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MY SEARCH FOR THE GRAVE OF
THE
UNKNOWN SAILOR ON CHRISTMAS ISLAND
By
Ted McGowan
Flying Fish Cove - Christmas Island
No history of HMAS Sydney II would be complete
without reference to the events of 6th February 1942 and until the
present time.
During February 1942 the residents of Christmas Island, 2405 km west of
Darwin and 2294 km NW of Perth were on high alert and many were
preparing to evacuate as were those in nearby Singapore. For some time a
Japanese submarine had been seen off the Island and an incoming
phosphate ship was torpedoed and sunk. It was believed that occupation
was imminent.
Coast watchers on duty during the afternoon of the 6th observed birds
acting unusually some distance out to sea and a strange object was seen
floating in the water. Reg Smith the harbourmaster, Joseph Baker
wireless operator and Jack Pettigrew an engineer set out in a launch to
investigate despite the presence of the submarine. As they got closer to
the object they realized it was a carley raft with a corpse sitting in
it with arms outstretched.
The body was clad in a boiler-suit bleached white by the sun, birds had
stripped flesh from the face and the right arm partly eaten by sea
creatures. Also in the raft was a canvas topped shoe stamped as
Australian Government issue and thought to have endorsed in it the name
McCowan or McEwen. Seamen McGowan and McEwen were both members of the
crew of Sydney.
The raft was towed back to Flying Fish Cove and lifted on to the jetty
where the body was removed to the hospital for examination by the
doctor. On closer inspection it was found that the raft had been made in
Australia and with their knowledge of the sinking of Sydney, prevailing
winds and currents and the marine growth on the raft that was also found
to be riddled with bullet and shrapnel holes, the immediate belief of
the locals was that the raft and body had come from the ill fated ship.
About six days later the sailor was said to have been buried late one
afternoon in a solemn ceremony with a military escort in what is now
known as the Old European Cemetery above Flying Fish Cove. The grave was
marked with a simple wooden cross.
Toward the end of February 1942 the Japanese landed and those Europeans
remaining on the Island became POW’s until the end of hostilities.
Part of the Cemetery - 1950
1945
-1949
The burial of an unknown sailor on Christmas Island
was not widely known by mainland Australians. My parents did not know
and it was not until the airing of a program on Channel 7 on 25 April
1997 that I and my surviving siblings became aware of it.
That program featured Jack Heazelwood, a former stoker on Sydney who
after the end of the war and along with a number of former shipmates and
civilians alike began to agitate for the sailor to be exhumed,
identified and returned home.
In 1949 the matter was investigated by Captain G.C. Oldham, RAN,
Director of Naval Intelligence. His findings were that the boiler suit
found on the corpse could possibly have been that of a naval rating and
that the description of the shoe definitely corresponded with RAN
stocks. Further, written interviews made by Smith and Baker on board
ships during evacuation described the raft as being of naval pattern,
painted grey and marked with the number ‘2’ on the outside canvas
covering. Both also described the steel from which the inner floatation
tanks were made as being manufactured in Australia by Lysaght’s, the
only manufacturer of sheet steel in Australia at the time. Importantly,
Smith also described the rope used on the raft as containing a red yarn
running through it. This should have conveyed to Oldham that according
to the 1937 Admiralty Manual of Seamanship the rope was made for the
Royal Navy by the Devenport Company in England. Sydney was purchased
from the Royal Navy by Australia during the course of her construction,
was fitted out in England and launched in 1934.
Despite this plethora of material corroborating the probability that the
raft was from an RAN ship, Oldham, on the very tenuous ground that
according to Smith and Baker the inner covering of the raft consisted of
kapok and not cork, the raft could not have come from an Australian
ship. According to Oldham the RAN used only cork in the manufacture of
its rafts.
The basis of Olham’s conclusion has now been thoroughly discredited
because a similar raft housed in the Maritime Museum at Fremantle has an
inner covering of balsa wood and not only has my research revealed that
kapok was used extensively in a variety of applications by the RAN but
it has a floatation capacity at least 4 times that of an equivalent mass
of cork.
The research material I have gathered since 1997 has satisfied me to any
reasonable standard that the raft could only have originated from Sydney
and the Unknown Sailor must have been a member of the crew on 19
November 1941 and it follows that Oldham either approached his task with
a complete lack of objectivity or he was acting under instructions.
Whatever the reason I am satisfied that his decision was directly
responsible for the cavalier and unjustified abandonment of one who gave
his life for his Country in a time of war.
It has but strengthened my resolve to see the injustice rectified, the
grave located and if possible, the sailor identified and appropriately
recognised. I realize that the sailor may or may not be my brother as I
do not believe the name in the shoe is evidence of identity and although
the locals at the time said the corpse had perfect teeth as did my
brother, there was always the possibility that two or more sailors on
the ship may have been so fortunate.
1949 - 1997
In December 1949 a Mr. Kevin Lourey, an engineering graduate, arrived on
Christmas Island to take up employment with the British Phosphate
Commission. One of the early tasks he was given was to improve the water
supply to the mine manager’s residence that abutted the cemetery and it
was while he was undertaking this work that he observed the mound of
earth marked with a simple wooden cross, the only grave in the cemetery
that was not designated by concrete surrounds and a headstone. Kevin
recalls Jack Pettigrew showing the grave to himself and Mr. Brian
O’Shannassy another employee, and relating the story of the sighting of
the raft, its recovery and the subsequent interment of the Unknown
Sailor. On that date Kevin and Brian both photographed the area in order
to identify the location of the grave but only the O’Shannassy
photograph can now be found.
Kevin is adamant that during his 20 years on the Island the mound of
the Unknown Sailors’ grave remained visible and that it and the cemetery
in general were maintained in good order by BPC gardeners even though
the last interment took place in 1950. Kevin was appointed mine manager
in 1966 and left the Island in December 1969.
During the years until 1997 individuals and organizations continued to
lobby Governments and the Navy to have the Sailor exhumed and an attempt
made to identify him, all to no avail.
In the meantime and during the early 1980’s, BPC handed control of
phosphate mining to the Christmas Island Phosphate Company and regular
care of the cemetery probably ceased at about the same time. Because of
the location, the high rainfall and fertility of the soil it quickly
fell into a state of neglect and disrepair. It is in a rock fall area,
rocks and soil have washed on and through it and rainforest re-growth
has been vigorous. Of more significance, this activity has erased all
trace of the grave mound that has now disappeared, probably by soil
building up over it.
1997 - 2000
On 26 August 1997 a long awaited break-through occurred when the then
Minister for Defence, Ian McLachlan, AO announced in Parliament the
setting up of an inquiry to be investigated by the Joint Standing
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade to investigate and
report on the circumstances into the sinking of Sydney, including the
practicability of locating the grave and identifying the remains of the
Unknown Sailor.
Some 250 written original and supplementary submissions were first
received by the Inquiry which then heard oral evidence from 70 witnesses
at hearings in Canberra, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The
final hearing was in Brisbane on 29 May 1998 and on 23 March 1999 the
conclusions and recommendations of the Inquiry were released and
included, among other things, that an attempt be made to locate the
grave and recover and identify the remains.
On 29 June 2000, almost 3 years after announcing the investigation and
late in the evening of the last sitting day of Parliament for the then
Session the Government tabled its’ Response that in essence adopted the
recommendations of the Inquiry.
It has been said before, ‘patience is a virtue!!’
Same view of
Cemetery -
2001
.jpg)
Clearing the area - 2001
2001
- 2003
My research into this sordid episode of Australian military history has
been on-going since 1997, has taken many twists and turns and had many
highs and lows. It has often been frustrated by Defence (Navy),
Government and bureaucracy but on the other hand many from within have
been both sympathetic and helpful.
So too have the many people from all over Australia who have become
aware of my interest and made contact with offers of assistance or have
contributed information or advice.
One such person was David Inglis a former secretary to the British
Phosphate Commissioners who offered to search BPC archived material for
anything relating to the recovery of the sailor, his interment or the
Old European Cemetery. David was successful in finding several
photographs of the cemetery and the nearby managers’ residence , circa
1950, and in one of these that I scanned and enlarged, I believed I had
found the mound of earth that was the grave.
This ‘discovery’ was probably responsible for my inclusion in a search
team of four arranged by Navy and led by a Lieutenant Commander that
went to Christmas Island in June 2001 to search for the grave. Kevin
Lourey was also included along with Dr. Denise Donlan an anthropologist
and archaeologist from the University of Sydney who is also a Squadron
Leader in the RAAF Reserve and who from time to time has been to Papua
New Guinea to recover the remains of airmen at crash sites found in the
jungle. Kevin was included because of his belief that he would be able
to walk directly to the grave site.
Our first visit to the cemetery came as something of a shock to both
Kevin and I. My photograph proved to be an illusion, the grave would
have been at least 10 metres above ground and Kevin was confronted with
a sight vastly different to the vision he had from 31 years previously.
The topography of the area had changed very minimally but the manager’s
residence, a vital reference point to him, had been demolished by
collapsing it in upon itself. Several large trees were growing where
once there were none, the area was covered by logs, rotting timber,
rocks from above and pieces of concrete from grave surrounds. Most of
the site was blanketed by a heavy covering of undergrowth. Kevin was
confused and his confidence shaken.
In the following August and September a team of four specialists and
again led by the Lieutenant Commander spent two weeks unsuccessfully
excavating 30m2 around the spot selected by Kevin.
It was back to the drawing board for me as information ‘filtered’
through from Canberra that Navy had spent $60.000 on the project and
word from above was that the matter was closed unless by direction of
the Defence Minister.
I commenced by re-reading the Government Response to the Standing
Committee report and something immediately stood out. Both documents
made reference to a gravesite being 'accurately located'. Suddenly I
realized that in June 2001 no gravesite had been located. All that had
happened was that someone had attempted to turn his mind back 31 years
to a different scene and had pointed to a spot on the ground that was
indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. Kevin had made his
selection in good faith and in the knowledge of the importance of his
decision and Navy had accepted this selection in good faith but in
undertaking an archaeological search on that basis had acted against the
specific direction of Government that a gravesite be first accurately
located.
Navy must therefore accept total responsibility for throwing away most
of that $60.000
My next discovery was in December 2001 when in a meeting with Kevin
Lourey he showed me a letter he had received from Brian O’Shannassy.
Whilst reading that letter I realized that I had a copy of the photo
taken by Brian in 1950. Brian later confirmed to me by sworn affidavit
that he had taken the photograph for the purpose of being able to
identify where the grave of the Unknown Sailor was located.
I then prepared a submission to be put to the Defence Minister who was
now Senator the Hon. Robert Hill with a view to persuading the Minister
to order another search. The document was substantial and included such
things as papers on the use of ground penetrating radar that is used
successfully to locate grave sites and the opinions of forensic
archaeologists on the effect of interment for 60 years in soil with a ph
of 9.6 together of course, with the affidavit of Brian O’Shannassy, the
principal piece of evidence.
The document and covering letter were ready to be sent to the Minister
by mid April 2002 but before doing so and in an effort to ensure a
smooth passage to him I made phone and e-mail contact with his chief of
staff one Matthew Brown. I propose to say no more than that in my
dealings with him then and subsequently Brown was uncooperative and
un-professional and on this occasion he carried out his stated intention
to forward the submission direct to Navy without first referring it to
his Minister. He did not advise me of what he had done until early June
2002 and after I had written directly to the Prime Minister advising him
of the difficulties I had encountered.
My letter to the P.M. was promptly and courteously dealt with by the
Defence Branch of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and among
other things, the advice I received was that Capt. Garry Kennedy RANR
had been appointed to review thoroughly the evidence I had provided.
I finally met with Capt. Kennedy in August 2002 and we spent a pleasant
couple of hours discussing various aspects of my submission and I was
quite surprised when I was advised by the Minister in November that
Kennedy had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support a
further search.
I telephoned Kennedy and inquired if he had interviewed O’Shannassy or
in any way tested the veracity of his affidavit. Again to my surprise
the reply was in the negative but with the further comment that his
brief had been only to investigate my new evidence.
Of course the very heart of my submission and my new evidence was the
affidavit of O’Shannassy that restricted the search area to a maximum of
20m2. Because this evidence was not tested in any way the investigation
and conclusion of Kennedy was clearly seriously flawed.
In early December I replied to the Minister and among other things,
stressed the deficiencies of the investigation. I received a quite
negative and extraordinary reply to this letter in January 2003 from the
Ministers’ chief of staff. The only inference to be drawn from this
letter was that my letter to the Minister had not been seen by him so my
next step was to send a further letter to the Minister with copies to
the Prime Minister, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and to the
Deputy Chief of Navy.
At this time the war in Iraq was at a peak so I waited until mid April
2003 before again writing to the Minister seeking a reply and in early
June an undated reply was received, again under the signature of the
chief of staff but this time being more extraordinary and offensive.
My reaction was a further letter to the Prime Minister and Department of
Prime Minister and Cabinet seeking intervention in what was now an
impasse. The response was again courteous and encouraging, at first
advising that the issues I had raised required thoughtful analysis,
then, in mid September, advice that the Prime Minister had written to
the Defence Minister inviting his consideration of matters raised by me.
Following further prompting from me Minister Hill finally advised by
letter dated 27 February 2004 that at his request both the office of the
Deputy Chief of Navy and of his staff had reviewed all material on the
matter and had concluded there was not sufficient evidence to support a
new search.
With due respect to the Minister I find it extraordinary that he, as a
former practicing lawyer, would breach such a fundamental rule of law
that decision makers should not review their own decisions.
I was also advised to direct any further material to the Deputy Chief of
Navy.
The Year
2004
In late 2003 and thanks to information received from a fellow researcher
from South Australia I made contact with Say Kit Foo, the son of the cook
to the then mine manager and who lived at the rear of the residence
abutting the cemetery from his birth in 1939 until 1952 when he was
thirteen. According to Say Kit the cemetery was the playground for himself
and his sister and without any prompting from me, he placed a grid of the
grave location on a map directly over the grid described by Brian
O’Shannassy. Foo Kim Fong, his sister, moved to Christmas Island in 1938
and lived at the same address until her marriage in 1950. Kim Fong agrees
with Say Kit as to the site of the grave mound.
My next step was to make an FOI request to Navy for a copy of all documents
associated with the earlier investigation of Capt. Kennedy RANR and in due
course I received copies of 17 letters from me and 16 from Navy!! although
as I was to later discover, not all Navy letters were included.
 I
next made contact with Professor of Psychology, D.M. Thomson of Charles
Sturt University, a foremost authority on memory recall in the elderly. In
brief, his opinion was that long term memory recall is generally very good
and is enhanced when there is a ‘trigger’ such as a photograph of the event
or the period. He was clearly of the view that the description of the grave
location given by Brian O’Shannassy was likely to be accurate given that he
had available to him a photograph taken by him in 1950 for the express
purpose of being able to identify the site.
In June 2004 I put together and made a substantial submission to the DCN
that, among other things, included sworn affidavits from O’Shannassy and
Lourey and statutory declarations from Say Kit and Kim Fong, the
O’Shannassy photograph, the Thomson opinion and a certified survey map of
the cemetery showing contour lines and heights. At that time my
conservative estimate was that the search area had been confined to not
more than 20m. I also requested that the above deponents be interviewed in
order to test their veracity and memories.
The reply of the Rear Admiral in August was in the negative, neither were
the above people interviewed. In refusing my request the DCN relied on an
estimate by Dr Donlon, archeologist, that the area would be around 40m2,
that there would be impact on other graves in the area and a likely high
cost.
In September my next submission to the DCN was that the estimate of Dr
Donlon was unsustainable as the survey map contours restricted the
searchable area to substantially less than my earlier calculation, the rest
of the area being ground sloping at about 40 degrees and impossible in
which to dig a grave. It also pointed out that the site was at least 1
metre from 2 existing concrete grave surrounds that would not be impacted
by any excavations.
His reply in October was similarly negative
but again did not address all of the issues I had raised.
What to do next?
Why not the Commonwealth Ombudsman?
On 10 November 2004 I filed a request with
the Defence section of the Ombudsman’s office and enclosed copies of my
recent submissions to the Rear Admiral and his replies. A detailed
response to this declining to intervene in the matter was received on 23
December but again, as with the replies from the DCN, it did not seem to
me to properly address all issues I had raised although interestingly,
there was a comment that a different person reading the same material may
well have reached a different conclusion.
A further letter to the Ombudsman sent on 5
January 2005 was dealt with similarly by letter dated 21 January but again
it contained responses with which I join issue.
I will now request an internal review of
this decision by a more senior officer within the office of the Ombudsman.
2005-2006
As anticipated I did not receive any joy from
the Office of the Ombudsman so it was back to the drawing board once
again.
After considerable thought I concluded that
the only way forward was to do what Navy was refusing to do and that was
to return to Christmas Island and make a further attempt to locate the
grave myself or at least to find evidence that would further corroborate
that given by Brian O'Shannassy, Say Kit Foo and his sister.
In about the year 2000 the Government had
declared Flying Fish Cove and the cemetery a Heritage area so any
excavating was out of the question leaving the only means of possible
grave detection to devices such as ground penetrating radar. As it
happened, I had been communicating for several years with Bill Evans the
Senior Heritage Officer of the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority who had
established a reputation as an expert in grave location using this
technique where road building or realignments may encroach on old
cemeteries. Bill had indicated his preparedness to become involved in the
Christmas Island search but of course there would have been a cost.
My thoughts then turned to establishing a
Trust to raise funds to enable such a search to take place and I requested
the HMAS SYDNEY & VLSVA (Vic Inc) of which I was a member to become
involved and lend its name to the Fund. My request was refused but that
refusal was just another hiccup in a long quest. I would have to go it
alone.
Before doing so however I decided to have one
more attempt at persuading Government to become involved as there had then
only recently been a cabinet re-shuffle.
When I had first commenced this research back
in 1997-98 the now Senator Michael Ronaldson, then a MHR and the Hon.
Bruce Billson, newly appointed Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister
Assisting the Minister for Defence had been quite helpful to me so I made
an appointment with Senator Ronaldson and pre briefed him on what I wanted
to see him about, including referring him to this diary of events.
At the commencement of my appointment in late
January this year his opening remarks were "Well it looks like you are at
the end of the road". Not so was my reply and I set about persuading him
otherwise. It wasn't long before Michael commenced taking notes and at the
end of our meeting that had run well overtime, he advised that he would
take it up with "Bruce" at the first opportunity he had when he returned
to Canberra.
Suddenly the tide began to turn. By letter
dated 17 February Senator Ronaldson advised me that whilst there appeared
to be a great reluctance in Defence to spend any more money on this
project, Bruce had agreed to ask Defence to interview the three witnesses
I had pleaded with them to do for so long. Reluctantly I had to advise him
that Kevin Lourey was by now too ill to be interviewed.
Next, on the 18th March came a telephone call
from one John Perryman, fairly recently appointed Senior Naval Historical
Officer who advised me that he was ex RAN where he had commenced his
career 'below deck' and had taken a package as a Lieutenant. He had then
successfully applied for his current position and in that capacity had
been given the task of conducting the interviews. What a breath of fresh
air he was conveying himself to me as a down to earth, no nonsense but
objective person.
Shortly afterward, on March 27 and 28 he
interviewed O'Shannassy and Say Kit in Perth. He advised that both
interviews had gone well and some useful information had been provided.
His next task was to write a report and I suppose, a recommendation.
By June a working party had been established
by Defence under the leadership of Captain Jim Parson RANR to decide how,
why, when and where or whether or not a new search should take place.
Then followed a letter dated 21 June from the
Hon. Bruce Billson that the evidence gathered at the interviews merited a
further attempt to locate the grave.
Some real progress at last.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that
an avid Sydney researcher of long standing, Glenys McDonald of Western
Australia has contributed considerable work in attempting to bring about a
further search and I believe her efforts must be recognised in helping to
bring this great result about.
October 2006
Capt. Parsons was obviously persuaded that
the corroboration of the affidavits of O'Shannassy and Say Kit given to
John Perryman were of sufficient strength to warrant a further search and
I was advised that an archeological expedition was being planned. This
commenced on 23 September 2006 when Parsons took a team consisting of
Denise Donlon, anthropologist and archeologist who is in charge of that
Department at the University of Sydney, two forensic dentists and Brian
O'Shannassy who had taken a photograph of the location in 1950.
There is a path on the right hand side of
each of the graves in the photograph and Brian was of the opinion that the
mound was just to the right of this path and adjacent to the last grave.
Each of these graves had been dug in a north/south direction and Say Kit
had indicated a similar position but a few feet north and closer to the
camera. The area to be searched was only about 10 metres long by 1 metre
wide as the ground then dropped away sharply at about 40 degrees.
In the first week the team cleared and
searched this area unsuccessfully and on 29 September a weary and
disappointed Parsons consulted by phone with Perryman and a decision was
taken to search one further site even though it was outside the area
selected by O'Shannassy and Say Kit when Perryman, as he related it to me,
said “Why don’t you try in the area suggested by Ted” to which Parsons
replied “That’s just what I wanted to hear”.
This new site had been suggested by me to
Perryman and Parsons on 11 September as a result of an email I had
received from Russell Payne, the proprietor of the Christmas Island Survey
Co. with whom I had established a friendship. Russell had been very
helpful to us on our first trip in 2001 and was keen to see the mystery
solved. We had maintained contact ever since and, I am advised, was
equally helpful to Capt. Parsons and his team.
Before getting in touch with me Russell
 had
gone up to the cemetery with the O'Shannassy photograph and did a bit of
thinking 'outside the square'. He first of all sectioned the position from
where the photo had been taken and drew lines on his survey map at the
extent of the image allowed by the camera lense. He then suggested to
himself that if he wanted to locate the mound he would put it in the
middle of the frame and he pointed out that the area between the second
last and last graves beside the path was in the very centre on the photo.
He asked me "Isn't that a mound in the left foreground?"
Russell had mentioned this to me in an
earlier phone conversation and I had not then grasped the significance of
what he was saying but after seeing the attachments from his email it all
began to fall into place. I had always been troubled by the mound location
given by O'Shannassy being hidden by headstones and grave surrounds but he
insisted on it being to the right of the path. On the other hand Russell
had pointed out that the photo highlighted the space between the last two
graves. It then occurred to me that the grave of the Unknown Sailor was
dug in 1942 and the grave furthest from the camera was dug in 1948. The
mound certainly was visible at that time and now there was an explanation
for the space between the last two designated graves. In 1942 the area
behind the then last grave was reasonably level and open space. Why would
you dig a grave in a confined area beside the path when that space was
available? Russell had to be correct in his thinking for, if you look at
the gap between the headstones in the foreground and the grave in the
background there appears, quite clearly, to be a grave size earth mound.
 One
unpleasant aside to this is that for reasons unknown to me Capt. Parsons
has never communicated with me and any correspondence to him including the
above information had to be sent through John Perryman. I am yet to
receive an acknowledgement from Parsons.
The next day a new trench was dug between the last two graves but by the
end of the day faces were again rather long and showing disappointment. It
was all virgin ground. One of the team was down in the trench using a
crowbar for just about the last time when suddenly the bar went into a
void and when it was retrieved there appeared to be timber particles on
the end of it. Suddenly the mood changed and soon there was elation, they
had found a grave and subsequent excavation satisfied the team they had
achieved their objective.
As the excavation continued it became evident that they had made the
mistake of digging the trench in a north/south direction, the same as the
other graves, but our sailor had been buried in an east/west position.
 Progress
during the week was very slow as it was now a full on archaeological dig
and everything had to be photographed, catalogued and carefully removed
and the work was not completed until late on the 7th October.
Capt. Parsons made arrangements with the Minister for an aircraft from the
Prime Ministerial fleet to be sent to bring the Sailor home and a Chaplain
was also sent to accompany the remains on the journey. A short service was
conducted at the airfield before the plane left Christmas Island.
Everything was undertaken with solemnity and propriety.
The Minister had given permission to an ABC 'Australian Story' team who
have maintained contact with me for some time to put together a story on
my role in this achievement. He also requested Navy to cooperate with
them. My wife and I were then privileged to be able to go to Sydney on
Sunday the 8th October to pay our respects as the Sailor was finally
returned to mainland Australia.
He was taken to the Shell Shear Museum of Anatomy and Histology at the
University of Sydney for preservation and, hopefully, identification.
This has proved to be difficult as the files of about 300 of the 645 on
board Sydney are thought to have gone down with the ship and although DNA
material has been recovered from the remains no family member has been
located to enable a comparison and identification to be made.
A press stud recovered during excavation was dismantled and found to
contain white material leading the pathology team to believe the Unknown
Sailor was an officer. At present they are attempting to locate 11
families, one of whom may provide the answer.
I am sure that all would wish that he be identified and appropriately
commemorated but if he is not then I and many others I have spoken to
believe that his final resting place should be at the Australian War
Memorial in Canberra where he could be recognised as an unknown son of
Australia who gave his life in defence of his Country in a time of war. I
believe it would be inappropriate to have him designated as ‘The Unknown
Sailor’ in competition with the Unknown Soldier who is already there.
If this question does arise it does pose something of a dilemma for the
Government because of protocols in place for the burial of servicemen
killed in battle during World War 11 but because of the circumstances of
this death, quite unique in Australian Military History and because of the
exceptions made to that rule from the Vietnam War until the present time,
it should not be a difficult decision.
At an appropriate time I hope to make a detailed submission to the
Minister.
An Unpleasant Epilogue
I suppose it is understandable that my persistence over several years did
not endear me to certain sections of Naval hierarchy and this may explain
why Capt. Parsons would not and has not contacted me.
It is disappointing nevertheless that apart from the oral praise received
from the Hon. Bruce Billson on 19 November 2006 I have not received in any
way, shape or form, recognition from Navy or Defence for the role I have
played in this historic event.
Even more disappointing is the treatment I have subsequently received from
Parsons.
On 26 October 2006 he took part in a media briefing and amongst other
things and in response to specific questions put to him by a reporter he
inferred that I put forward theories and specifically stated that I
“…raised a lot of these issues in public.”
Both of these matters are quite untrue and I must say I found them hurtful
so I again wrote to him, again through John Perryman, denied the
suggestions, challenged him to point out any theories put forward by me or
any instance where I raised issues in public and requested that if he
could not do so, to refute his allegations in a similar arena to that in
which they were made.
To my absolute amazement I next received a letter from a Defence Legal
solicitor advising that they had briefed a Melbourne firm to act on behalf
of Parsons.
The matter is as yet unresolved.
To be continued.....
Corrigendum
(Written 30 March 2008)
Most readers would be aware that the Sydney Search Foundation had raised
sufficient funds, mainly through Government contributions, to mount a
search for the resting places of Kormoran and Sydney. The search team led
by David Mearns were successful beyond expectations, locating both wrecks
within days of commencing their search in mid March, the Kormoran being
found first almost exactly where described by the German Captain Theodore
Detmers during interrogation following his capture in 1941. Sydney was
found a short time later a few nautical miles south east.
Since then and until the present time Governments and other organisations
have devoted considerable thought as to what would be appropriate
commemoration for the sacrifices made by so many on 19 November 1941.
On Friday last, 28 March, I received a phone call from Rebecca, a
Lieutenant Commander at the Seapower Centre in Canberra advising that I
had been selected as one of five civilians to be present at a Naval
commemorative service on board HMAS Anzac over the resting place of HMAS
Sydney. This was confirmed later in the day by L/C
Jill Brownlie coordinator of the logistics of the journey who advised that
I would be picked up and then flown to Perth on 14 April, to Geraldton on
15 April to embark on the Anzac, sail overnight to the site where a
Service would be held shortly after dawn on 16 April. We would then return
to Geraldton on 17 April and commence the long journey home.
Perhaps part of the 'Epilogue' above, whilst not written in haste, has now
been somewhat blunted!!
14-17 April 2008
The whole event was what I would describe as seamless. L/C Jill was a
cheery and extremely efficient organizer and as far as I could see,
everything went off without a hitch. HMAS Anzac under the command of
Captain Stuart Mayer had to accommodate over 20 civilians from dignitaries
to Search for Sydney Foundation members through to family members that I
will refer to as 'we five'.
In fact we five were given VIP treatment throughout the journey and
generally were placed first in the pecking order. All guests were
accommodated either in their own cabins or, as I was, shared with ships'
Officers. I shared with Lieutenant Warren Bowring, Deputy Supply Officer,
who kindly vacated his bottom bunk and made sure my every wish was
attended to. My bunk was neatly made up and on it was a towel, shampoo and
soap!! Such attention to detail.
No part of the ship was off limits to us and we were split up into groups
of four with an Officer assigned to each group whose duty it was to show
off his ship and generally look after us. Most of our meals were taken in
the wardroom but under the rotation system we also had some meals in the
PO and Seamen's (and women's) mess.
Through the journey we were entertained by the crew executing their normal
sea time activities such as simulated man overboard procedures, attacking
a below deck fire, pinging away with the 5" gun at an aircraft towed
target and the next night, firing 5" star shells and then shooting at them
with tracer fire.
We five were also invited to dine with Captain Mayer one evening.
We were fortunate that the weather Gods were kind to us and there was no
serious case of motion sickness.
On the morning of the 16th the weather was fine although the ship moved
around a little more than on the previous day.
About 0715 we gathered in the hangar in preparation for the Service that
was to take place on the flight deck. A large number of the ship's crew
were already assembled for the event.
Captain Mayer led we five and the others to seats that had been assembled
on the flight deck and then extended a formal welcome to the Official
guests. The Service was led by the Principal Chaplain Eric Burton CSC, RAN
and assisted by Chaplain Duncan Becsi RAN. During the Service a message
from the Governor-General was read and the Naval Prayer was read by Chief
of Navy Vice Admiral Russ Shalders AO, CSC. Several wreaths and the casing
of a 5" shell engraved to HMAS Sydney and containing 645 engraved names
were dedicated and one by one the wreaths were then dropped over the stern
to the men 2450 metres below. We five were the last to commit a wreath to
the water after which we stood in silent contemplation for several
moments.
The shell casing was then brought to us as we stood in line. We handed it
one to the other until it reached me and in turn I handed it to Vice
Admiral Shalders who solemnly committed it to the water.
Finally, the Last Post was played, followed by one minute of silence,
Reveille and a blessing.
Anzac then proceeded to the site of the Kormoran where a short service was
conducted involving Chief of Navy and German Ambassador Martin Lutz who
committed wreaths and a similar 5" shell casing engraved to Kormoran and
with the names of German sailors who lost their lives in the battle.
In all a very dignified, moving and emotional morning.
Back to everyday matters.
Before leaving Melbourne I had suggested to our President John Atkins that
it may be thought appropriate for me to make presentations on behalf of
our Association and after discussions with David Dwyer he sent me half a
dozen Association ties. During the few days away I gave one to my room
mate Lt. Bowring, to Bob Austin, President of the NSW Association, another
to Rory Burnett, to John Bournes and Ted Graham, Chairman of the Finding
Sydney Foundation. The final tie I handed to our own Marty Grogan who
wished to grease a palm while in Sydney last week.
I believe it appropriate to speak briefly about Rory Burnett who was
obviously under a tremendous strain when he embarked upon this journey. I
watched him carefully throughout and initially he looked very drawn and
was disinclined to communicate. I spoke to him at Perth Airport while
awaiting a return flight and he was a different person, talkative and
agreeing he felt much better. A brave man.
I also received an invitation from Chief of Navy to attend the Service at
St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney on 24 April. I was pleased to accept this
invitation and I spoke with V.A. Shalders afterwards and we both agreed
that whilst we had just taken part in a very special event, the Service on
board Anzac had been more significant for those taking part and in all,
was the better of the two.
There may be little more to add.
17 Dec 2006
FINDINGS OF INITIAL BALLISTICS
ANALYSIS RELATING TO UNKNOWN SAILOR
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