Private Harold Medcalfe Leask, NX27347, 2/12 FA

from the Address delivered by Dana Ryan, Merici College Centaur Commemorations, AWM, Canberra, 14 May 2014.

There were four brothers. Then there was only one. They were all from Merrylands, NSW, where as a family they owned and operated a 9-acre market garden farm. The brothers enlisted together at Paddington, Sydney in June 1940, with consecutive serial numbers. After training in Cowra NSW, they were deployed to Darwin where they served during the bombing of the city. Following this, their unit the 192-member 2/12th Field Ambulance embarked on the Centaur for later deployment in New Guinea as a field medical unit.

Lance Sergeant Malcolm’s wife Orba began having pregnancy problems with their first child and Malcolm was granted compassionate leave.

The Leask brothers’ parents had recently passed away when the three brothers were killed in action on the Centaur, leaving the youngest, Malcolm, as the recipient of the three telegrams informing him that his three brothers were missing at sea, and another three later confirming they had been killed in action. Receiving these telegrams was a indescribable and life changing kind of pain for Malcolm

This pain is still very present for his children and grandchildren, who carry the legacy of deeply compassionate parents and grandparents who understood grief, loss and life struggles in others. Further generations feel the loss of uncles they never met.

All three brothers were single and all in their early thirties at the time of their deaths.

Each of the brothers had his own distinct character. Harold was serious, responsible, dry-witted and the eldest of the brothers. Alexander was clever mechanically and was great on details. Henry, known as Harry, was a horse whisperer; he loved the country life and was known to leave home for months at a time to take up the life of a jackaroo. Malcolm was gifted in writing and was a deep analytical thinker. All adored Orba, who became the sister the brothers all dearly wanted.

The three brothers were described as ‘fine, typical young Australian men’. The loss of Malcolm’s brothers greatly affected him, his children and grandchildren. The Leask family was finally given some sense of closure when the Centaur was found in December 2009.

You can find Henry, Harold and Alexander’s names on panel 3 at the Sydney Memorial to the Missing at Rookwood, or on the Memorial at Point Danger, and the 2/12th Field Ambulance plaque in the Hall of Remembrance at the Australian War Memorial.

Lance Sergeant Malcolm passed away in 1999 aged 84, and his wife Orba in 2000 aged 83.

The Leask brothers are now all together in death as they were in life.

Ted Leask, nephew of Harold, Alexander and Henry Leask, and son of Malcolm, continues the family story:

Henry, known as “Harry” used to write poetry, Banjo Paterson style, about his opinions and reflections of army life. He was known as “Has Been” and used this pseudonym when posting timely pieces to the notice board about events in Army life that he believed needed some sort of airing.

Sometimes he would be reprimanded for this, other times the comic relief was welcomed depending on the mood of the Censor.

They also, as is now commonly known, loved their sister-in-law Orba as a princess as they deeply missed doing so for their own sister Helen, Harold’s twin, who died at eight days of age. As a group of brothers they were very adoring and protective of their Orba.

Their impact upon the rural zone of Holroyd, of which Merrylands and Graystanes were rural suburbs, was deep and they were highly respected. The family ran sporting clubs and events for the families and children of the district, a tradition which continued after the war with Mal and Orba and their many children and foster children. As a family their active, compassionate, caring Christian faith was warmly experienced by many through the life commitment which Mal and Orba carried through to their mid 80s when they passed away.

In the late 1990s Graystanes Primary School’s Yearbook, reflected on the history of the school and its notable people, past and present. A lady by the name of Marjory, who, it is conjectured, was sweet on one of the Leask boys, wrote a wonderful heartfelt poem about them and their tragic loss at sea.

Readers are recommended to watch the various family interviews recorded at Brisbane following the National Memorial Service in 2010. They are great stories which immortalize lives lost, and are available on the Centaur Association website.

Ted Leask, proud youngest son of L/Sergeant Malcolm Christie Leask NX 27344, and Mrs Orba Amy Leask, proud youngest nephew of Pte Alexander Ritchie Leask, NX27345 Pte Henry Henderson Leask, NX27346 Pte Harold Medcalfe Leask, NX27547, all of the 2/12th Field Ambulance, AIF.

Uncles who are deeply adored, regularly remembered and forever missed by their very many family, friends and acquaintances.

Mal and Orba spent the next 56 years creating lives of excellence for and with others. Their deep faith in Jesus sent them straight into active connection with people experiencing grief, life difficulties of all kinds and people in need of loving care and safe shelter.

After the war, Malcolm entered Woolwich Bible College in Sydney, to graduate as a Christian Minister, and moved to Queensland to take on a rural ministry at Boonah Church of Christ. They left the farm in the hands of tenants, a decision which they later regretted, and one which caused them to leave their ministry in Boonah. They moved back to Greystanes to find a near-wrecked family farm, which had been handed over just two years previously in pristine condition.

They had to do some serious renovations and cleaning to make the house habitable again. It took some time for their belongings to arrive from Queensland; in the meantime furniture was packing cases and timber banana boxes.

Mal and Orba undertook ministries at Holroyd Church of Christ, and Loftus Park Church of Christ. Later ministries included the Church of Christ at Asquith. At Loftus Park the church hall from Greystanes, built by the boys, was dismantled and rebuilt after the war.

Mal held evangelical crusades, and became deeply interested in family welfare. He became Family Welfare Officer with the Sydney City Mission in the mid 1960s to early 1970s at St Marys, and established offices at the newly developing Mt Druitt and Penrith areas, further west.

In the early 1970s Sir Alan Walker appointed Mal Director of Lifeline, Sydney, the world’s first 24-hour telephone crisis centre. Mal developed the first system of formal telephone counsellor training in Australia. He established many new regional and city Lifeline Centres in his six years as Director, including Port Moresby Life Centre in Papua New Guinea.

In the mid 1960s Mal encouraged Orba to set up her own Speech and Drama Studio in Castle Hill which she ran until 1994 when she retired after thirty one years of teaching.

When Mal retired from Lifeline he and Orba moved to Ettalong Beach, where their home was always open to phone calls and visits from people seeking wise advice.

Their legacy lives on through us their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and the hosts of unnamed people whose lives have benefitted from having met and known them, and experiencing their deep compassion and concern.