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
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