Partridge VC Rest Area Southbound
HUME HIGHWAY
Photo: JF (All Rights Reserved)
Partridge VC Rest Area Southbound
WOLLONDILLY, NSW
HUME HIGHWAY (M31)
At a Glance
About
The Partridge VC Rest Area (Southbound) is the second of twenty stops along the Remembrance Driveway, NSW's living memorial corridor running the length of the Hume Highway. Travelling south from the Sir Roden Cutler VC Rest Area, drivers will find this site in the Wollondilly district — a quiet, well-maintained pause point before continuing toward the Kenna VC Rest Area further down the route. The rest area honours Private Frank John Partridge of the 8th Australian Infantry Battalion, one of Australia's youngest Victoria Cross recipients of the Second World War. Born in Grafton, NSW on 29 November 1924, Partridge grew up working a family farm near Macksville on the mid-north coast. He was called up for full-time service in March 1943 at the age of eighteen and was deployed to Bougainville in the Territory of New Guinea as part of Australia's final Pacific campaign. On 24 July 1945, near Ratsua on the Bonis Peninsula, two platoons of the 8th Battalion were ordered to destroy a heavily fortified Japanese position known as Base 5. As Partridge's section advanced through dense jungle, they came under intense machine-gun, grenade, and rifle fire from dug-in bunkers. The Bren gunner was killed and several men fell wounded around him. Despite being seriously wounded himself — struck in both the arm and leg — Partridge continued to act with extraordinary courage under fire. He was nineteen years old. Frank Partridge passed away on 23 March 1964 in Bellingen, NSW, aged thirty-nine. The rest area is open around the clock and equipped with toilets, picnic tables, a shelter, and lighting, making it suitable for a break at any hour. Dedicated truck and caravan parking bays are available, accommodating larger vehicles travelling the M31 corridor. It is a practical stop with a weight of purpose behind it — a place to stretch, reflect, and acknowledge one of the quiet acts of extraordinary courage that this driveway was built to remember.
Victoria Cross Recipient
Private Frank John Partridge VC
8th Australian Infantry Battalion
Frank Partridge grew up on a family farm near Macksville on the NSW mid-north coast. He left school at thirteen to work the land and was called up for full-time military service in March 1943 when he turned eighteen. He was posted to the 8th Australian Infantry Battalion and deployed to Bougainville in the Territory of New Guinea as part of the final Australian campaign in the Pacific.
On 24 July 1945, two platoons of the 8th Battalion were ordered to destroy a Japanese position designated Base 5, near Ratsua on the Bonis Peninsula. As Partridge's section advanced through dense jungle, they came under intense machine-gun, grenade, and rifle fire from fortified bunkers. The Bren gunner was killed and several others fell wounded. Partridge himself was badly hit in the arm and leg, but he crawled forward, retrieved the Bren gun from alongside the dead gunner, and opened fire on the nearest bunker. He then rushed the position armed with a grenade and his knife, throwing the grenade into the bunker and killing the last occupant with his knife. He turned his attention to a second bunker and continued to attack until blood loss from his wounds forced him to stop.
He was twenty years old. His actions that day made him the youngest Australian to receive the Victoria Cross in the Second World War, the last Australian to be awarded the VC in that conflict, and the first member of the Militia (as distinct from the all-volunteer AIF) to earn the decoration. After the war he returned to farming, later appearing on Bob Dyer's television quiz show Pick a Box where he became one of only three contestants to win all forty boxes. He was killed in a motor vehicle accident near Bellingen in 1964 at the age of thirty-nine. Approximately 4,000 people attended his funeral at Macksville Cemetery.
Born 29 November 1924, Grafton, NSW. Died 23 March 1964, Bellingen, NSW.
References
Remembrance Driveway →
Stop 2 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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