The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX70578) Major Llonda Holland, 2/3rd Australian hospital ship Centaur, Second World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each 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 Meredith Duncan, the story for this day was on (NX70578) Major Llonda Holland, 2/3rd Australian hospital ship Centaur, Second World War.

NX70578 Major Llonda Holland, Ships Staff Centaur
KIA 14 May 1943
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 14 May 2015

Today we remember Major Llonda Holland, who was killed on 14 May 1943 when the 2/3rd Australian hospital ship Centaur was sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Second World War.

Known as “Dutchie”, Llonda Llenoi Holland was born in Warwick, in south-east Queensland, on 26 October 1898, the son of Thomas and Mary Holland. The boy’s unusual given names of “Llonda” and “Llenoi” were anagrams of his father’s surname “Holland” and his mother’s maiden name “O’Neill.” The father Thomas Holland was a journalist in Warwick; in the early 1900s, he took up a position with the Daily Telegraph and the family moved to Sydney.

Llonda Holland attended Fort Street Boys’ High School on Observatory Hill, where he excelled academically. In March 1913 he was awarded a bursary and when he sat his final examinations at the end of the following year he won honours in Latin and German. In 1915 he began studying medicine at the University of Sydney.

Llonda’s older brother John James Holland enlisted in the First World War and served with the 1st Australian Division Signals Company on Gallipoli. In June 1915 he was wounded in action and later died in transit to Alexandria, where he is buried in Chatby Military and War Memorial Cemetery. He was nineteen years of age and is listed on the Roll of Honour.

After graduating, in the early 1920s Holland became a resident medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. There he met Dr Lorna Beveridge, a medical officer at the same hospital. They married on 8 September 1923, at which point the bridegroom was in general practice in Macquarie Street while the bride was practising in Mosman. The couple’s first child, a son, was born in 1925. The Hollands would have three more children, although their youngest died in early childhood.

By the 1930s Holland was established in an insurance practice in O’Connell Street. Sport was a favourite pastime: he was a member of the Long Reef Golf Club at Collaroy and regularly played cricket for Mosman veterans, serving on the committee of Mosman Cricket Club.

The 42-year-old enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1941, embarking for overseas service in April with the rank of captain. On arrival in the Middle East he was attached to various AIF training units before becoming ill for a period in September. In early 1942 he was appointed to the 5th Australian General Hospital before returning to Australia, along with much of the AIF, later in the year. In July Holland was promoted to major and in February 1943 he was posted to the 2/3rd Australian Hospital Ship Centaur.

Built in the early 1920s on the River Clyde in Scotland as a merchant vessel, in early 1943 the Centaur had a fully equipped operating theatre and dental surgery and could carry 252 patients. It was also clearly marked as a hospital ship. Around its freshly painted white hull ran a thick green band, broken in several places by large red crosses. At night, the vessel was brightly illuminated by powerful spotlights.

Centaur completed only two trips with patients before beginning its ill-fated final voyage. In the early afternoon of 12 May 1943 the ship steamed from Sydney for Cairns, carrying members of the 2/12th Field Ambulance. Shortly after 4 am on 14 May, while most aboard were asleep, a torpedo fired by a Japanese submarine struck Centaur’s port side, hitting the oil fuel tank and igniting a massive explosion. The bridge superstructure collapsed and the funnel crashed onto the deck. Everything was covered with burning oil; fire roared across the ship, while water rushed in through the gaping hole in her side. Many of those not killed in the explosion or fire were trapped as the ship started to sink, bow-first, and then broke in two. In just three minutes Centaur was gone.

Of the 332 people on board, only 64 survived. Holland was among the dead. He was 44 years old.

Llonda Holland’s dedication to the medical profession lived on in his three remaining children, who would all go on to study in the medical field. His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 Australians who died in the Second World War, and his photograph is displayed beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Major Llonda Holland, his brother Sapper John James Holland, and all those Australians who gave their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Karl James
Historian, Military History Section