24/04/2026
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Sgt Alan McKay 46 Battalion AIF, KIA Gueudecourt 14 November 2016
Sister Mary Cuthbertson, 2/20 Australian General Hospital AANS, Murdered, Bangka Island, 16 February 1942
Lt Cecil John Lucien de Beaurepaire, 13 East Surry Regiment, WIA
Lt M R (Bob) Cuthbertson DCM, 23 Battalion AIF, WIA
F/L Derek Blaise Lucien de Beaurepaire, 78 Squadron RAAF
Sgt Florence Elizabeth Layton, AWAS
Cpt Lloyd Dick, RAAMC
Alan was the twin of our (great) grandmother, Elsie McKay. His name lives on as the second name of our founder Richard. His death in WW1 was a severe blow to the McKay family (inventors of the Sunshine Harvester), ultimately being a factor in its sale to Massey Ferguson in the decades after the war.
Mary was due to marry a well known Melbourne Doctor before WW2 who died suddenly in an accident. Heartbroken she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service to 'see the world' and overcome her grief. Unfortunately after their evacuation from Singapore the hospital ship Vyner Brook was sunk by the Japanese and she and a group of other nurses and wounded soldiers washed up on the shore. They were found by the Japanese - the wounded bayoneted to death, and the nurses after being assaulted were forced into the sea where they were machine gunned to death. One survived, Vivian Bullwinkle.
Coincidentally, her sister Doris had been the Personal Assistant to the CEO of Jardine Matheson (J J Paterson) in Shanghai/Hong Kong. After a brief internment was allowed out due to her relationship with a 'neutral' French count (Raoul de Sercey) who was also a friend of her boss. Over the rest of the war, she helped run the resistance to Japanese rule of Hong Kong with Helen Hotung and Henry Lo. This included smuggling food and medicine into the various internment camps around Hong Kong and the New Territories.