page_title: John Charles Robertson (army officer)
hierarchical_section_title: John Charles Robertson (army officer)
caption_attribution_description: English: At Bonegilla
context_page_description: Lieutenant Colonel John Charles Robertson was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served in both the First and Second World Wars.
  Born in Geelong, Victoria, Robertson volunteered for service with the Australian Imperial Force in the First World War. He served on the Western Front as a non-commissioned officer. On return to Australia he went back to work, including in his grandfather's timber company. He joined the 23rd Battalion. At the onset of the Great Depression he lost his job but managed to survive and then succeed selling fuel. The 23rd and 21st Battalions were merged in 1929 to become the 23rd/21st Battalion as the number of recruits available had dwindled. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Robertson, who was second in command of the 23rd/21st Battalion at the time, was asked to raise and command the newly formed 2/29th Battalion.
  After training at Bonegilla and Bathurst, the 2/29th Battalion was sent to Malaya via Singapore. The Battalion was based mostly around the Segamat area of Johore State, Malaya until 17 January 1942 when it was deployed to the Bakri crossroads area south of the Muar River, to push back the advancing Japanese forces.
context_section_description: Lieutenant Colonel John Charles Robertson (MC, VD) (28 October 1894 – 18 January 1942) was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served in both the First and Second World Wars. 
  Born in Geelong, Victoria, Robertson volunteered for service with the Australian Imperial Force in the First World War. He served on the Western Front as a non-commissioned officer. On return to Australia he went back to work, including in his grandfather's timber company. He joined the 23rd Battalion (The City of Geelong Regiment). At the onset of the Great Depression he lost his job but managed to survive and then succeed selling fuel. The 23rd and 21st (Victorian Rangers) Battalions were merged in 1929 to become the 23rd/21st Battalion as the number of recruits available had dwindled. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Robertson, who was second in command of the 23rd/21st Battalion at the time, was asked to raise and command the newly formed 2/29th Battalion. 
  After training at Bonegilla and Bathurst, the 2/29th Battalion was sent to Malaya via Singapore. The Battalion was based mostly around the Segamat area of Johore State, Malaya (now Malaysia) until 17 January 1942 when it was deployed to the Bakri crossroads area south of the Muar River, to push back the advancing Japanese forces. Robertson died from gunshot wounds and other injuries when he fell off a motorbike after returning to his Battalion from a Brigade conference on Sunday 18 January 1942. He was buried at the 101 mile post and later interred in a communal grave at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Kranji in Singapore.
caption: Lt Col Robertson at Bonegilla in May 1941
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