Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Cornelius Patrick HANLEY and Christina Drummond nee McKENZIE, 10 Rathdonnell Street, Auchenflower, Brisbane, Qld.

MISSING MAN:
FORMER P.O.W.
Search is being made for Ronald Michael Hanley, 27, single, an ex-prisoner of war, of Rathdonnell Street, Auchenflower, who has Been missing since Saturday. Hanley, who was  employed at Rosemount Hospital, was last seen outside the hospital, waiting for a tram, about' 10.35 p.m. on Saturday. He spoke to a workmate, and arranged to see him at 1.30  p.m. on Sunday.
His description is: Height, 5ft. 4in.; build, slight; weight, 8st. 101b.; hair, brown; complexion, fair; eyes, brown. He has a small scar in the middle of the forehead at the hair line,  and another 'Y' shaped scar on the forehead above the bridge of the nose. When last seen Hanley was wearing dark tweed trousers, white shirt, grey sports coat, tan shoes, grey  felt hat, and was carrying a small suitcase.

MISSING MAN'S
BODY IN RIVER
The body of Ronald Michael Hanley, 27, single, of Rathdonnell Street, Auchenflower, was recovered from the Brisbane River, below Mowbray Park, today. Hanley, who was an ex-POW, had worked as a wardsman at Rosemount Hospital since his return to Brisbane. He had been missing since Saturday. The body was taken to the morgue, where  post-mortem will be held today.

CORONER TOLD :
Ex-P.O.W. found civil life hard
RONALD MICHAEL HANLEY, 27, returned P.O.W., whom police believe threw himself into the Brisbane River, had found his return to civil life strange, according to evidence in the  Coroner's Court yesterday. Hanley had appeared unable to rehabilitate himself as most other p.o.w.'s did, said Walter William Woolard, a fellow p.o.w. Woolard, of Copeland Street, Milton, and Hanley, of Rathdonnell Street, Auchenflower, had been captured by the Japanese while serving with the A.I.F. in Java in 1942.
Hanley 's body was recovered from the Shafston Reach of the river on March 26. He had been missing since he left the Rosemount Military Hospital, where he had been a nursing  orderly, at 10.30 p.m. on March 23.

Woolard said that at, a social of the Rosalie sub-branch of the R.S.L. on March 20 Hanley had said to him: 'I'm not much good for anything; I  ought to jump off the bridge.' Hanley had said it in a joking way, and Woolard did not take him seriously. Captured In Java Woolard said he and Hanley had first served together in  the Middle East, and after their capture in Java they were together in a P.O.W. camp, but Hanley later was sent to Thailand. He next saw Hanley in Brisbane last December. He  tried to interest him in dancing, and they went to parties and socials. William Cornelius Hanley said that his brother had applied for training, under Army rehabilitation, in the  French-polishing trade. A few days before his death he had got, a letter from the authorities who wanted to know more about his training before the war. His brother had told him  that civilian life seemed strange.

Constable Mclntosh Robertson said Hanley had enlisted just prior to his 21st birthday. While a P.O.W. he had been treated harshly by the Japanese, and suffered from malaria and  dysentery. Inquiries had failed to disclose his movements after he had knocked off work at the hospital on the night of his disappearance. Robertson said in reply to Sgt. J.  Denning that he believed Hanley had thrown himself into the river. 
The inquest was closed.

He was accepted, after research, for commemoration as war dead on 13/09/2011