Walter Noack and child

Errol Noack was the first Australian conscript to die in the Vietnam War. He died at the age of 21 and became a symbol for the growing anti-war movement. The photographs and letters of the Noack family are a poignant record of the loss of a young life.

Errol Wayne Noack was born on 28 March 1945 in North Adelaide, The only child of Australian-born parents Walter and Dorothy, his mother left them when he was just a baby. Errol was raised by his father and aunts and uncles, completing his schooling at Concordia College, Highgate.

This early photograph shows Walter and Errol as a young boy walking together at Moseley Square, Glenelg.

In 1964 the Federal government introduced a National Service Scheme, where 20-year-old males were selected via ballot for two years full-time service in the Australian Army. While working as a fisherman with his father in 1965, Errol was conscripted into the Regular Australian Army. He completed basic training in New South Wales and was posted as a rifleman to the 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Not long after his 21st birthday, he left with the 5th Batallion for operations in Vietnam.

Before Errol left, the family took photographs of him in his uniform. Another photograph of Errol with his father Wally, is believed to have been taken on the last day of his final leave, less than two weeks before he was killed.

On the 24th May 1966, after just ten days of service, Errol died of gunshot wounds received during an operation in Nui Dat, South Vietnam.

Understandably, there was much controversy surrounding Errol's death. Not only was he the first Australian conscript to die in the conflict but early reports attributed his death to friendly fire. The official conclusion at the time was death by enemy fire, but it appears that Errol's death was the result of a tragic accident.

On 1 June a military funeral was held for Errol at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Adelaide and he was buried in the Derrick Garden of Remembrance, Centennial Park cemetery.

In death Errol became a symbol of the small but growing anti-Vietnam War movement in Australia. But the person most affected, of course, was Walter Noack who had so tragically lost his only child. Walter's distress over his son's death is still evident in a letter written to the manager of Channel 7 many years later, in 1979, where he asks about obtaining a copy of an episode of the television programme "This Fabulous Century" about conscription in the Vietnam War. He also writes that it was only on his insistence that the Army brought Errol back to Adelaide for burial, and that thankfully, this set a precedent for others.

Walter Noack died on Kangaroo Island in 1996. A great honour for Walter was the opening of the Errol Noack House in 1989. The house, in Mitchell Park, commemorates Errol's war service and continues to provide emergency accommodation for Vietnam and other war veterans and their families.

The Noack papers were chosen by a staff member for the 'Staff favourites' exhibition, with the note that for poignancy it was hard to better the Noack papers.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

Buy a high resolution copy.