General News
3 October, 2026
Lieutenant Howard William Peter Hobbs
Lieutenant Howard William Peter Hobbs was born on February 25, 1919, in the farming district of Douglas.
Lieutenant Howard William Peter Hobbs was born on February 25, 1919, in the farming district of Douglas.
His father was Albert Hobbs, who was then forty-three, and his mother was Lucy Lewis, who was thirty-nine.
He was the youngest of six children, and he attended the local primary school up until eighth grade and then completed his secondary education by correspondence.
To do this, he had to leave home to live with his elder sister at Freshwater Creek near Geelong.
He then attended the Gordon Institute of Technology and graduated with a Diploma of Civil Engineering in 1938, and then went on to the University of Melbourne, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering Science in 1943.
He joined the Army Reserve on January 4, 1940, in Area 5 at Drill Hall, Sturt Street, South Melbourne SC4.
He attended camp between January 20, 1940, and April 1, 1940.
Howard transferred from 4 Division Signals on March 19, 1941, to Melbourne University Regiment (MUR).
In the Australian Army during WWII, as a university reserve unit, MUR did not deploy as a single combat unit, but over 1,160 of its officers and soldiers enlisted in the AIF to serve overseas.
At the outbreak of the war, the regiment fulfilled its allotted home-defence role and formed the Headquarters Security Battalion.
About 50% of the unit’s personnel quickly enlisted in the 6th Australian Infantry Division and other AIF formations.
Because a massive portion of its personnel and training officers had volunteered for active duty, the regiment itself was disbanded in 1942.
Following the war, the Citizen Military Forces (the precursor to the modern Army Reserve) were reorganised, and the unit was officially re-raised as the Melbourne University Regiment on April 1, 1948.
While Hobbs was at university, he met Yvonne Bernhardine Anderson, and they maintained their friendship over the war years and married on July 14, 1945, in Melbourne.
Hobbs was posted to the 10th Field Company, which saw service in New Guinea and Bougainville.
He was taken on strength for overseas service in New Guinea, Lae, and Bougainville, rising to the rank of Lieutenant.
He transferred to the 2nd AIF on July 6, 1943, and took leave, returning to his unit on July 9.
He was taken on strength to Recruit Reception Dept (RRD A.I.F) on July 10, 1943.
He was marched into the Royal Australian Engineers Training Centre (ETC), Wagga Wagga, NSW, Reinforcements on July 13, 1943.
He was marched in Ex Victoria Line of Communication Records (RRE) and was appointed acting Corporal on August 16, 1943.
On October 17, 1943, Howard was marched out for training at Sig Training Centre Wagga Wagga.
He attended 1 Officer Cadets Training Unit (OCTU) Course 5 on August 18, 1943.
Howard attended and qualified at No 1 Initial Training School (ITS) Officers R.A. and completed courses at Land Headquarters (LHQ) School of Military Engineering for junior officers, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), at Liverpool from October 31, 1943 to March 12, 1943 which included an OCTU course.
Howard was to be Lieutenant of RAE Reinforcement on October 31, 1943.
He was marched out to his unit via Wagga on April 10, 1944.
Howard had leave and then was discharged for the purpose of being appointed to a commissioned rank on November 1, 1943, to be acting Lieutenant.
He was marched out to Headquarters 1 Australian Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) Training Battalion on March 12, 1944, in New Guinea, serving there until June 18, 1945.
Howard attended a No 2 Signals course at Bonegilla on May 29, 1944.
From there, he served at Headquarters (HQ) Details Depot on August 4, 1944.
On September 9, 1944, he was transferred from 13 Australian Battalion Staging Camp to 5 Australian Advanced Reinforcement Depot (5 AARD), a significant administrative and training unit in the Australian Army during the Second World War.
He was transferred from here to New Guinea Details Depot on September 12, 1944, after embarking from Townsville per Duntroon for Lae.
Here he transferred from RAE Reinforcements to 15 RAE, 10 Australian Field Coy on September 22, 1944.
On October 6, 1944, he embarked with his unit from Lae and disembarked at Torokina.
He was transferred from 10 Field Company and posted to RSL for reposting and was marched in to be detached to serve at RAE Training Centre/Depot, Line of Communication Area Discharge Depot, NSW on October 13, 1945.
On January 11, 1946, Hobbs was marched out to 2 Army Transport Corps and was allocated for duty from RAE Australian Transport Company.
He served in New Guinea again between January 2, 1946 and February 6, 1946.
His record reads he was deplaned from Townsville from Lae and was discharged from the army on February 18, 1946.
Hobbs had served 959 days; 644 days were served in Australia, and 315 days in overseas service.
He joined the Country Roads Board (CRB) in 1947 as an Assistant Engineer in Benalla.
The CRB was the Victorian government authority responsible for building and maintaining the state’s main roads and highways from 1913 until 1983.
He then moved to Warrnambool Division, and, in 1958, he transferred to Melbourne to become the Programme Engineer whose role was to prepare and assist in the general supervision of the programme of works on the roads directly under the Board’s supervision.
He eventually rose to become Chief Road Design Engineer.
Hobbs retired in 1980 due to ill health, leaving a formidable legacy of major road projects in Victoria, having worked for the CRB for over 32 years.
He died on June 30, 2009, at the age of 90, and is buried in Burwood, Victoria.