Sir Vernon Ashton Sturdee
STURDEE, Vernon Ashton Hobart, KBC CB CBE OBE DSO HonMIEAust (1890-1966)
Lieutenant General Sir Vernon Sturdee was an officer in the Royal Australian Engineers during the Anzac campaign who went on to command engineering companies and the 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front. In World War II he was an Australian Army commander involved in the Pacific campaign and later served two terms as Chief of the General Staff.
Vernon was born in Frankston, an outer suburb of Melbourne, on April 16, 1890, the eldest son of medical practitioner and soldier Surgeon Captain Alfred Hobart Sturdee and his wife Laura Isabel Sturdee nee Merrett.
His father, Alfred, had come to Australia as a ship’s surgeon in 1886 and initially worked as a medical practitioner in Frankston. Alfred purchased a medical practice in Bendigo in 1892 and the family moved to a large new home incorporating his consulting rooms, “Gleneira” in Bendigo, in June 1893. Alfred also had a distinguished military career serving in the Boer War and rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the First World War.
Vernon’s education commenced at Miss MacGillivray’s School, Bendigo, winning academic prizes in 1896 and 1897. He then attended St Andrew’s College, Bendigo, before undertaking his secondary education at Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. His family had left Bendigo around 1900 and moved to Melbourne.
He left his secondary education, in 1905, to commence articles as a mechanical engineer with Jaques Brothers Engineers in Richmond. Jaques Brothers were operated by Edward and William Jaques and were nationally known for their road making and mining equipment. It was an entrepreneurial firm with activities ranging from forging heavy components, manufacturing innovative equipment, advanced minerals processing and general engineering.
Vernon joined the Australian Militia, as a sapper in 1908 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, in October, later that year. On February 1, 1911 he was appointed Lieutenant on probation in the Royal Australian Engineers.
On February 4, 1913, he married Edith Georgina (Gina or Georgie) Robins, at St Lukes Church, in North Fitzroy, Melbourne. They had three children, Kenneth Hobart Sturdee born 4.11.1913, Margaret Jean Sturdee born 27.7.1919 and John Hodson Sturdee born 1922 (India). John died in 1924.
Vernon served in the AIF in the 1914-18 War taking part in the Gallipoli campaign as an Engineer officer with the 1st Australian Division in which his father, Lieutenant Colonel A H Sturdee, was serving as a Medical officer. He was promoted to Major commanding the 5th Field Company, 2nd Divisional Engineers involved with engineering and mining at Gallipoli. By February 1916, he was in Egypt working on structures for the Tel el Kebir Camp. He then moved, in March 1916, to take charge of providing defences for Ferry Post on the Suez Canal.
In June 1916, Vernon was sent to France where his work included repairing the road between Albert and Montauban. For his work in 1915 and 1916 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
On February 13, 1917, Vernon was promoted temporary Lieutenant Colonel and given command of the 4th Pioneer Battalion. They worked to maintain roads, lay cables, dig communication trenches and construct camps in France.
Vernon was Commander Royal Engineers of the 5th Division from November 1917 to March 1918. From March 1918 to October 1918 he was at Field Marshall Haig’s British Expeditionary Force Headquarters, in France, as a General Staff Officer 2nd grade. This experience in collaborating with officers from different countries served him well in World War II.
He returned to Australia, disembarking in Sydney in January 1919 with an exceptional war service, having been mentioned twice in dispatches, receiving the Distinguished Service Order and being awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on January 1, 1919.
On December 3, 1921, as a Lieutenant Colonel, Vernon left Australia to undertake a two year course at the Indian Military Staff College, Quetta, India. He returned to Australia on February 1, 1924 to take up the role of Instructor Military Engineering and Surveying at Royal Military College, Duntroon.
He was sent to London, in May 1929, to serve on exchange with the British War Office.
On January 19, 1931 he left Australia to complete a course at Imperial Defence College, London. He was appointed a year later as the Military Representative at the Australian High Commissioner’s Office.
From 1933 to 1939 he was Director Military Operations and Intelligence at Australian Army Headquarters in Melbourne. It was in this role that he travelled to Western Australia in August 1934 to select sites for the barracks, workshops and other sites on Rottnest Island required for the coastal defence of Fremantle. He was also involved in coastal defences at Hobart, Brisbane and Darwin.
He was awarded Commander Order of the British Empire (CBE) on January 2, 1939.
In August 1939, he was appointed General Officer Commanding Eastern Command.
Vernon was one of the early engineers to be made an Honorary Member (now Honorary Fellow) of the Institution of Engineers Australia, in 1941, for his distinguished Army career including service with the Royal Australian Engineers.
Vernon was Head of the Australian Military Mission, USA, from September 1942 to March 1944. His most significant decision was not to permit the A.I.F soldiers returning to Australia from the Middle East to be sent to the Netherlands East Indies and instead be used for the defence of Australia. He was General Officer Commanding First Australian Army, in New Guinea, from March 1944 to December 1945.
He was awarded Companion Order of the Bath (CB) on January 1, 1943.
Vernon was Acting Commander in Chief from December 1945 to March 1946.
He was Chief of General Staff from March 1946 until his retirement on April 21, 1950. During this time he was responsible for the demobilisation of the Australian Army, formation of the post war Regular Army and the creation and maintenance of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan.
In June 1950, he accepted an invitation to join the board of Standard Telephones and Cables Pty Ltd as a Director.
He was created Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on January 1, 1951.
Vernon died on May 25, 1966, aged 76, at the General Repatriation Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria and was survived by his wife, his eldest son and his daughter.
References:
Engineers Australia, Fremantle Fortress – Rottnest Island WW2 Coastal Defence Facilities, EHRP Nomination Document, August 2010.
Warren Perry, The Naval and Military Club, Melbourne, Lothian Publishing, 1981.
National Archives of Australia, STURDEE, Vernon Ashton Hobart [includes service under numbers VP7594, NX35000].
R R McNicoll, The Royal Australian Engineers 1919 to 1945, Teeth & Tail, Corps Committee, RAE, 1982.
James Wood, Sturdee, Sir Vernon Ashton Hobart (1890–1966), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed online 3 July 2026.
Mornington Standard, 8.12.1892, p. 2.
Bendigo Advertiser, 16.6.1893, p. 2.
Bendigo Advertiser, 16.12.1896, p. 3.
Bendigo Advertiser, 25.12.1897, p. 6.
Bendigo Advertiser, 19.12.1902, p. 4.
The Argus, 3.6.1935, p. 9.
West Australian, 18.8.1939, p. 1.
Western Mail, 13.12.1945, p. 3.
Canberra Times, 5.6.1950, p. 4.
Compiled by Chris Fitzhardinge July 5, 2026
