Mackey VC Rest Area
Sutton Forest, NSW
Hume Highway (A31)
At a Glance
About
The Mackey VC Rest Area is stop 6 of 20 on the Remembrance Driveway, a memorial driving route along the Hume Highway honouring Australians awarded the Victoria Cross. Positioned on the southbound carriageway near Sutton Forest, it sits between the Gordon VC Rest Area to the north and the Kingsbury VC Rest Area ahead to the south. The rest area is open around the clock and offers toilets, picnic tables, a shelter, and dedicated truck parking — making it a practical pause point for travellers of all kinds, including those towing caravans or driving heavy vehicles. This stop commemorates Corporal John Bernard Mackey of the 2/3rd Pioneer Battalion, born at Leichhardt in Sydney on 16 May 1922 — just days before his death at the age of 22. Known as Jack, he was the only son of a baker and worked as a baker's mate before enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force. His service took him to Darwin, then to the Middle East where he fought at El Alamein in 1942, and later to the Finschhafen campaign in New Guinea, where he was promoted to Corporal. On 12 May 1945, during the Australian invasion of Tarakan Island in Borneo, Mackey led his section in an assault on a Japanese position known as 'Helen'. In the close and violent fighting that followed, he wrestled hand-to-hand with an enemy soldier before bayoneting him, then immediately charged a heavy machine-gun bunker just six yards away, killing its crew. He died on the same day his actions took place, never knowing the recognition that would follow. His Victoria Cross stands as testament to extraordinary courage in the final months of the Second World War. Pausing here on the Remembrance Driveway, even briefly, gives his story the weight it deserves.
Victoria Cross Recipient
Corporal John Bernard Mackey VC
2/3rd Pioneer Battalion
John Bernard 'Jack' Mackey was born at Leichhardt, Sydney, on 16 May 1922, the only son and eldest of four children of a baker. He worked as a baker's mate before enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force. He was posted to the 2/3rd Pioneer Battalion and served in Darwin in 1941 before deploying to the Middle East, where he saw action at El Alamein in late 1942. He later served in the Finschhafen campaign in New Guinea, where he was promoted to corporal.
On 12 May 1945, during the invasion of Tarakan Island in Borneo, Mackey led his section in an attack on a Japanese position code-named 'Helen'. Charging forward, he slipped and wrestled with an enemy soldier before bayoneting him, then immediately rushed a heavy machine-gun bunker six yards to his right, killing its crew with grenades. Seizing a sub-machine gun, he attacked a further light machine-gun position up a steep slope. Although he was killed in the assault, his extraordinary courage broke the enemy resistance and enabled his platoon to capture the position.
Mackey was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. He was twenty-two years old, just four days short of his twenty-third birthday. He is buried in Labuan War Cemetery, Borneo.
Born 16 May 1922, Leichhardt, NSW. Died 12 May 1945, Tarakan Island, Borneo.
References
Remembrance Driveway →
Stop 6 of 20 along the Remembrance Driveway
View all 20 stops
- Sir Roden Cutler VC Rest Area
- Partridge VC Rest Area Southbound
- Kenna VC Rest Area
- Keith Payne VC Rest Area
- Gordon VC Rest Area
- Mackey VC Rest Area
- Kingsbury VC Rest Area
- Chowne VC Rest Area
- Derrick VC Rest Area
- French VC Rest Area
- Kibby VC Rest Area
- Edmondson VC Rest Area
- Gratwick VC Rest Area
- Gurney VC Rest Area
- Badcoe VC Rest Area
- Wheatley VC Rest Area
- Anderson VC Rest Area
- Middleton VC Rest Area
- Newton VC Rest Area
- Edwards VC Rest Area
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