Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

26/05/1941

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

21/07/1920

Place of Birth

Sydney NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Potts Point NSW

Next of Kin

Son of Harold Hillis Page and Anne Miller Page; husband of Roma Adelene Page (nee Prowse, later Mrs Richard Greenish), of Canberra ACT and 'Hill Station' ACT. Nephew of Country Party Federal MP Sir Earle Page, caretaker Prime Minister of Australia for only 2 weeks in 1939, but member of the Australian Parliament for 42 years.
Robert's father, Major Harold Page DSO MC, was lost 1 July 1942 on the Montevideo Maru, which was sunk off Luzon by a US submarine, while carrying 1000 Australian POWs, and civilians. One of the latter was Harold Page, at the time Government Secretary and Deputy Administrator of the Papua New Guinea.

Burial Place

Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore: Collective grave 28. A. 1-10.

Service Number

NX19158

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

Z Special Unit, AIF

Died 7 July 1945 aged 24 years, executed by the Japanese, Malaya.

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 11.
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Forrest, Canberra. Screen in Warriors' Chapel.
Queanbeyan & District Honour Roll (corner of Farrer Place & Lowe Street, Queanbeyan)

Distinguished Service Order

Page was the nephew of former Prime Minister Sir Earle Page. His father Harold was Deputy Administrator of New Guinea at the outbreak of war and was captured in Rabaul in early 1942. He was aboard the Montevideo Maru when she was sunk on 1 July 1942. Robert Page became engaged to Roma Prowse from Canberra in February 1943, before embarking on Operation Jaywick which, in September 1943, caused seven Japanese ships to be sunk or badly damaged in Singapore harbour. Page returned to Australia and married Roma Prowse in November 1943 at St. Andrew's in Forrest. In October 1944 he was part of Operation Rimau which attempted another raid on shipping in Singapore. They were detected close to Singapore when they were approached by a Malay Police Patrol. The raiders scattered and for two months the survivors evaded capture. Ultimately Page and nine other men were tried and sentenced to death. They were executed on 7 July 1945.

The AWM (ref. ART27649) painting by artist Dennis Adams was commissioned to depict Operation Jaywick, a bold raid by members of Special Operations Australia from Z Special Unit. Fifteen men under the command of a British officer, Major Ivan Lyon, sailed from Australia in 1943 aboard MV Krait to attack Japanese ships in Singapore Harbour. Lieutenant Robert Page and Able Seaman Arthur Jones are shown in the painting placing limpet mines on a ship's hull. Seven Japanese ships were sunk or badly damaged as a result of the raid.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. <http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/>
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
AWM Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour Circulars <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
Presbyterian Church of Australia. Church of St Andrew, Canberra. Form and order for the dedication of the memorial window and memorials in the Warriors' Chapel, Sunday, 14th November, 1948. Canberra, 1948.
The Echo [quarterly newsletter of the Presbyterian Canberra Parish of St Andrew]: no. 10, March-May 1945 (p.4); and no. 12, December 1945 (p.4).
Barbara Petersen. Acts of faith: the story of the Church of St Andrews, Canberra. Gundaroo, Brolga Press, 2001 (p.60)
Ross F. Rowe, 'The Building and Furnishing of the Presbyterian Church of St. Andrew's', 1992
Ronald McKie, 'The Heroes', 1960
AWM Collections Record : 045416, 045420, 045424, 067336, 067337, 134348, 134349
The Canberra Times - 22 February 1943, 3 November 1943, 13 December 1943, 2 August 1946