Photo of Old Kahibah Memorial Hall c1996

Honour Rolls (WWI and WWII) and photo of WWII soldier (Robert Ewan Oliver) from the memorial hall given to school for safe keeping. The Honour Rolls are to installed in the Kahibah Public School Memorial Hall when completed. Listing of the names on the Honour Rolls, listing from World War I Hunter Names Database, War World II list, and Australian War Memorial World War 2 Nominal Roll.

On 1922-10-21 a special train left Newcastle for the opening of "Soldiers' Memorial Hall" at Kahibah.

A memorial park has been created on the corner of Kahibah Road, Hexham Street, Frith Street and Wallsend Street, Kahibah. This memorial park is in memory of the returned servicemen and women, and the pioneer miners of the Kahibah district.

The first ANZAC service held at the school was on 1959-04-24 in the playground in the middle of the buildings. (see also 50 year book and Kahibah Crier 1999).

Those that were killed and listed on the Honour Rolls

Details supplied by Barbara Rutherford
Niece of Robert Oliver.

ROBERT OLIVER. Served as Robert Ewan

(Robert Ewan was from Western Australia, the two young men swapped identities so they could get ration cards in each other's. Robert Oliver worked in Outback WA for several years before enlisting.)

Robert Oliver was born to James and Margaret on 12th July 1912 in Durham England.

Robert enlisted in Western Australia, and on the War Memorial at Perth he is listed as Robert Oliver, who served as Robert Ewan.

From what I can remember, he is listed only as Robert E. Oliver on the War Memorial in Canberra.

Letters from Robert show the following address.

W.X.10167

10th Reinforcements

9/11 Battalion

13th Training

Northam

W.A.

14th May 1941

W.X.10167

No 2 Australian Independent Company

A.I.F.

Abroad

3rd November 1941

He was killed at Dili in Timor on 14th August 1942 aged 30.

A tree bearing a plaque in his name. (location - Dili at the spot where Robert was killed)

In Honour of

L/CPL - ROBERT EWIN

2nd IND COY

KILLED IN ACTION

TIMOR

14th AUG. 1942 AGED 28

DEDICATED BY HIS UNIT

(source: www.defence.gov.au/army/asnce/history.htm) An Extract.

During WW II, Portugal declared itself neutral and this declaration was extended to its overseas territories. Australia asked the British to speak to the Portuguese and Dutch during the middle of 1941 to form a defence pact against the Japanese. This pact was not forthcoming, due in part to pressure brought to bear on Portugal by the Japan. The Australian military was only able to spare two battalions and some support troops for the Indonesian archipelago: Gull Force (2/21 Batallion(Bn)), to be headquarted in Ambon and Sparrow Force (2/40 Bn) to be headquarted in Kupang.

On 17th December 1941, the Australian 2/2 Independent Company and 260 Dutch troops landed in Dili. The Dutch troops (mainly Indonesian soldiers and Dutch officers) secured Dili and the Australians secured Comoro Airfield. This landing was referred to as the “first” invasion of neutral Timor by the then Portuguese president, Oliveira de Salazar. The Portuguese Governor in Dili at the time, J. Santos Carvalho, demanded to be treated as a prisoner of war and confined himself to his residence.

The Australian troops were stricken by Malaria. At one point in January 1942, less than two months after landing, 2/2 Independent Company was reduced to 10 men fit for duty.

The Japanese landed on the island during the evening of 19 February 1942 at the Comoro Airfield – the second invasion. The Japanese 38th Infantry Group (commanded by Major General Takeo Ito), having just finished fighting in Ambon against Gull Force, was given responsibility for taking Timor. 2/228 Infantry Bn group (estimated at up to 4 000 troops) was given the task of capturing Dili. They landed and the Dutch troops started to withdraw to Atambua and the Australians moved inland through Ermera after destroying Comoro airfield. The main body of Sparrow Force (a large part of 2/40 Bn and its supporting units stationed in Kupang) surrounded to the Japanese on 23 Feb 1942, leaving 2/2 Independent Coy without higher command and fighting a rearguard action against the Japanese. The remnants of 2/40 Bn and 2/2 coy met at Lolotoe in March 1942 to plan the future of their war. Forty members of 2/40 Bn based themselves in Memo to provide early warning of Japanese movement from West Timor. The main area of patrolling was in the Maliana basin from Balibo to Bobanaro and as far northwest as Gleno. The remains of Sparrow Force were resupplied by para drop and a few small boats from Australia.

In May 1942, the 300 Australians left in Timor were ordered to keep harassing the Japanese forces since there was no ability for them to be evacuated. 2/2 Coy, re-enforced with a platoon from the remains of 2/40 Bn, occupied positions at Memo, Cailaco, Atsabe, Ainaro, Maubisse, and on the outskirts of Dili. Sparrow Force and the remains of the Dutch troops managed to confine the Japanese to Dili until August. In August 1942, with a troop ratio of 10:1, the Japanese commander broke out of Dili with the aim of destroying the Allied forces left on Timor.

Australia estimated that the Japanese had 4 –5 Batallions of troops in Timor; tied down by 2/2 Coy and thus unable to re-enforce their troops in Papua New Guinea. 2/2 Coy was reinforced by 2/4 Coy (Lancer Force) on 20 Sep 1942 when HMAS Voyager landed at Betano – only to be destroyed after unloading troops and supplies. The evacuation of 2/2 Coy and Portuguese civilians to Australia was conducted in December 1942. Lancer Force was withdrawn from Timor in January 1943. A small intelligence collection and reporting team, S Force, and a small detachment of Z Special Force, were the only Australian presence left in Timor. All Australians were evacuated from Timor by the end of February 1943. The Japanese remained in control of Timor until their surrender on 15 August 1945.

The Allied troops’ guerrilla campaign against the Japanese resulted in the loss of 40 000 to 70 000 Timorese lives. There was initial wide support for the Allied troops as the locals thought that the Australians would also help them fight against the Portuguese at the end of the war. The Allied forces relied on the locals for food (which was purchased with silver, air dropped from Australia) and portage as well as local intelligence. The Japanese managed to gain support from the Timorese against the Australians with anti-white propaganda. However this was hard to reconcile with the Japanese bombing of numerous towns, including Bobanaro and Ainaro. There was a large number of Timorese from the Dutch occupied West Timor used by the Japanese to harass the Australians. In September 1942, Sparrow Force started arming the local Timorese to conduct operations against the Japanese. This lead to battles between Japanese armed and Australian armed Timorese along old tribal rivalries.

 This page updated: Tuesday, 2007-04-10