168 Queensland policemen volunteered in the AIF. Constable Patrick James Moynihan joined the war effort in October 1914. He was assigned to the now legendary 9th Battalion.
Patrick James Moynihan (pictured right). Image PM2277 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Patrick James MOYNIHAN was born in Allora, Queensland to Patrick and Kate, neé Carolan (also Catherine Carolin). (Reg 1888/C/2655) In addition to Patrick James, his parents had 11 children, 8 girls and 4 boys; two of the children died in infancy.
Moynihan worked on the railways at Wallangarra for two and a half years before joining the Queensland Police Force on 20 February 1913. In April, Supernumerary Moynihan had to be hospitalised with typhoid fever, which extended his training period by more than a month. On 4 July 1913, he was sworn in four and a half months after his recruitment (Reg no 1749). The application described Moynihan as just under six feet tall, measuring 40 inches across the chest, of ruddy complexion with fair hair and blue eyes. He was single upon entry. His policing career was brief, and he received only one transfer. Constable Moynihan was stationed at Fortitude Valley in Brisbane when Australia joined the War.
Constable Moynihan enlisted in the AIF (No 1130) on 17 October 1914, and was assigned to the 9th infantry Battalion, 1st Reinforcement. The 9th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF. It was also the first battalion recruited in Queensland. On the 22 December 1914, Private Moynihan boarded His Majesty’s Australian Transport (H.M.A.T) A.32 “Themistocles” at Melbourne and sailed to Egypt. (NAA Item 7985473, p. 21)
9th Battalion A.I.F. marching through Queen Street, Brisbane, 1914. Image is from the collection of the State Library of Queensland, negative number 65586.
Private Moynihan arrived at Mena Camp on 9 February 1915 joining the rest of the contingent for training. On 25 April 1915, the battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC beachhead.
According to Joseph Moynihan’s statement, his brother Patrick James ‘was among the first to make the landing at Anzac Cove on the morning of 25/5/15 and with a great many others advanced overfar towards the Narrows. It was then found necessary to retreat and in the retreat he was supposed to have been shot in the head but his mates had not had time to obtain his identification disc.’ (NAA Item 7985473, p. 62)
‘Killed in Action’, courtesy the National Archives of Australia Item 7985473, p. 26.
Following the inquiry and official confirmation of Patrick’s death, Joseph Moynihan lodged a request to receive the military honours on behalf of his brother. However, he was informed as a closest living relative, Patrick’s daughter was to receive the medals. Mary Malcolm Cameron was born on 12 June 1915, just 3 weeks after Patrick was killed in Turkey. It is likely Patrick did not know his sweetheart Ruby Cameron was pregnant when he left Australia in December 1914. Mary lived with her mother in Brisbane’s inner-city suburb of Greenslopes
Moynihan’s name is listed on the Queensland Police Service Memorial, which was opened on November 2018 and is located at 80 George Street, Brisbane.
The new Queensland Police Memorial, Brisbane Botanical Gardens.
Queensland Police and the Great War Effort, is a project by a policing historian Dr Anastasia Dukova, which connects personal, police and war service stories and histories of the Queensland Police who left active police duty to volunteer in the Australian Imperial Force.
Further Readings:
Norman K. Harvey. From Anzac to the Hindenburg Line: the history of the 9th Battalion, A.I.F. Brisbane: Willian Brooks & Co. for the 9th Battalion A.I.F. Assoc., 1941.
- M. Wrench. Campaigning with the fighting 9th: (in and out of the line with the 9bn A.I.F.) 1914-1919.Spring Hill, Qld: Boolarong for 9thBattalions Association, 1985.
29785 James Dundee Bostock Diary 1915, John Oxley Collection, SLQ.