Private Percy Lewis Clegg

Deborah Wheeler Contributed

Sunday May 14 marked the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Australian 2/3 Hospital Ship ‘The Centaur’ just off the coast of Brisbane in 1943. Warwick veteran Pte. Percy Lewis Clegg was one of 332 medical staff and crew onboard the ill-fated ship.

Pte. Clegg was born in Sydney in 1903. When he was four years old, his family moved to Glengallan Station where his father was the Shorthorn Cattle Stud-Master. Later they moved to the family Farm, “Sunnyside”, at Pratten. As a young man, he and his brother Leslie took over the farm trading under the name of “The Clegg Brothers”. Pte. Clegg was highly regarded as a horseman and horse trainer.

In January 1933, Pte. Clegg married Priscilla Marjorie Matthews, daughter of Alderman R.W. Matthews of Warwick. They lived on Percy’s small farm, “Heatherlea”, at Mile End on the outskirts of Warwick. He worked at near-by cattle stud “Netherby” which was started by World War One veteran Jim Scrymgeour.

On his own farm, Pte. Clegg had a large poultry run where he bred excellent show poultry and was awarded a number of Grand Championships at the Warwick and Maryborough Shows. Prior to his enlistment in the AIF he was the Baker and Bread Carter in Warwick.

Pte. Clegg was very patriotic, serving as a Trooper in the Darling Downs 11th Light Horse Regiment, A Squadron, located in

Warwick, and was one of the first to join the VDC on its formation in Warwick. When Australia came under threat in 1942, he enlisted in the AIF and was assigned to the medical staff on Army Hospital Ship “Centaur”.

After completing basic army training was at Morgan Park (Warwick) and Tenterfield, NSW, and posted to the Medical Staff of Army Hospital Ship “Centaur” received medical training at the Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital in Brisbane. His initial training was as an Orderly, then upgraded as a Theatre Orderly, and upgraded again to carry out

Theatre Technician duties (Sterilization and Maintenance of theatre instruments).

On his last leave before taking up his posting on AHS Centaur, he rode his push bike from Warwick to the Pratten family farm, about 30 miles, to say goodbye to his mother. His ‘Good-Bye Bike Ride’ has become a family legend and treasured memory. He also had a studio photo taken and distributed to his immediate family.

His son Keith Clegg recalls, "While Centaur was being loaded in Sydney for what was to be her last voyage, the ship’s army medi- cal staff were given leave and my father went to Taronga Park Zoo and bought a book for me about the animals in the zoo."

The Centaur was on her fourth voyage as a hospital ship and her second voyage to Port Moresby. The ship’s company on her last voyage numbered 332 made up of the Merchant Navy Crew, the Army Medical Staff assigned to the ship, and a Field Ambulance contingent being transported to Cairns.

At 4.10am on Friday May 14 1943, Centaur was on her voyage north approximately thirty nautical miles east of the southern tip of Moreton Island when she was torpedoed by a Japanese Submarine. 268 personnel lost their lives leaving only 64 survivors. Pte. Percy Lewis Clegg was one of those who lost his life, he was 39 years old.

While attending the 80th anniversary commemorations on Sunday May 14, I spoke with Percy’s son Keith Clegg. Keith said, “My Mother never recovered from the first telegram on Monday 17th advising that ‘Percy was lost in action presumed drowned’. My Taronga Park Zoo book arrived in the mail the same day we received the telegram.”