The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1130) Private Patrick James Moynihan, 9th Battalion (Infantry), First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Nicholas Schmidt, the story for this day was on (1130) Private Patrick James Moynihan, 9th Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

1130 Private Patrick James Moynihan, 9th Battalion
KIA 25 April 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 14 August 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Private Patrick James Moynihan.

Born in Warwick, Queensland, Patrick James Moynihan was employed as a police constable in Fortitude Valley on the outbreak of the First World War. He took a leave of absence from his job, and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1914. When he arrived in Egypt he was posted to D Company of the 9th Battalion.

Moynihan was with the troops making the dawn landing at ANZAC Cove on 25 April 1915. The 9th Battalion arrived off Gaba Tepe around midnight, and the men transferred to lifeboats. Companies A and B of the 9th made the first landing and provided a covering force for the remaining two companies, C and D (Moynihan's company), which would land half an hour later. The war diary of the 9th Battalion records that "the landing was effected under Rifle Fire and the Troops pressed forward, the enemy gave way, and the advance continued". With the attacks, counter-attacks, shell fire and false alarms, the battalion and, in fact, the brigade it belonged to became "considerably mixed", and took some time to reorganise.

It soon became apparent that Private Patrick James Moynihan was missing. His fate would not be determined for more than a year, when a court of inquiry ruled that, given that he was not recorded as a prisoner of war of the Turks, he must have been killed in action. Before the official verdict came through, his brother and next of kin, Joseph Moynihan of Brisbane, had been informed by a number of his mates that Patrick had been killed. Although it was suspected that he was well into the Turkish lines when he was killed, and that he might have been shot in the head, specific information on his exact manner of death was never forthcoming, and his body remains lost.

Patrick Moynihan was the first of 30 Queensland policemen killed in the First World War. He is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and by the Queensland Water Police, who named one of their Police Vessels attached to the Wynnum District Water Police the P.J. Moynihan in his honour.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War, and his photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Patrick James Moynihan, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.