guinea was becoming urgent. In January, 1943, the 2/12th FA was brought back from the Northern Territory to prepare for service providing medical support in New Guinea. On the ten day trip from Darwin to Brisbane the convoy was delayed by floods near Mt Isa. As most of the troops had dirty clothes they took the opportunity to wash them in the floodwaters. As Douglas told Jack the clothes came out quite clean!
In Sydney the unit was given leave, and from Eungella Douglas wrote to Jack, ‘packed a few bananas on Tuesday and with a bit of milking it’s just like old times again’.
Douglas joined his unit for a base camp at Corrimal, near Wollongong, where they spent the next three months. In May they returned to Sydney and embarked on the Centaur. Their destination was Cairns for tropical training in preparation for their medical service in New Guinea.
The Tarrawanna Testimonial cites an article in the Illawarra Mercury of 2 April, 1943, describing a civic occasion to welcome the men of the 2/12th FA to Tarrawanna.
After the sinking of the Centaur the article was presented in this form as a Memorial.
Members of the 2/12th FA mentioned in the testimonial are Driver T. Hayward, Driver Bill Lawson, Cpl Winder, Cpl Lotze, Pte Skafte, Pte Alan Woods – all of whom were lost on the Centaur – and L/Cpl Redfern and Lt Manuel.
After the loss of his son on the Centaur, Gus sold the farm and went to live with his eldest daughter Adeline in Murwillumbah, until his death in 1957.
None of Douglas’ siblings or their spouses, bar one, was still alive in 2010 to learn of the final resting place of their brother. He is remembered by Jack’s daughter Doreen [ Chegwyn ] and son David, their spouses, and families.
A living memorial to Douglas can be found in the students of Colefax House at Centaur Primary School, Banora Point in the Tweed district of NSW.
A tribute created in 2010 by Douglas’ great great niece Jaide, then aged 9. The insert in the drawing reads:
Lest We Forget. Rest in peace.
I love you, Douglas.
