Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Navy
- Humanitarian Mission
- Indonesia (Operation Sumatra Assist II) (2005)
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- School(s) Attended
- Urambi Primary School, Kambah, ACT; Lake Tuggeranong College ACT, Australian National University
- Occupation
- Doctor (medical practitioner)
- Next of Kin
- Son of Peter Davey and Ann-Marie Cook
Unit and Rank Details
- Final Rank
- Lieutenant (Medical Officer)
- Final Unit
- HMAS Kanimbla
Fate
Died in the crash of a RAN Sea King helicopter, during Operation Sumatra Assist, on the Indonesian island of Nias on 2 April 2005 aged 31 years.
Commemoration
AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 2, Canberra ACT
Awards and Honours
United Nations Force Commander's Commendation for his work as a member of a resuscitation team in East Timor
Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal awarded posthumously
Indonesian Medal of Honour (or Valour) awarded posthumously
Notes
Matthew Davey grew up in Kambah, went to school at Urambi Primary and had been the first dux of Lake Tuggeranong College. He spent 1994-95 as an exchange student at the University of California (Berkeley), studied medicine at Flinders University (1997-2000) and won the University Medal and Tillyard Prize at the Australian National University in Canberra. After the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, Davey was part of Operation Sumatra Assist providing humanitarian relief in Indonesia. Davey was aboard a Sea King helicopter on 2 April 2005 when it suffered mechanic failure and crashed near Nias Island, Indonesia. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Royal Australian Navy Reserve and was Intensive Care Registrar at Royal Canberra Hospital.
In April 2009 the ANU students' residence in Childers Street was named Davey Lodge in his honour. The Royal Australian Navy created the Matthew Davey Award in his honour for members of the Naval Reserve to undertake overseas study.
Sources
The Canberra Times - 04 April 2005 (p.1), 5 April 2005 (pp1,4), 6 April 2005 (p.5), 10 April 2005 (pp.4-5), 14 April 2005 (p.3), 7 April 2009 (p.6)
Photograph(s): The Canberra Times - 5 April 2005 (p.1), 10 April 2005 (pp.4-5)
AWM Remembrance Book http://www.awm.gov.au/rroll/
http://www.defence.gov.au/news/armynews/editions/1118/topstories/story01.htm