Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lieutenant General Sir John Dudley Lavarack, Governor of Queensland from 1 October 1946 until 4 December 1957.

Australian Lieutenant General, Governor of Queensland. A combat veteran of World Wars I and II, he served as Governor of Queensland following his military retirement from October 1946 until his death, and was the first Australian-born governor of that state. The third child of English-born parents, he applied for the Australian Permanent Military Forces and in August 1905 he received a commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Australian Artillery. After serving at various locations in Australia, he was sent to England in 1913 where he attended the Staff College at Camberley until the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, when he assigned to the British War Office and then as a brigade major of the British 22nd Division artillery. His unit spent a month in France during September 1915, but was transferred to Salonica in Greece, where he participated in the Balkans Campaign. In July 1916 he joined the Australian 2nd Division and participated in the Battle of Pozieres in France. He was then assigned as brigade major for the Australian 5th Infantry Division, commanding two field artillery batteries during fighting at the Somme and the advance on the Hindenburg Line. In May 1917 he was transferred to Australian 1st Division headquarters and the following December he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and became the General Staff Officer. He saw combat action in the battles at Dernancourt, Villers-Bretonneux, Hamel and Amiens, and his hand in planning for the Battle of Hamel set the stage for several subsequent Australian military victories. After the end of World War I he returned to Australia and accepted a position at the Royal Military College at Duntroon. In 1926 he was promoted to the rank of brevet colonel, and the following year he attended the Imperial Defence College in London before returning to Australia in 1929. In January 1933 he became commandant of the Royal Military College at Duntroon. In April 1935, with a temporary promotion to the rank of major general (later made permanent in June), he was appointed Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the head of the Australian Army. In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and became General Officer Commanding Southern Command. The following year he was assigned command of the newly formed 7th Infantry Division and was downgraded to the rank of major general. In 1941 he was ordered to Tobruk, Libya where his units were successful in repelling German General Erwin Rommel's forces. After further successes in the Syria-Lebanon Campaign, he was re-promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and became commander of Australian 1st Corps. In January 1942 he was recalled to Australia and became acting commander-in-chief of Australian forces. He then commanded the Australian 1st Army, with responsibility for defending Queensland and New South Wales. In 1944 he traveled to the US where he became head of the Australian Military Mission, and was military advisor for Australia to the United Nations Conference on International Organization. In August 1946 he returned to Australia and retired the following month, with 41 years of continuous military service. Among his decorations and awards include the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the Companion of the Order of the Bath, the Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre, and was cited for gallant or meritorious action in official reports on four separate occasions. In October 1946 he accepted the post of Governor of Queensland and in 1951 it was extended for an additional five years. He was reappointed for an additional year in October 1956 but only served for four months due to poor health and was relieved by his lieutenant governor in January 1957, although he officially remained governor. During his 2nd term as Governor of Queensland, he received the Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1954 and the Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1955. He died at the age of 71.

Bio by: William Bjornstad