Flight Sergeant Arnold Alexander Lockyer

Lockyer, Arnold Alexander (1915–1945)
by David Huggonson

This article was published: in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 15 , 2000

Arnold Alexander Lockyer (1915-1945), airman, was born on 4 May 1915 at Wootha (Woother) Station, near Port Hedland, Western Australia, second son of native-born parents Samuel Lockyer, stationhand, and his wife Sylvia Burns. Arnold was of Aboriginal and European descent. Educated until the age of 13 at Roebourne and Whim Creek state schools, he was strongly built and proved a good athlete. For recreation, he boxed, ran, swam, and rode horses. On 16 March 1936 he married Sussanna Philomena Clarke with Catholic rites at Port Hedland. He worked as a stationhand, wood-cutter, general labourer and driver in the North-West before moving to Perth and starting a business as a contract-carrier. Bob Ive, a former employer, had found him trustworthy and capable. Fascinated by internal-combustion engines, Lockyer made all mechanical repairs to the trucks he drove.

Early in World War II it was deemed to be 'neither necessary nor desirable' to enlist Aborigines in the Australian Imperial Force. In contrast, the Royal Australian Air Force accepted qualified non-Europeans to meet the manpower needs of the Empire Air Training Scheme. Finding himself without a job, Lockyer enlisted in the R.A.A.F. on 5 May 1942. He was 5 ft 9½ ins (177 cm) tall, weighed 10 st. 12 lb. (69 kg) and had a medium complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. Having qualified for mechanical ground-staff, in April 1943 he was posted to No.17 Repair and Servicing Unit, Cunderin, Western Australia. He longed to be accepted for aircrew, and in July-November 1944 undertook an air-gunnery course at Sale, Victoria, and operational training at Tocumwal, New South Wales. On completion, he was promoted sergeant.

From December 1944 to January 1945 Lockyer was attached to the Heavy Bomber Refresher Training Unit at Nadzab, New Guinea. After a number of short postings in Australia, he joined No.24 Squadron at Fenton, Northern Territory, on 6 April 1945 as a flight engineer. He was promoted flight sergeant on 23 May. The squadron moved to Morotai, Netherlands East Indies, in June, and to Balikpapan, Borneo, in July. Lockyer was a member of the crew of Liberator A72-92 (belonging to No.21 Squadron) on an operation over the Celebes on 27 July. The bomber was shot down and crashed near Tomohon village. Lockyer managed to parachute to the ground, but was taken prisoner and clubbed to death by the Japanese on 21 August 1945. He was later buried in Ambon (Amboina) war cemetery, Indonesia. His wife and three sons survived him.

Select Bibliography
R. Hall, The Black Diggers (Syd, 1989)
M. V. Nelmes, Tocumwal to Tarakan (Canb, 1994)
note by Mr B. Ive, Perth, 19 Oct 1939 (copy on ADB file).
Additional Resources
World War II service file, A9301, 80471 (National Archives of Australia)
repatriation file, A705, 166/25/338 (National Archives of Australia)
Citation details
David Huggonson, 'Lockyer, Arnold Alexander (1915–1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lockyer-arnold-alexander-10848/tex..., published first in hardcopy 2000, accessed online 17 May 2023.

https://placesofpride.awm.gov.au/stories/205091/265029
Lockyer Brothers Memorial Flight Sergeant Arnold Lockyer, No. 24 Squadron RAAF
Flight Sergeant Arnold Lockyer, No. 24 Squadron RAAF

Arnold Alexander Lockyer was born in May 1915 to Horace Samuel and Sylvie Lockyer (née Whalebone), of Mallina Station in Roebourne shire, Western Australia. He was the second son of six children (five sons and a daughter).

A Kariyarra Ngarluma man with European heritage, Lockyer attended Roebourne and Whim Creek state schools before working as a station hand, wood-cutter, labourer, and driver in the north-west. He then moved to Perth to start his own business as a contract-carrier.

Arnold was strongly built and a good athlete, excelling at boxing, running, swimming, and horse riding. He was also fascinated by internal-combustion engines, and made all mechanical repairs to vehicles his employers operated. In 1936, he married Susanna Clarke and the couple went on to have three sons.

Arnold Lockyer was one of five brothers to serve during the Second World War. As Indigenous men, they were motivated in attaining citizenship rights as well as serving their country. While it was deemed “neither necessary nor desirable” for Indigenous men to enlist in the army, the Royal Australian Air Force accepted qualified non-Europeans to meet the manpower needs of the Empire Air Training Scheme.

Lockyer enlisted in the RAAF in May 1942. After qualifying as mechanical ground-staff, he was posted to No. 17 Repair and Servicing Unit at Cunderin in Western Australia.

Longing to join the aircrew, he undertook an air gunnery course at Sale in Victoria and operational training at Tocumwal in New South Wales. He was promoted to sergeant and sent to the Heavy Bomber Refresher Training Unit at Nazab in New Guinea.

After returning to Australia, Lockyer joined No. 24 Squadron RAAF at Fenton in the Northern Territory where he was a flight engineer for an aircrew of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

He was further promoted to flight sergeant, and deployed with the squadron to Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies. From July 1945, the squadron operated from Balikpapan, conducting bombing raids against Japanese targets in support of the Allied attacks on Borneo.

On 27 July, the Liberator bomber in which Lockyer was a crew member was brought down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire and crashed near Tomohon village.

He managed to parachute to safety, but he and two other crewmen were captured and imprisoned at Kaaten in North Celebes. Although Japan surrendered on the 15th of August, Lockyer and another airman remained at Kaaten for a further five days before losing their lives. The Japanese guards responsible were later found guilty of war crimes.

He was 30 years old.

Lockyer is buried at the Ambon War Cemetery in Indonesia. Of his four brothers who also served in the Second World War, just two returned home.

Aaron Pegram, Historian, Military History Section

Sources:
Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2278499
Related memorials
Memorial
MEMORIAL
Lockyer Brothers Memorial
Whim Creek, WA

https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/honours-for-aboriginal-digger...

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/LV6V-258