The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will commemorate the service and sacrifice of Private John Makinson, an Indigenous Anzac and Wiradjuri man from Dubbo, at the Last Post Ceremony on Tuesday 3 June to mark the end of National Reconciliation Week 2025.
"John Makinson was born on Wiradjuri Country in Dubbo, NSW, in 1891, one of ten children born to John and Catherine Makinson," Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said. Only six children reached adulthood, leaving John the youngest surviving child.
After his father and oldest brother left Dubbo to work in Walgett in October 1896, John's mother died after giving birth to her tenth child, as did the newborn boy. John and his siblings were cared for by a policeman's family until mid-May 1987 before being admitted into state care. Unable to contact the children's father, foster care authorities placed John with a number of families, finally allocating him to Mr Dixie Chapman at Dungog. He was apprenticed to James R. Fuller in Dungog and later found work as a sawyer in Beerwah, Queensland.
Aged 24, John enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Brisbane on 4 June 1915. Although the Defence Act and army regulations prohibited the enlistment of men not "of substantial European descent", John's application was accepted without issue.
Following three months of training, Private John Makinson departed Brisbane in HMAT Armadale on 18 September 1915, his unit arriving in Egypt too late to join the Gallipoli campaign.
The 9th Battalion arrived on the Western Front in early April 1916. In early July, the Battalion moved south into the Somme Valley, ahead of the planned Allied offensive at Pozieres. In the fighting over 42 days from late July 1916, more than 23,000 Australians became casualties, including 6,800 men dead.
One of these was John Makinson, who was killed in action soon after midnight on 23 July. He was 25 years old. He is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, alongside the names of over 10,000 Australians who died while fighting in the First World War and who have no known grave.
The Last Post ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day except Christmas Day in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial.
Each ceremony shares the story behind one of 103,000 names on the Roll of Honour. To date, the Memorial has delivered more than 4,100 ceremonies, each featuring an individual story of service from colonial times to recent conflicts. It would take more than 280 years to read the story behind each of the 103,000 names listed on the Roll of Honour.
"The Last Post Ceremony is our commitment to remembering and honouring the legacy of Australian service," Mr Anderson said.
"Through our daily Last Post Ceremony, we not only acknowledge where and how these men and women died. We also tell the stories of who they were when they were alive, and of the families who loved and, in so many cases, still mourn for them.
"The Last Post is now associated with remembrance but originally it was a bugle call to sound the end of the day's activities in the military. It is a fitting way to end each day at the Memorial."
The Last Post Ceremony honouring the service of Private John Makinson will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/awmlastpost.
The stories told at the Last Post Ceremony are researched and written by the Memorial's military historians, who begin the process by looking at nominal rolls, attestation papers and enlistment records before building profiles that include personal milestones and military experiences.
HANDOUT images:
Captions:
Private John Makinson. Photo courtesy Family Gissell.
Australian War Memorial Indigenous Liaison Officer Michael Bell identifies Private John Makinson's name on the Roll of Honour. Photo: Australian War Memorial AWM25.PR.053
Private Makinson is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. Photo: Australian War Memorial P00687.308
