Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the close of sittings today, I'll be attending a Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial with Territorians Jack Nicholson and his granddaughter Christina, who are here with us in the gallery today. We are going to pay tribute to Private William Jack Scully. Christina is in year 9 at Darwin Middle School, and I thank her for preparing this speech about William Jack Scully.

Jack Scully was born in 1919 into a family working on Willaroo station. He moved to Darwin when the family wanted to provide education for Jack and his siblings. He was an excellent football player. After the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942, Jack joined the army and worked on construction and maintenance for the military build-up. On 20 June 1943, Jack was working near Winnellie when Japanese bombers attacked in what was to be one of the last bombing raids on Darwin. Despite being assaulted by Spitfires, the Japanese bombers managed to drop bombs on Winnellie and, sadly, William Jack Scully was hit and killed by a daisy cutter bomb. On 21 June 1943, Jack was buried with full military honours at Berrimah. After the war, he was moved to the Adelaide River War Cemetery.

We remember Jack Scully with sorrow and respect 75 years after his untimely death. He was 24 years old. Lest we forget.