Start of World War Two 70 years ago

This year, as the world commemorates the 70th Anniversary of the start of World War Two, people around Around Australia will focus on two significant events in Port Adelaide.

On ANZAC Eve, Friday April 24, the third Light on the Water on the Port River will commemorate the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur in a year when Veterans Affairs marks the World War Two 70th Anniversary with a major focus on the role of women at war.

Eleven Australian Army nurses were among the 268 Australians who perished when the Centaur was struck by a deadly Japanese torpedo off the coast of Queensland on May 12, 1943.

Australian Merchant Navy crew, medical staff and men of the 2/12th Field Ambulance and 44 others made up the rest of those killed.

See video including interview with Sister Ellen Savage who survived the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur.

http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/waratsea/


Merchant Navy Day March on same day

Australia's second Merchant Navy Day march in Port Adelaide on September 3 will be on the very day that World War Two started and a large number of veterans are expected to march.

The first casualty of World War Two was the British merchant vessel Athenia on September 3.

German U-boat Commander, Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp sighted the ship 250 miles off the coast of Ireland.

He maintained radio silence to achieve surprise and surprise is what happened because the British had just declared war that day of September 3, 1939.

Just under 12 hours later, Lemp ordered his men to fire on the ship and four torpedoes crashed into the side of the unarmed passenger ship.

The ship exploded immediately killing all but 112 people.

Lemp later claimed that the sinking of the Athenia was an accident, and that he didn't know it was unarmed and believed it was an armed merchant ship.

German command told Lemp to forget about it, and destroy all evidence he had of the sinking including diaries, papers, and any other article mentioning the sinking.

The Germans were then going to blame Winston Churchill for the sinking of the ship by stating that Churchill had ordered the ship to sink to get the U.S. into the war.

The U.S. and British of course did not believe this story.

Story of Athenia sinking:

http://library.thinkquest.org/26742/batat.html
Battle of the Atlantic

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/