Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

20/08/1941

Place of Enlistment

Canberra ACT

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known as 'Bill'

Date of Birth

30/12/1916

Place of Birth

Coburg, Melbourne, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

17 Stokes Street, Griffith, Canberra ACT

School(s) Attended

Ainslie Primary School (-1928), Telopea Park Intermediate High School [original Canberra High School] (1929-).

Occupation

Commonwealth public servant, Department of Interior

Next of Kin

Son of Edward John and Ella Vallins Dullard, 17 Stokes Street, Griffith, Canberra ACT; brother of Margaret, Dorothy and Betty.

Service Number

NX76318

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

C Company, 3 Infantry Battalion

Died 24 September 1942 age 25 years, killed in action on patrol in Papua New Guinea.

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT : Panel 64.
Port Moresby Memorial, Papua New Guinea: Panel 4.
Plaque on interior wall in foyer of Manuka Swimming Pool inscribed: "To honour the memory of Members of the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club who gave their lives in the 1939-45 War", listing 9 names.
Canberra High School Memorial Tablet

Bill Dullard arrived in Canberra with his family in 1927. He was dux of Ainslie Primary School in 1928 and went to school at Telopea Park, afterwards working for the Department of Interior. A prominent swimmer and member of the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club (at Manuka Pool), in 1941 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion, a militia unit known as the Werriwa Regiment and headquartered at the Drill Hall in Canberra, before being sent to Port Moresby in Papua in May 1942 with his unit. The AWM image shows Dullard leaning out of the train as he and other local members of the 3rd Battalion left Canberra Railway Station.

In July 1942 the Japanese landed at Gona on the north coast of Papua. By mid September 1942 they had advanced over the Kokoda Track to Ioribaiwa Ridge and 3 Battalion, along with units of the 25th Brigade of the AIF, were defending Imita Ridge; the final ridge before the lowlands north of Port Moresby. Dullard was second in command of apatrol in the Ua Ule valley which left Imita Ridge on 20 September with the object of harassing the enemy on Ioribaiwa. On 22 September they made contact with the Japanese on a track heading west from Ioribaiwa towards Spotter's Hut, but during the fighting Dullard was killed. The AWM records his date of death as 24 September 1942. Dullard was 25 years old and as his body was not recovered he is commemorated on Panel 4 of the Port Moresby Memorial.

The Port Moresby Memorial is situated in Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, which is located approximately 19 kilometres north of Port Moresby on the road to Nine Mile. The memorial commemorates over 700 officers and men of the Australian Army (including Papuan and New Guinea local forces), the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force, who gave their lives during the operations in Papua and who have no known grave.

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>
AWM Collection Record: P11312.001
AWM 3rd Battalion War Diary (September 1942)<https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/records/awm52/8/3/39/awm52-8-3-39-2.pdf>
Manuka Swimming Pool Plaque
Jim Gibbney, 'Canberra 1913-1953', Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1988, p.216.
Canberra High School. Roll of Honour 1939-1945. [Plaque in school]
Canberra High School. Unveiling of Memorial Tablet. Friday, 25th April 1947. [Programme]
Canberra High School. Albums compiled for student project researching names on School Roll of Honour, 1985.
The Canberra Times - 9 September 1927, 29 November 1928, 26 October 1942 (p.2), 24 September 1945
Geoffrey Burkhardt, 'A jubilee history of Ainslie Primary School 1927-2002', Canberra, Ainslie School, 2002.
ACT Electoral Roll 1941
Information provided by Nick Swain