Hay Water Tower Art New South Wales

Hay Water Tower Art New South Wales

Located in the New South Wales town of Hay, Melbourne artist Matt Adnate created a striking memorial to the contribution of local people to the Second World War.

The portraits of six individuals who served in the Second World War adorn the water towers, designed to represent the hundreds of people from this tiny community who answered the call to arms. The veterans depicted are Private William ‘George’ Cannon, Corporal Cliff Farlow, Lance Corporal Mervyn Farrands, Private Norman Flack, Lieutenant Lorna Margaret Whyte from the Australian Army Nursing Service and Indigenous soldier Private Victor George Murray.

Lieutenant Lorna Whyte

Lorna Whyte was born in Hay, New South Wales, on 19 April 1915, the youngest of eight children. After attending Hay War Memorial High School, she trained as a nurse at Cowra Hospital and later joined the Australian Army Nursing Service. In April 1941, she was one of six nurses sent to Rabaul on New Britain to serve with the 2/22nd Battalion, part of Lark Force.

When Japanese forces invaded in January 1942, Whyte and her fellow nurses were evacuated to a Catholic Mission near Kokopo. Protected by the resident bishop, they survived the brutal occupation that followed. During this time, more than 160 Australian prisoners of war were massacred by Japanese troops at Tol Plantation — an atrocity kept secret for decades.

In June 1942, Whyte and other Australian women were transported to Japan as prisoners of war. They endured 18 months of confinement in Yokohama, followed by forced labour at Totsuka. Food was scarce, and their health suffered severely. From March 1945, they witnessed American fire-bombing raids over Tokyo, unaware the war’s end was near. Liberation came when U.S. troops found them en route to Tokyo, after which they were flown to Manila and eventually home.

After the war, Lorna settled in New Zealand, married Bill Johnston, and raised three daughters. In 2011, she returned to Japan to receive an official government apology. Lorna Johnston (née Whyte) passed away peacefully in Auckland on 30 September 2013, aged 98.

Private Victor Murray

Victor Murray was born on 29 July 1909 in Brewarrina, New South Wales, and was a member of the Ngemba people. In 1929 he married Bessie, and they lived on the Aboriginal Reserve at Condobolin with their three children—Beryl, Olive, and George. A gifted mechanic, Murray devised an innovative water system that channelled water from a creek off the Lachlan River to his home.

He enlisted in Sydney on 29 May 1940, joining the 2/4th Field Company, Engineers, 7th Division as a Sapper. His mechanical expertise earned him a specialist posting at Ingleburn Camp, but after five months he was discharged as medically unfit. Determined to serve, he reenlisted on 3 June 1941 and was sent to Singapore in August with the 5th Training Battalion. There he trained in jungle warfare and helped fortify the island’s defences. Despite repeated hospitalisations for malaria and trachoma, he returned to action in early 1942 during the Battle of Muar in Malaya.

As Japanese forces advanced, Murray became sick and was evacuated to Singapore and placed aboard HMAS Bendigo, which departed under heavy aerial attack on 6 February 1942. He reached Fremantle in March and later served in various support roles in Cowra and Lowanna. Ongoing illness, including severe malaria and trachoma, led to his final discharge on 26 August 1943.

After the war, Murray worked in the shearing industry and later lived in Hay with his daughter Beryl. Though partly disabled by a stroke, he proudly joined Anzac Day marches. He died in Hay Hospital on 8 May 1976, aged 67.

Corporal Cliff Farlow

Cliff Farlow was born on 27 April 1922 and grew up on Rosedale, his family’s dairy farm on the Hay Irrigation Area. He attended Hay Public and War Memorial High Schools before enlisting in the Australian Army on 26 June 1940 at Wagga Wagga, aged 18. After training at Wallgrove, Ingleburn and Bathurst, he sailed from Sydney in February 1941 to Singapore and then to Seremban, Malaya.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941, Farlow fought in the Battle of Muar, where he was wounded in a bayonet charge. After Singapore’s surrender on 15 February 1942, he was captured and sent to Changi Prison. Later, he endured brutal conditions working on the Burma–Thailand Railway, moving between several camps including Mergui, Tavoy, and 75 Kilo Camp, where he turned 21. He later recalled that death was so frequent it became “just another event.”

In February 1944, Farlow was selected for transfer to Japan. On 6 September, he boarded the Rakuyo Maru in Singapore, but on 12 September the ship was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Sealion II. After four harrowing days adrift in oil-covered waters, he was rescued by USS Pampanito along with about 150 others—out of 1,318 POWs on board.

Farlow was eventually repatriated through Saipan and Brisbane, returning to Hay after nearly five years of service, most as a prisoner. He married Dorothy Smith in 1946, raising three children—Anne, Jenny, and Bryce. Remarkably, he died on 12 September 2006, exactly 62 years after the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru.

L/Corporal Mervyn Farrands

Bob Farrands was born in Ganmain, New South Wales, on 27 July 1922, the only son among four children of Gladys and Leslie Farrands. He attended Ganmain Primary and Narrandera High School, earning his Intermediate Certificate. At just 17, he enlisted in the Australian Army at Wagga in 1940 and joined the 2/19th Battalion, 8th Division. After training, his unit travelled aboard the Queen Mary to Singapore to fight in Malaya.

When Singapore fell on 15 February 1942, Farrands and his unit were captured and interned in Changi Prison Camp before being sent to work on the Burma–Thailand railway. On 4 September 1944, he was among 1,317 prisoners loaded onto the Rakuyo Maru, bound for Japan to work in the mines. The ship was grossly overcrowded, but Farrands and a friend, Jeff, stayed on deck operating a winch.

On 12 September, the unmarked vessel was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Sealion II in the South China Sea. As the Rakuyo Maru sank, Farrands helped free trapped prisoners. After 14 days adrift, blinded by oil and clinging to a raft with Cliff Farlow, he and 70 others were rescued by USS Pampanito. More than 1,100 POWs perished in the disaster.

Returning to Australia, Farrands met and married Joan Wensley of the Australian Women’s Medical Army Service in 1946. They had three daughters and settled in Sydney, where he worked for 37 years with the NSW Fire Brigade. Despite recurring malaria, he lived a quiet life until his death in July 2002, shortly after Joan’s passing.

Private Norman Flack

Norman Flack was born in Hay, New South Wales, on 2 January 1920. A popular young man, he excelled at tennis and cycling and completed a five-year motor mechanic apprenticeship with Hay Motors. He enlisted in the Australian Army on 26 June 1940 at Wagga Wagga, joining the Ordnance Corps of the 2/19th Battalion, 8th Division—largely made up of men from the Riverina. After training across New South Wales, his unit sailed from Sydney in February 1941 and landed in Singapore.

Flack fought in the Battle of Muar, Malaya, in January 1942, where the Australians initially pushed back the Japanese but were eventually forced into retreat. Fewer than 300 men of his battalion survived. After being reported missing several times, Flack was confirmed as a prisoner of war on 23 September 1943. He was assigned to “D” Force, sent to the notorious Burma–Thailand “Death Railway,” and later forced to work in a Thai tin mine.

In mid-1944 he was transferred to Japan, working in a coal mine on Kyushu Island. On 9 August 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, he was underground only 16 kilometres away. Severely malnourished after 3 years and 7 months in captivity, he was freed on 15 September 1945 and returned to Australia aboard HMS Speaker.

After discharge, Flack resumed work as a mechanic, later working on rural properties before settling in Hay. He married Marjorie Pocock and had three daughters. Norman Flack died of cancer in 1990, believed linked to radiation exposure at Nagasaki.

Private George Cannon

George Cannon was born on 3 March 1919 and grew up in Booligal, New South Wales. He was the only child of William Patrick Cannon, a Light Horse veteran of Palestine, and Isabelle Melrose of Hay. Raised on local properties, he was home-schooled before attending boarding school in Sydney from 1929 to 1936. After school, he worked as a jackaroo near Jerilderie, later moving to Queensland before enlisting in the 2/1st Battalion, AIF, 6th Division, in early 1939.

Cannon trained in Egypt and Palestine, later fighting in Libya in the capture of Bardia and Tobruk. His division then moved to Greece to resist the German advance. After fierce fighting at Veria, his battalion was evacuated to Crete in April 1941, where they defended Retimo airfield. Encircled and heavily outnumbered, most of his battalion was captured, though Cannon and around 70 others escaped to Egypt aboard Royal Navy ships. He was later transferred to the 2/1st Field Regiment.

In 1942, his division was diverted to Ceylon amid fears of Japanese invasion before returning to Australia. Cannon then served in New Guinea, supporting operations at Buna, Gona, and Wau, and defending Oro Bay. He was wounded in a Japanese air raid and repatriated with malaria and dengue fever.

In 1944 he married Peg and returned to Booligal, where he farmed at Horton Park and contributed extensively to community life, especially the Booligal War Memorial Hall Committee. Retiring to Hay, George Cannon died on 3 September 2003, aged 84.