Great Courage and Initiative – The Heroic Life of George Ingram VC, MM. – Speaker: Anthony McAleer OAM

By today’s standards George Mawby Ingram lived a courageous life.

‘This NCO showed great courage and initiative’.

• Recommendation for Military Medal, March 1917

‘He showed the most splendid qualities of courage and leadership’.

• Recommendation for Victoria Cross, October 1918

From a country boyhood growing up on the family’s orchards at Bagshot and Seville to his pre-war militia service in the Australian Garrison Artillery and the first year of World War One manning the guns at Rabaul in former German New Guinea.

A dose of malaria in the Pacific had him sent home and discharged however this didn’t stop him, five hours later he walked into a recruiting office in Melbourne and enlisted in the AIF. With the 24^th Battalion he was sent to Europe and during his first action on the front line, at Bapaume, he was awarded the Military Medal.

Over the next two years he experienced all the horror and heroism of the Western Front with the men who wore the red and white diamond. He survived the killing grounds of Bullecourt, Ypres, Flanders, Passchendaele, Villers Bretonneux and Mont St Quentin. He saw many good mates sacrificed and lost both his brothers in the war.

On October 5^th 1918 at Montbrehain, the AIF’s last battle of the Great War, his actions led to him being awarded the highest award for gallantry in battle, the Victoria Cross, the last Australian to receive one for the First World War. After the war he returned home to a hero’s welcome.

In the post-war years he spent time as a soldier settler, was an original member of the Shrine Guard and served once again in the Second World War with the Royal Australian Engineers. His last decades were spent working for Melbourne’s biggest building contractors E A and Frank Watts Pty Ltd. A tall, modest man he rarely spoke of his war time experiences although he carried the physical and mental scars of that war for most of his life.

About the presenter

Anthony McAleer OAM has worked for Museums Victoria for the past twenty-three years where he currently manages the dedicated Visitor Engagement Team at the Immigration Museum, undertaking tours and looking after visiting school groups.

For the last thirty-five years he has been involved with numerous community groups, mainly historical societies and RSL clubs.

He has written twenty-four books and edited three, mainly to do with the history of the Yarra Valley, including his detailed accounts of the area’s military heritage and the recently published ‘Yarra Valley Vietnam Veterans’.

He has also been responsible for the creation of some sixty memorials in the Yarra Valley area, mainly recognising the district’s military history.

His achievements include being awarded Shire of Yarra Ranges ‘Citizen of the Year’ in 1997, a Casey electorate ‘Special Community Achievement’ award in 2016 and in 2018 receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia for outstanding community service and for achievements in military history.