The service and sacrifice of Private Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka* will be commemorated next week at the Last Post Ceremony on National Reconciliation Day.
The Aurukun resident, who died during the last weeks of the Second World War, will see his service honoured at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Tuesday.
Born on January 7, 1912, on the Aurukun Presbyterian Mission in Far North Queensland, Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka served in the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion - one of Australia's few racially segregated units - during the Second World War.
In all, 870 men from Cape York and the Torres Strait served with the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion. 11 men from Aurukun, including Private Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka, were among them.
Enlisting with the Australian Army in September 1943, he joined the 2nd Australian Water Transport Group before being transferred to the 14th Australian Water Transport Operating Company.
Facing the constant threat of sea mines and aerial attack by Japanese aircraft, his duties included piloting Army vessels in the Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria, as well as moving personnel and stores between ships, flying boats and the shore.
After Darwin, Horn Island in the Torres Strait was the second most attacked part of Australian territory during the Second World War.
He transferred to the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion in March 1945. However, whilst on leave in Aurukun, he contracted influenza and died of pneumonia on April 20, 1945.
He was 33 years old.
Private Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka is buried in the Aurukun Mission Cemetery, where he is the only war grave.
In 2015, on the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC's, then-Mayor of Aurukun Shire Council, Dereck Walpo, unveiled two specially-cast bronze plaques to commemorate those from the shire who served.
Along with ten other men, Private Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka's name is on it.
"The Torres Strait Light Infantry, which our Aurukun soldiers joined, greatly assisted with their local knowledge of geographic and sea conditions, especially in the Cape York region, which was targeted for very heavy bombing by the enemy during World War Two," he said at the time.
"To this day, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers continue to display a strong tradition of service in the Australian Defence Force. The loyalty and commitment of our Indigenous soldiers has helped establish what it is to be Australian."
The Last Post ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day, other than Christmas Day, at the War Memorial, so far having delivered more than 4,100 ceremonies.
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," Memorial Director Matt 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 Ceremony honouring the service of Private Charlie Bob Ngakyunkwokka will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial's YouTube page.
*To be referred to in the spoken word as Waal Waal Ngakyunkwokka until June 2026, to follow the cultural protocols of the Wik people of the Wanum Clan.
