People - Richard Kingsmill Pennefather Moore

Plantation Owner

Born: 1886  Charleville, Queensland, Australia.  Died: 1 July 1942.

Born in Charleville in 1886 and joined the 11 Light Horse Regiment in Toowoomba and sailed for the Middle East in 1915. He served at Gallipoli with the regiment and in 1916 was seconded to the Imperial Camel Corps as a Lieutenant and awarded the Military Cross.

In the 1930s the Australian Government advertised for Australian army officers to go to the Mandated Territory of New Guinea to take over the ex-German plantations that had been abandoned after World War I. He applied and was given Tatavana.

On the outbreak of World War II, he sent his wife to Australia as his three children were already at school in Australia. He stayed behind with approximately 200 other civilians and was lost on the Montevideo Maru.

Related Entries

• A.I.F. New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, Australian Infantry (1939 - 1943)
• Montevideo Maru

© John Winterbotham 2004