Commemorating the hospital ship Centaur

David Mearns who found HMAS Sydney is keen to find the wreck of the Australian hospital ship Centaur before ANZAC Eve 2009.

David told us that he would like to find the Centaur before Port Adelaide’s major ANZAC event Light on the Water on April 24 commemorates her sinking.

Adelaide school students will make 3000 cardboard candle-lit lifeboats that will float on the Port River to honour those where lost when the Centaur was torpedoed and sunk off Queensland in 1943.

In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald writer Jonathan Dart, David said the task was feasible so long as there was funding.

David Mearns, the world-renowned shipwreck hunter said he has conducted preliminary research on the Centaur and said it would be easier to find than the Sydney and the Kormoran.

He said the only barriers to finding the Centaur were a lack of money and political will.

"On the basis of what I've seen of her, I believe she's findable," he said.

"The information, even at this preliminary stage, is better than what I had to deal with in locating … Kormoran and Sydney.

"I think the water depth isn't a barrier; I don't think there are any environmental problems.

But how it's organised, who funds it - those are all big questions."

Nurses also lost their lives

In the hall of memory at the Australian War Memorial, the large mosaic commemorating the Australian service women of World War II includes the figure of a Greek mythological beast sinking into the sea.

Some say it is the Centaur.

It is the only reference in the hall to a specific event in any of the wars in which Australians have fought.

It reminds us that, like soldiers, sailors, airmen and merchant seamen, in war Australian nurses also lost their lives.

This ship symbolises the courage of Australian women in war and reminds us of all Australians who served in war and have no graves but the sea.

Sister Ellen Savage was asleep in her bunk when the Centaur collapsed around her:

Merle Morton and myself were awakened by two terrific explosions and practically thrown out of bed.

I registered mentally that it was a torpedo explosion.

In that instant the ship was in flames ... we ran into Colonel Manson, our commanding officer, in full dress even to his cap and 'Mae West' life jacket, who kindly said 'That's right girlies, jump for it now.'

The first words I spoke was to say 'Will I have time to go back for my great-coat?' as we were only in our pyjamas.

He said 'No' and with that climbed the deck and jumped and I followed, the ship was commencing to go down. It all happened in three minutes.

The suction of the sinking Centaur dragged Sister Savage down into a whirlpool of moving metal and wood.

Here her ribs, nose and palate were broken, her eardrums perforated and she sustained multiple bruises. Then she was propelled to the surface in the middle of an oil slick.

Sister Savage found her way to a raft that was part of the Centaur's wheelhouse.

During the 36 hours on this makeshift raft, Sister Savage gave whatever medical care she could to survivors despite being badly injured herself.

Sister Savage was the only nurse to survive. For her courage and inspiring behaviour during this period Sister Savage was awarded the George Medal.

The 332 people aboard the Centaur's last voyage had ranged in age from 15 to 67.

Most were Australian, with some English, Scots, and individuals from Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Canada.

Among those aboard were at least eight sets of brothers, including one set of three, and all perished.

There were also the usual stories of good luck and bad luck.

People who should have been aboard but were not, and others who were not supposed to be on board that fateful voyage but joined the ship at the last minute.

When the last survivor had been rescued from the water and the final tally was done, there were only 64 people of the original 332 alive.

Group
Dead Saved Total
Merchant crew (civilian sailors who signed on for six months at a time)
45 30 75
Ship's medical staff (Members of the Australian Army, males in the Medical Corps, females in the Nursing Service)
44 20 64
2/12th Field Ambulance
138 11 149
Attached Australian Army Service Corps
41 3 44

Why did the crew and the medical staff have the lowest rate of deaths?

Largely it was because of the grim geography of death.

The crew knew the ship well, and were quartered at the front and rear ends and below decks.

Some were on duty, or had only recently come off duty and were not fully asleep.

The medical staffs were also either forward or aft, and on the lower decks.

The Field Ambulance and attached Service Corps soldiers were mainly in the middle hospital ward area, right where the torpedo hit.

Story and photos the Centaur and Sister Ellen Savage in a hospital bed ashore from the Australian War Memorial
www.awm.gov.au/

Photos from Port Adelaide Enfield Council

Official photographer for the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Sama Reid, has given us some brilliant images of our Tribute to the 645 lost crew of HMAS Sydney and the first one is our new header photo.

From the Portside Messenger community newspaper and website came the the Messenger Shot of the Week.
ABOUT 60 relatives of HMAS Sydney sailors gathered on the Port waterfront for an emotional tribute on Anzac Eve (April 24). Port school children including Daniel Adie of Rosewater released 3000 candlelit replica lifeboats into the Port River.

Photos by David Nearmy and Jenny Fitzpatrick

When South Australian Premier Mike Rann attended the ANZAC Light on the Water Tribute to the lost crew of HMAS Sydney on ANZAC Eve, Tony Iles met him on arrival.

Tony was one of 70,000 fifteen to seventeen year old boys who passed through the merchant navy training vessel Vindicatrix at Sharpness in the UK between 1939 and 1966.

There on the picturesque Sharpness to Gloucester canal they did their basic training before going to sea.

Sadly, in World War Two many of the boys were on vessels torpedoed by German submarines and sent to a watery grave not long after finishing their training.

Tony is “Skipper” of the South Australian branch of the Vindicatrix Association.

About 2700 former “Vindiboys” belong to Vindicatrix Association branches in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The South Australian branch has regular meetings at the Seafarers Centre in Port Adelaide and is the only one where wives have equal status with the former merchant seamen.

Activities of the Australian branches include volunteer work, participation in a range of ANZAC commemorations, reunions, social functions, Sea Sunday and soon the newly recognised Australian Merchant Navy Day on September 3.

The Vindicatrix was formerly the SS Arranmore, a graceful three masted sailing vessel built in 1893, that first sailed to Port Adelaide in 1904.

The skipper of Arranmore would have set the vessel’s chronometer by the dropping of the 1 pm ball on the Semaphore Timeball Tower.

Photo of Tony and Premier Rann by Mick Surfield

Stunning new ANZAC images for Australia

Photographs by Jan Bransbury

The ANZAC Light on the Water tribute to the 645 lost crew of HMAS Sydney provided stunning new ANZAC images for Australia.

Television coverage was extensive with a brilliant feature story leading the Ten Network’s morning show across Australia at 9am on ANZAC morning.

Among a multitude of top news stories including the controversial Olympic torch relay on Thursday and a host of ANZAC events from Gallipoli to Villers Bretonneaux, Dawn Services and Marches here and around the world, the Port Adelaide commemoration was highly visible.

Channel Ten national coverage included interviews with Le Fevre Primary School students and their rendition of the national anthem over footage from the night including the candle-lit boats and floating of wreaths.

There was continuing coverage throughout the day and night on Ten, Nine, Seven and the ABC.

Indigenous and Navy ceremonial spectacles added to the poignant sight of school students, naval cadets and North Haven Surf Lifesavers launching the candle-lit boats on the dark waters of the Port River.

Earlier the SA Pipes and Drums had presented a one hour Ceildhi Music Concert in Black Diamond Square.


Portside Messenger supports local commemoration.



The Portside Messenger community newspaper, journalist Adam Todd and photographers gave front page coverage to our commemoration.

Channels 7 and 10 gave our commemoration extensive coverage and our photos show them getting video footage before ANZAC Eve.

Candle-lit lifeboats in church

Students at Star of the Sea Primary School invited local RSL veterans to a special church service they conducted themselves and took their ANZAC Eve HMAS Sydney replica candle-lit lifeboats and placed them in front of the altar.

Channel Seven filmed the moving and poignant service as children and veterans paid tribute
to the lost crew of HMAS Sydney and all Australians who have served their country.

A number of the students will take part in the launching of 3000 cardboard candle-lit lifeboats with many bearing the names of HMAS Sydney crew on the Port River on ANZAC Eve.

Organisers of this major Tribute to the 645 lost crew of HMAS Sydney have found students at some Adelaide Primary schools who are related to crew members and they
will launch the lifeboats bearing their lost relative’s name.

Adult Peter Laffer who was named after his relative Peter Laffer Ordinary Seaman on HMAS Sydney is flying from Queensland to launch the lifeboat bearing that name.

Several thousand people are expected to attend the Port Adelaide commemoration that will run from 6 pm to 9.30 on April 24.
More information on semaphoresa.com
vindictrix boy.com

Teacher praises ANZAC Eve project

Students at the Adelaide Star of the Sea Primary School have a great connect with HMAS Sydney currently a media star.

The school, a Marine Discovery Centre on Seaview Road with initials SOS, is one of the schools producing 3000 cardboard lifeboats for ANZAC Eve.

Star of the Sea teacher Toby Moulton has sent us the following email.

“The kids had a great experience at the RSL the other day and with the first pictures of the Sydney a couple of days ago its brilliant.
“Kids are getting a real sense of the sacrifice made by many
and are learning so much its awesome.
“Will be a great way to finish the term.”
Three thousand South Australian school students are busily constructing and decorating replica cardboard lifeboats from special templates for a major ANZAC Eve tribute to the lost 645 crew of HMAS Sydney.
Sixty Adelaide school students will represent the 60 South Australian sailors lost in the HMAS Sydney tragedy in 1941 during the ANZAC Eve commemoration on the Port River on April 24.
The focus of ANZAC Light on the Water 2008 will be on the 645 lost crew of the Sydney when more than 3000 cardboard lifeboats bearing lighted candles are launched on the river from the Birkenhead pontoons.

Adelaide and regional schools students and a number of war veterans are making all of the lifeboats.
The names of the 60 lost South Australian sailors will be on the sides of the lifeboats to be launched by the sixty school students.
A special March and Salute by the RAN Ceremonial Unit will be a Dedication to the 645 officers and men of Sydney.
Photos of wreck of HMAS Sydney from Finding Sydney Foundation
http://www.findingsydney.com/

Pay your respects to these fine young men

Sixty Adelaide school students will represent the 60 South Australian sailors lost in the HMAS Sydney tragedy in 1941 during an ANZAC Eve commemoration on the Port River on April 24.

The focus of ANZAC Light on the Water 2008 will be on the 645 lost crew of the Sydney when up to 3000 cardboard lifeboats bearing lighted candles are launched on the river from the Birkenhead pontoons.

Adelaide and regional schools students and their families and war veterans make all of the lifeboats.

The names of the 60 lost South Australian sailors will be on the sides of the lifeboats to be launched by the sixty school students.

A special March and Salute by the RAN Ceremonial Unit will be a Dedication to the 645 officers and men of Sydney.

And a one-hour Ceilidh Music Concert by the SA Pipes and Drums will include a special Ode to the Finding Sydney Foundation search team.

The SA Pipes and Drums won international acclaim for their Ceilidh Music at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL, the Merchant Navy Association SA and the Vindicatrix Association SA staged the first ANZAC Light on the Water on ANZAC Eve 2007 during the first Port Festival.

Work on the 2008 commemoration has been underway since late last year and indications that HMAS Sydney might be found early this year prompted organisers to put plans in place for that.

The overall focus in 2007 was on the merchant seamen who rowed our troops ashore at Gallipoli in 1915.

Event Director John Williams said while the Gallipoli lifeboats had inspired the creation of the event in 2007, each year the commemoration would focus on a significant chapter in the history of Australians at war.

“It is appropriate that this year we should focus on the loss of the Sydney and its 645 crew and in particular the South Australians who were lost in the tragedy.”

“Students related to any of the HMAS Sydney sailors will be the first to be invited to launch the lifeboats.

“All surviving relatives of the 60 sailors and the Finding Sydney Foundation search team leader David Mearns will be invited as guests of honour at this unique Port Adelaide commemoration.

“Relatives, if they wish, will also have the opportunity to float flowers from a vessel on the river during the ANZAC Eve commemoration.

“It is to be hoped that the commemoration will help to bring final closure to the relatives.”

“This year we are breaking with tradition and having a female Minister, Ali Wurm from St Bede's Semaphore who will pay tribute to the HMAS Sydney crew, their relatives and the Finding Sydney Foundation search team.

“This will be the first time a female Minister has officiated at a public ANZAC Eve commemoration.

“The new Federal Labor MP Mark Butler and Port Adelaide Mayor Gary Johanson will be among guest speakers.

“It is planned that the new Port Adelaide Seafarers Memorial will incorporate a Tribute to the HMAS Sydney Crew and the discovery by the Finding Sydney Foundation.”

The sinking of the Sydney on November 19, 1941 with the loss of all 645 crew devastated many Port Adelaide families.

The wreck was found on Sunday March 16 by at a depth of almost 2.5km about 100 nautical miles off the West Australian coast.

Four days earlier, the Finding Sydney Foundation search team Geosounder found Kormoran, the German raider responsible for sinking the Sydney in 1941.

The search area of 1500 square nautical miles was 10 times greater than that for the Titanic.

The City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Department of Education SA, Port Centre
Co-ordination Group, Naval Association SA, South Australian Maritime Museum, Port Adelaide Sailing Club, Royal Australian Navy, North Haven Surf Lifesaving Club, Port Adelaide Visitor Information Centre, Port Adelaide Caledonian Society, Department of Transport SA, Port Adelaide Historical Society, Port Adelaide National Trust Branch, Maritime Union of Australia and a team of dedicated volunteers from Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL, Merchant Navy Association SA, Vindicatrix Association SA and local residents all support ANZAC Light on the Water.

Finding Sydney Foundation:
www.findingsydney.com/

View a video tribute to HMAS Sydney and crew at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtMaZVDcL4

New poster in The Port

Thanks to the Andre Stuyt at Port Centre Co-ordination Group and Sama Reid at City of Port Adelaide Enfield Publications there's a new poster in Black Diamond Square for
ANZAC Light on the Water 2008.

Lifeboat passes Sea Trials test

The prototype of the new Visy Board cardboard lifeboats for ANZAC Light on Water successfully underwent Sea Trials on the Port River on Friday March 14.
Our photo shows the lifeboat near one of the pontoons where up to 3000 will be launched in the commemoration event on April 24.

New templates for Gallipoli lifeboats

Our photos show the prototype cardboard template and the mock-up lifeboat we are working on with Visy Board in Wingfield.

Three thousand lifeboat templates will be delivered to schools in Adelaide and some regional centres in special packs with instructions and information about ANZAC Light on the Water on April 24.

Students will make their own boats for the ANZAC Eve tribute to the merchant seamen who rowed out troops ashore at Gallipoli in 1915.

Thousands of families are expected to pack Queens Wharf in Port Adelaide for the event which will open with a one hour Ceilidh Music Concert by SA Pipes and Drums.


An Indigenous Welcome will then herald the start of ANZAC Light on the Water with a Royal Australian Navy Ceremonial Unit parade and Salute.

A large fleet of the lifeboats containing lighted candles will be launched from the Queens Wharf pontoons in a moving salute to all war veterans.

Those who wish to design their own lifeboats are encouraged to do so as long as basic principles are followed.

The boats must be watertight and have a small wooden strip on the bottom so that they cannot sink.

Anyone wanting to use the cardboard template when they are available should email John Williams.

The City of Port Adelaide Enfield is funding and supporting the event which involves many organisations including the Merchant Navy Association SA, Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL, Vindicatrix Association, Department of Education, Naval Association SA, Port Adelaide Sailing Club and Port Centre Co-ordination Group.

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A woman's touch for ANZAC event

The Reverend Ali Wurm who will officiate at the 2008 ANZAC Light on the Water commemoration on the Port River is the Parish Priest of a Semaphore church that was built 35 years before the Gallipoli campaign.

There is an unusual link to the Gallipoli lifeboats landing because many parishioners say the wooden ceiling of St Bede’s reminds them of being in a boat.

School students and families will launch several hundred candle-lit cardboard lifeboats from the Queens Wharf pontoons in a moving tribute to the merchant seamen who rowed our troops ashore in ship’s lifeboats on April 25 in 1915.

St Bede’s is active and engaged in the local area and strives to make a difference.

“We relate as a lively, nurturing and supportive community of faith, Rev Wurm says.

ANZAC Light on the Water information kits and cardboard templates will be distributed to schools in March so students can make their own lifeboats for the commemoration on the evening of Thursday April 24.

Some students at Our Lady of Visitation are already looking at some of their own designs for replica lifeboats and we encourage such individual efforts.

Our photo shows Semaphore and Port Adelaide families along with others from as far away as Leigh Creek at the inaugural ANZAC Light on the Water last April 24.


WE ASK YOU JUST TO REMEMBER US


No cross marks the place where now we lie
What happened is known but to us
You asked, and we gave our lives to protect
Our land from the enemy curse
No Flanders Field where poppies blow;
No Gleaming Crosses, row on row;
No Unnamed Tomb for all to see
And pause—and wonder who we might be
The Sailors’ Valhalla is where we lie
On the ocean bed, watching ships pass by
Sailing in safety now through the waves
Often right over our sea-locked graves
We ask you just to remember us.

Pipes and drums for ANZAC Eve

To mark the start of ANZAC Light on the Water 2008 the South Australian Pipes and Drums band will present a one-hour concert in Lighthouse Square Port Adelaide at 6 pm on April 24.

Without a doubt they are South Australia’s most versatile and sought after pipe band.

The South Australian Pipes and Drums came into being in April 2003 in response to an invitation from the Director of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo to perform at the Tattoo in August of that year.

The band was formed from very experienced pipers and drummers who accepted the invitation and embarked on the rather daunting challenge of training and equipping for the task ahead.

As a brand new band with no uniforms, the opportunity was taken to design a new tartan that incorporated the colours of the State of South Australia.

This has been registered as The South Australian Pipes and Drums Tartan and the band’s kilts and plaids are made of this distinctive design.

After a hectic period of fund raising, the South Australian Pipes and Drums, with some borrowed equipment, appeared at the 2003 Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The band recently made a successful visit to Moscow for public performances.

The band has been in constant demand to perform at concerts and street parades with their distinctive style of ceilidh music that they performed in November at the Semaphore Street Fair.

ANZAC Light on the Water 2008

More schools and families from across Adelaide and as far away as Leigh Creek are expected to participate in a poignant and moving event on the Port River on ANZAC Eve.

Thanks to a $3000 grant from Port Adelaide Enfield Council to the Merchant Navy Association South Australia, the Gallipoli tribute ANZAC Light on the Water will be staged at the Queens Wharf pontoons on the night of April 24.

The success of ANZAC Light on the Water last year has led to it becoming an annual ANZAC event.

Additional funding is being sought from the State Government to enable more South Australian schools to take part.

With special emphasis on the merchant seamen who rowed the troops ashore for the 1915 Gallipoli landing, the event involves school students and families in making paper and cardboard lifeboats.

The paper and cardboard lifeboats containing lit candles are launched on the Port River as a symbolic tribute to all who have served in wars down the ages.

More than 500 paper and cardboard lifeboats were launched from the Queens Wharf pontoons by Surf Lifesavers, who manned the pontoons in the inaugural event, and many of them had the names of those who had served at Gallipoli on the sides of them.

Most of the lifeboats were made by students at Peninsular schools, but one of the main contributions was from Pinnaroo Primary School students.

The Port River was one of the main departure ports for merchant navy troopships during World Wars I and II.

Families whose loved ones were lost at Gallipoli brought family albums and other mementos to the first ANZAC Light on the Water to share with other families.

Information kits will shortly be provided for distribution to South Australian schools and they will contain instructions, templates for making cardboard lifeboats and supplies of tea light candles.

Also involved in promoting the ANZAC Eve event are The Merchant Navy Association, Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL, the Vindicatrix Association, Port Adelaide Enfield Council, Education Department, Port Adelaide Visitor Information Centre, Port Adelaide Sailing Club, Maritime Museum, Port Centre Co-ordination Group, Land Management Council and Navy South Australia.