Login
Login

Jack Lockett

{{short description|Australian soldier and supercentenarian}}

{{for|the New Zealand cricketer|John Lockett (cricketer)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox military person

|name = Jack Lockett

|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OAM|size=100%}}

|rank = Sergeant

|unit = Australian Imperial Force

|birth_name = John Henry Lockett

|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1891|01|22}}

|death_date = {{Death date|df=yes|2002|05|25}}
(aged {{age in years and days|1891|1|22|2002|5|25}})

|birth_place = Waanyarra, Victoria, Australia

|death_place = Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

|allegiance = {{AUS}}

|branch = Australian Army

|serviceyears = 1916–1919

|battles = World War I

|awards = {{ubl

| Medal of the Order of Australia

| British War Medal

| Victory Medal

| 80th Anniversary Armistice Remembrance Medal

| Centenary Medal
Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur

}}

|relations =

}}

John Henry Lockett {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OAM}} (22 January 1891 – 25 May 2002) was the oldest man ever in Australia when he died aged 111 years, 123 days.{{Citation | author1=Simpkin, Richard P. (Richard Paul) | author2=Martin, Ray | title=100 Australian legends – The people who shaped a nation | date=2014 | publisher=New Holland Publishers | isbn=978-1-74257-492-9 }} As one of the last surviving veterans of World War I,{{cite book |title=Who's who in Australia, Volume 39 |date=2003 |work=The Herald|page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jZRAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Jack+Lockett%22 |access-date=21 November 2018}} he was acclaimed as a national hero during the last decade of his life.

Life

Lockett was born in the small Victorian town of Waanyarra, near Bendigo. He left school aged 9 to work on a local farm. Later, he worked for his uncles in The Mallee.{{cite web |last1=Tchen |first1=Sen Tsebin |title=ADJOURNMENT: Henderson, Hon. Ann, Austin, Mr Tom, Lockett, Mr Jack |url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=%22Jack%20Lockett%22;rec=4;resCount=Default |website=Senate Hansard |publisher=Parliament of Australia |access-date=21 November 2018 |date=20 June 2002}} On 24 March 1916, he travelled to Mildura to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force. He served in France{{cite news |title=And then there were just 16 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/and-then-there-were-just-16-20020518-gdfafp.html |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=18 May 2002}} with the 38th Battalion,{{cite book |last1=Paterson |first1=Allison Marlow |title=Anzac Sons: The Story of Five Brothers in the War to End all Wars |date=2014 |publisher=Big Sky Publishing |isbn=978-1-922132-79-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRxLDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Jack+Lockett%22&pg=PT184 |access-date=21 November 2018}}{{cite book |last1=Lockett |first1=Jack |editor1-last=Dickens |editor1-first=Barry |title=Ordinary Heroes: Personal Recollections of Australians at War |date=1999 |publisher=Hardie Grant Books |isbn=978-1-74358-326-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0hCCQAAQBAJ&q=%22Jack+Lockett%22+Australia&pg=PT26 |access-date=21 November 2018 |chapter=In the trenches dreaming of horses back home so far away}} earning promotion to sergeant and was discharged on 20 September 1919.{{cite journal|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/26/1022243289113.html|title=Australia's oldest man dies at 111|journal=The Age|date=27 May 2002|access-date=25 October 2005}}

After the war, Lockett returned to The Mallee and selected a {{convert|640|acre|ha}} block of land in Linga, Victoria, deciding to make his living as a farmer.{{cite web |title=ADJOURNMENT: Lockett, Mr Jack |url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber/hansards/2002-06-24/0185;query=Id:%22chamber/hansards/2002-06-24/0000%22 |website=Senate Hansard |publisher=Parliament of Australia |access-date=21 November 2018 |date=24 June 2002}} In 1923, he married Maybell Ingwerson and they had four children together. In 1963, the couple retired to Bendigo, leaving the farmland (which now covered more than {{convert|130000|acre|ha}}, in the care of their children and grandchildren.

After turning 100, Lockett was regarded in Australia as a "legend", "noted not only for his remarkable lucidity and age, but as one of Australia's few surviving World War I veterans."{{cite news |title=Vale Jack Lockett: a zest for life for 111 years |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/vale-jack-lockett-a-zest-for-life-for-111-years-20020531-gdu991.html |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The Age |date=31 May 2002}} In 1998, Lockett and his known fellow surviving veterans were awarded Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour by the French government for their service in the war.{{cite web |last1=Howard |first1=John |title=TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP PRESENTATION OF FRENCH LEGION OF HONOUR BENDIGO RSL, VICTORIA |url=http://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-10930 |website=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet: PM Transcripts |access-date=21 November 2018 |date=21 July 1998}} The ceremony was held in Lockett's home town of Bendigo, attended by Prime Minister John Howard, who described Lockett as a "priceless national treasure ... who represents so much of what is the true Australian spirit ... courage ... adventure ... a willingness to share adversity". In 2000, aged 109, Lockett participated in the 2000 Olympic Torch Relay.{{cite book |last1=Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games |title=Official Report of the XXVII Olympiad: Celebrating the Games. Sydney : a profile |date=2001 |publisher=SOCOG |isbn=978-0-9579616-1-6 |page=39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7WFYAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Jack+Lockett%22 |access-date=21 November 2018}} On 11 June 2001, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community of Bendigo, particularly as a representative of Australia war veterans.{{cite journal |title=The Queen's Birthday 2001 Honours |journal=Commonwealth of Australia Gazette |date=11 June 2001 |issue=S 186 |url=https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/aaagazattes/1994-2004/Order%20of%20Australia%20-%20Queen%27s%20Birthday%202001%20(QB01)%20-%20Gazette%20S186.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018}} Lockett died of kidney failure at age 111 years, 123 days, just three days after fellow supercentenarian Christina Cock, the oldest woman and person ever in Australia and Oceania. Lockett was the oldest man and Freemason ever in Australia and in Oceania. He was honoured with a state funeral, and described as "a hero of the nation" who "was indeed the quintessential Australian battler. Whatever hand of cards fate dealt him, his response was, 'No worries'."

At the time of his death, Lockett was survived by four children: Jack, Kevin, Joyce and Ron; fifteen grandchildren and twenty-four great-grandchildren. He was Australia's oldest verified male until 2021 when Dexter Kruger set a new national record. He was also amongst the world's 100 oldest verified males until 2021.

Honours and awards

{{center|

100x30px 100px

100x30px

100x30px

100x30px

100x30px

}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20051217161700/http://victoriansatwar.net/archives/lockett.html Personal Stories: John "Jack" Lockett – Victorians At War project page (includes photographs)]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20050829072906/http://minister.dva.gov.au/media_releases/2002/05_may/va062.htm "Australia Farewells Our Oldest Digger"], Department of Veterans Affairs press release.
  • [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/26/1022243291018.html "Farewell to a gentle veteran"], Meaghan Shaw, The Age, 2002-05-27. Accessed 2005-10-25.
  • [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/30/1022569814803.html "Vale Jack Lockett: a zest for life for 111 years"], Farah Farouque, The Age, 2002-05-31. Accessed 2005-10-25.
  • [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/history/hindsight/stories/s838130.htm Another Kind of Survival – The Story Of Jack Lockett] – Radio National catalogue summary. Accessed 2005-10-25.
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20050615144434/http://victoriansatwar.net/archives/lockettt.html Jack Lockett – Transcript of interview by Ina Bertrand] – an interview in Bendigo on 2000-12-13. Accessed 2005-10-25.
  • [http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=11474477&NS=Y National Archives of Australia] Service Record of Sgt J.H. Lockett, Regt Number 1194
  • [https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/S03435/ Australian War Memorial: John Henry (Jack) Lockett (1194) (Sergeant), 38th Battalion AIF, 1916–1919] interviewed by Peter Rubinstein. Accessed 2018-11-21

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockett, Jack}}

Category:1891 births

Category:2002 deaths

Category:Australian Army soldiers

Category:Australian military personnel of World War I

Category:Australian supercentenarians

Category:Australian men centenarians

Category:Men supercentenarians

Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour

Category:Military personnel from Victoria (state)

Category:Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia

Category:Deaths from kidney failure in Australia