Sapper David HurleyPrint Page

The plaque commemorates Sapper David Frank Hurley of the 21 Construction Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers who lost his life in flood rescue operations in May 1974.

The plaque was originally unveiled in 1977 by Shire president Bob Wallis and others in the presence of the family. The plaque was in the old Seymour Shire office, now home to the Seymour Club. It was during work on the club building about 1997 that the plaque was taken off the wall and vanished. The plaque was supposed to be handed to Seymour and District Historical Society, but it knew nothing about the original plaque. The plaque was found at 21 Construction Squadron’s carpentry workshop in Queensland sometime in 2012, which sent it down to the Tank Museum at Puckapunyal.  The plaque was unveiled on the 15th May 2014, the 40th anniversary of the flood and a duplicate plaque was presented to the family. 

In 1974 Sapper Hurley, 19, of the Puckapunyal-based 21st Construction Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers, had just taken part in the rescue of three civilians from an Emily Street house. Along with three other soldiers he was thrown into floodwater in the vicinity of Emily and Tierney Streets and the light boat he was in was washed off the road into a nearby creek when the motor failed. This is the area behind where Reece Plumbing now stands.

The other three soldiers were saved by the Police Rescue Squad but desperate efforts to resuscitate Sapper Hurley failed.

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