Australian Dictionary of Biography

Colin Henry Grace

AWM

Colin Henry Grace (1909–1999), army officer and business manager, was born on 17 July 1909 at Arncliffe, Sydney, second of four children of Harrie Colin Grace, mercer, and his wife Minnie Victoria, née Margoschis, both New South Wales born. Colin attended The King’s School, Paramatta (1923–27), where he joined the cadet corps and excelled at debating. On 1 July 1927 he enlisted in the Sydney University Regiment. He was commissioned as a lieutenant (1931) before being promoted to captain (1937). During this time he taught at Newington College, Stanmore, and Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore), attended the University of Sydney (BA, 1934; LLB, 1943), and worked for the Sydney Gaslight Co. Ltd (1935–40). On 9 April 1936, in The King’s School Chapel, Parramatta, he married New South Wales-born nurse Helen Hood Stobo.

Following the outbreak of World War II, and while employed as an office manager with the Commercial Banking Co. of Sydney Ltd, Grace was appointed on 1 June 1940 to the Australian Imperial Force. Slight of build, with glasses, a distinctive moustache, and a kindly smile, he was attached to 7th Division headquarters as a liaison officer with the rank of captain, then promoted to temporary major (substantive March 1941). He departed for the Middle East aboard the Mauretania in October, leaving his pregnant wife and their daughter in Sydney. Following the birth of their second daughter in February 1941, his family moved to Armidale, New South Wales. He joined the 2/15th Battalion as its second-in-command in November 1941. The unit fought in the see-sawing campaigns in North Africa in 1942, and in the decisive battle of El Alamein, Egypt (23 October–4 November), in which the commanding officer was mortally wounded and Grace acted in his place from 1 November. He left the Middle East in late January 1943, arriving in Sydney in late February.

In May 1943 Grace was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel (substantive 1944) and appointed commanding officer of the 2/15th Battalion. Arriving at Milne Bay, Papua, in August, the battalion engaged in a series of hard-fought operations in New Guinea from September. He quickly proved himself to be a capable and effective commanding officer who led by example. After landing at Scarlet Beach, Finschhafen, he went forward to reconnoitre enemy positions his battalion had been ordered to capture. He employed mortars and ordered part of his battalion to threaten the enemy’s flank, forcing their withdrawal. Under his command, the battalion proceeded to capture ground across the Bumi River, enabling a final attack on Japanese defences at Finschhafen. In October the battalion drove the Japanese from positions near Kumawa, then forced the enemy to withdraw from the Nogara area. For these actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 17 March 1944. This came as ‘a complete surprise’ to Grace, who stated that ‘the battalion had done the work. He was just the C.O.’ (Armidale Express 1944, 12). He commanded the battalion throughout its subsequent operations across Papua and north-west Borneo until its return to Australia in late 1945.

Having transferred to the reserve of officers on 15 January 1946, Grace and his family returned to Sydney. In July 1947 he was awarded an Efficiency Decoration, and on 1 April 1948 took command of the Sydney University Regiment until 1951. From 1948 he was registered as a non-practising barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. From 1947 he had joined Commonwealth Industrial Gases Ltd, and by 1955 had moved with the family to Melbourne, where he worked as the company’s assistant general manager. He served in Southern Command Staff Group at Albert Park Barracks between 1955 and 1958, by which time the family had returned to Sydney.

Grace and his wife moved to Canberra when he was appointed as a member (1967–74) of the Tariff Board. He was subsequently a part-time associate commissioner (1975–80) to its successor, the Industries Assistance Commission, to assist with specific inquires. In retirement he moved to Sydney. Listing his recreations as reading and bowls, Grace was a member of various clubs, including the Commonwealth Club, Canberra, and the Imperial Service Club, Sydney. Predeceased by his wife (d. 1974) and survived by their daughters, Janet and Katherine, he died of a cardiac arrest at Gladesville on 10 August 1999 and was cremated.