Leslie Maygar

Leslie Cecil Maygar VC, DSO, VD (27 May 1868 – 1 November 1917) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for service in the Second Boer War.

Early life
According to his birth certificate, from Victorian Birth Death & Marriage Registra, Maygar was born on 27 May 1868, (not 1872 as his official documentation states) at Dean Station, near Kilmore, Victoria. His full name was Edgar Leslie Cecil Willis Walker Maygar. His family moved north to the Strathbogie Ranges region of Ruffy when he was about 20 years old.

Military service
He was 29 years old, and a lieutenant in the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles, Australian Forces during the Boer War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 23 November 1901 at Geelhoutboom, Natal, South Africa, Lieutenant Maygar galloped out and ordered men of a detached post, which was being outflanked, to retire. The horse of one of the men was shot under him when the enemy were within 200 yards and Lieutenant Maygar dismounted and lifted the man on to his own horse which bolted into boggy ground, making them both dismount. As the horse could not carry two, the lieutenant again put the man on its back and told him to gallop for cover at once, while he himself went on foot. All this took place under very heavy fire.

Maygar later served in World War I as a Lieutenant Colonel, where he received his Distinguished Service Order and was Mentioned In Dispatches three times.

Leslie Maygar died of wounds suffered in Karm, Palestine, on 1 November 1917. He is buried in the Beersheba War Cemetery, Israel. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia.

Legacy
The Australian Army base located at Broadmeadows (a northern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria) is named Maygar Barracks in honour of Leslie Maygar, the then Captain Maygar had helped establish Broadmeadows as an Army base in 1914 to train soldiers for the First World War. There is a VC Memorial dedicated to Leslie Maygar, along with other local Victoria Cross winners in Euroa, which as of April 2012 was seeking funding to upgrade the site. A hill in the Strathbogie Ranges is named Maygars Hill in his honour, as well as a winery of the same name nearby which uses his name and image. There is also a major road called Maygar Street in north Brisbane, Queensland.