Soldier killed in training is identified as beloved father-of-two

DAILYMAIL.COM • 8h ago

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA and BURNEY WONG – NEWS REPORTER 12:35 06 Oct 2026, updated 12:35 06 Oct 2026

An Australian Army soldier who died during a training exercise at a remote base has been identified as a father-of-two.

Corporal Brendan Hannam, 28, was on a military vehicle when it rolled at the Mount Bundey Training Area, about 130km east of Darwin, on Monday afternoon.

Five others were injured in the crash, including two who remained at Royal Darwin Hospital on Tuesday.

Chief of Army Susan Coyle told a press conference on Tuesday that Corporal Hannam was a junior non-commissioned officer who served in Afghanistan and trained soldiers in Ukraine.

‘Brendan is survived by a partner and two young children,’ she said.

‘He is a much-beloved junior leader in our army, he has served and sacrificed on two operational tours.

‘His mates tell me that he would give the shirt off his back for anybody and the thing that he will be most be remembered for is the love and support that he had for his partner and his kids.’

Several of Corporal Hannam’s colleagues have reached out to his family following the crash.

‘For now, the family are being deeply supported by the 5th/7th Battalion – it’s the unit that Brendan has grown up with since he joined the army,’ Coyle said.

‘They are his army family, and it’s the right people to be connected with the family at this time.’

Corporal Hannam had aspired to become an army medical technician.

‘And I know that he would’ve been superb,’ Coyle said.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro earlier sent her condolences to Corporal Hannam’s loved ones.

‘I want to offer our sincere condolences to the family of the young service personnel who lost their life yesterday,’ she said.

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the family who are obviously devastated by this loss and of course, the support of our entire community is there for all of our service personnel who will be feeling this loss immensely.’

NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole could not go into the specifics of the incident, but said that additional resources were sent to the training facility to assist the Defence Department’s investigation into what had occurred.

‘We can’t comment on the cause of the injury to the defence personnel but we are assisting and were helping to investigate on behalf of the coroner,’ he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased as well as the injured soldiers.

‘There are no safe or easy days for those who serve in our country’s name,’ he said.

‘Every loss and every incident is felt deeply by the broader Defence family, but by none more so than their mates who served alongside them.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles called the death ‘a tragic loss of one of our finest soldiers’.

‘Australia’s service men and women do an exceptional job training and fighting for our country,’ he said.

‘This work in the defence of our nation carries risk.’

Mount Bundey Training Area is a 117,000-hectare facility located in the Northern Territory.

It is used by the Australian Army and its allies for live-fire training.

This is not the first time a soldier has died at the training site, with Australian Army Private Jason Challis killed there in 2017.

An NT coroner later found that Private Challis was standing behind a plywood wall when he was shot during an urban attack simulation in a mock village.

The coroner described the exercise as ‘shambolic’ and criticised what the findings identified as a ‘long-held mindset’ against rehearsing combat-style operations.

Defence later pleaded guilty in Darwin Local Court to breaching a workplace health and safety duty over the 2017 incident.

– READ MORE: Why Australia’s first female army chief is already facing backlash

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