Ivan Noel Dougherty was born
on 6 April, 1907, at Leadville, NSW, a small town between Dunedoo and Coolah,
NSW, the son of Isabella Dougherty and a father he never knew.
He was educated at Mudgee High School and Sydney Teachers’ College.
While at Teachers’ College, he joined the Sydney University Regiment
(SUR) and, on 27 July 1927, he was commissioned as a lieutenant and promoted to
Captain in 1931.
In 1928 Ivan was appointed to Marrickville Junior
Technical School (now Marrickville Public School) and completed, part time,
a Bachelor of Economics degree at Sydney University. He was transferred
to Tingha Public School in 1931 and moved to the unattached list of the SUR.
His next appointment was to Armidale West Public School which allowed him
to resume his part-time military career,
joining the 33rd Infantry Battalion.
He was promoted Major in 1938 and assumed command of the battalion in
1938. He was promoted
lieutenant-colonel in 1939.
In 1935, Ivan met Emily Phyllis (known as
Phyllis) Lofts, born 28 March 1911
at Lismore, a teacher at Coonamble High School.
They were married in 1936 at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Sydney.
At that time, married women were not permitted to work as teachers but,
during WWII, the regulations were relaxed so Phyllis resumed teaching at
Goulburn High School. The couple
would have five children: Margaret and Graeme born before the war and, later,
Maureen, David and Noela.
At the outbreak of war, Dougherty joined
the second AIF on 13 October, 1939, and embarked from Sydney on 10 January 1940,
on the SS Otranto to arrive in
Palestine. He was appointed to
command the NSW 2/4th Infantry Battalion of the 6th
Division. In the campaigns that
Dougherty was part of – the Western Desert, the battles of Greece and Crete, New
Guinea and Borneo – and despite being the youngest and most junior commander in
the Middle East, proved his ability as a leader under all conditions – sand and
desert in Libya, snow and blizzards in Greece and the heat and disease in the
jungles of New Guinea.
In Libya, Dougherty was mentioned in
despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
For his services in Greece and Crete, Dougherty was mentioned in
despatches a second time. In the
evacuation from Crete in May, 1941, and under fire from more than a hundred
German Stukas, he waited until all his
men were embarked on British warships before he departed on HMS
Kimberley.
Others in the 6th Division were not so lucky. Three entire
battalions – the 2/1st, 2/7th and 2/11th - were
lost on Crete. Those left behind became POWs.
After arriving back in Palestine, Dougherty
received the sad news that his three
year old daughter, Margaret had died in a playground accident back home in
Mosman, NSW. The 2/4th
Infantry Battalion rested and retrained and, in January, 1942, it embarked for
Australia.
On arrival in Adelaide, Dougherty was
informed that he was promoted to brigadier and given command of the 23rd
Infantry Brigade. In October 1942,
he arrived in Port Moresby to take
command of the 21st Infantry Brigade from Brigadier Arnold Potts
mount an attack on the Japanese forces at Gona.
During the campaign the brigade was almost wiped out by casualties and
disease. Dougherty was admitted to
hospital with malaria. For this
campaign, Dougherty was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Order.
After this, Dougherty had to rebuild the
brigade again and then advanced into the Ramu Valley and the Finisterre Range,
overpowering the Japanese forces using speed and surprise.
He was hospitalised in Port Moresby with a broken ankle and rejoined the
brigade in early 1944 just in time for relief and return to Australia.
For this campaign, Dougherty earned a third mention in despatches.
Dougherty’s final battle of the war was at
Balikpapan on Borneo. Though the
Japanese were outnumbered and outgunned, it was a fierce battle but the
casualties were significantly lighter than previous engagements.
After the Japanese surrender, Dougherty
became Military Governor of Makassar accepting the surrender of outlying
Japanese forces, processing Japanese POWs and the release of Allied POWs and
internees. He organised the distribution of food and medical supplies and
maintained civil order. In recognition of ‘gallant
and distinguished services in the South West Pacific’, he was made a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1947.
Returning to civilian life, in 1946
Ivan Dougherty, as a Liberal candidate
unsuccessfully challenged the sitting Labor member, Eddie Ward, for the
State electorate of East Sydney. He
returned to teaching the same year as Headmaster of Enmore Activity School.
In 1948, he became Inspector of Schools in the Bega district.
Leaving the Department of Education in 1955, he was appointed as the
first Director of the New South Wales Defence Organisation and State Emergency
Services, a position he held until retirement in 1972.
He was knighted on 7 June 1968 for ‘services to ex-servicemen and the
community’.
Dougherty was a Fellow of the senate of the
University of Sydney, from 1954 to 1974. He served as Deputy Chancellor from
1958 to 1960. The University awarded
him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws in 1976.
The Ivan Dougherty Gallery of the College of fine Arts at the University
of New South Wales was named in his honour.
Sir Ivan Dougherty and Lady Phyllis
established their family home in Cronulla in the Sutherland Shire in 1949.
He became a member and Patron of the Cronulla RSL and was active in
matter relating to ex-servicemen and women.
He joined in and enjoyed
other Shire activities such as Rotary.
After a long illness, he died at Cronulla
on 4 March 1998 survived by his wife and four remaining children.
More than 500 people attended his funeral service
in St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.
He was cremated at Woronora Cemetery.
Lady Emily Phyllis Dougherty died at Cronulla on 11 September 2004 and
was cremated at Woronora Cemetery.
View the entry in the
database for DOUGHERTY, Ivan Noel (1907-1998)
and family. Click on his name at the
heading of this page.
References:
Wikipedia
NSW BDM
NSW Electoral Rolls
The Proud 6th – Mark Johnston
To Benghazi – Gavin Long
To Greece, Crete and Syria – Gavin Long
Woronora Cemetery
