Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

SOBEY Reginald Roberts RANR MB BS

1920-1991

Reginald Roberts Sobey was born on 31st January 1920, in Brighton, Victoria. He was the son of Reginald Carlisle Archdale Sobey and Winnifred Mable Sophia, nee Eva. His family moved to South Australia, and he was educated at St Peter’s College, and studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1942. He had a younger sister Iris Beatrice Sobey who went to Adelaide Technical High School.

Sobey enlisted at Port Adelaide and was appointed surgeon lieutenant RANR with seniority to date on 7th May 1943. He gave his father of 16 Railway Terrace, Franklin SA as his next of kin.  Eighteen months later, Sobey was mobilised for service, on 24th November 1944, in land bases Torrens, SA, and Cerberus, Victoria. This was followed by a sea posting to Whang Pu from 26th March 1945 until October 1945. HMAS Whang Pu, a 3,204ton riverboat of the China Navigation Company, was one of a group of vessels called the "China Fleet" requisitioned for the RAN and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 1st October 1943, then fitted out in Melbourne as a mobile repair ship. The Whang Pu served in  Papua New Guinea waters and later at Morotai in the Dutch East Indies as a stores ship.  After a short leave, Sobey was appointed to the Warramunga, which was a 1,970 tons improved Tribal Destroyer, from November 1945 to October 1946. Postwar, Warramunga spent some five months of 1946 as the Australian Squadron representative in Japanese waters, returning to Australia at the close of June 1946 for refit.  After his sea time, he returned to shore at Torrens with his appointment terminated on 17 January 1947. Sobey then undertook post discharge refresher training at 105 AMH, Daws Rd, Adelaide.

Four months before his discharge, in September 1946, Sobey became engaged to Dorothy Pauline Welfare, the date of his marriage is not known.  She was the elder of two daughters of Raymond and Florence Welfare of Port Lincoln, SA. They had three sons; Ian, John and Robert and two daughters. Following his discharge, Sobey lived in Glenelg, SA, and it is recorded that he and his family left for England in 1950, where he worked in Hammersmith Hospital, Middlesex.  He returned to Australia, in 1952, and was living in Kooyong, VIC, in 1954.  Sobey moved to Warrnambool, VIC, where he remained for the rest of his life. Reginald Roberts Sobey died on 22nd January 1991 and is interred in the Warrnambool Cemetery.  His wife predeceased him, in 1985, at 61 years of age.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD