Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

30/04/1941

Date of Discharge

20/12/1945

Place of Enlistment

Canberra ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

26/02/1914

Place of Birth

Cardiff, Wales

Address (at enlistment)

Canberra ACT

Occupation

Hotel porter

Next of Kin

Elizabeth Whelen (wife), Canberra ACT

Service Number

NX123176

Final Rank

Staff Sergeant

Final Unit

2 Australian Field Company

Whelen's father served in World War 1 but deserted and did not return leaving Whelen and his mother to fend for themselves. They migrated to Australia in 1927 and in 1929 they moved to Canberra. Although only 14, Whelen worked for a while at the Officer's Mess at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and then as a waiter and porter at the Hotel Canberra until 1941. He was a delegate of the Liquor Trades Union on the ACT Trades and Labour Council and his left-leaning politics would sometimes attract the attention of the police.

Whelen enlisted in 1941 and served for two years in New Guinea and at Tarakan in Borneo in 1945. In 1943 he married Elizabeth McClure at St. John's Church. After the war he joined the Department of External Affairs (later Foreign Affairs) where he worked until retiring in 1976. From 1952 to 1971 he was a newsreader for the ABC in Canberra and in 1953 he was a foundation member, and first secretary of, the Canberra and District Historical Society. He served two terms as president of the CDHS, was the first editor of the Society's newsletter and in 1972 he was made a life member. John Whelen died of cancer on 19 May 1996.

WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
Cla Allen, 'Hiking from early Canberra', 1977
The Canberra Times - 21 June 1943
Barry Price, 'John Arnold Whelen', obituary in the Canberra Historical Journal, CDHS, September 1996
Image courtesy of Nick Swain