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Port Pays Homage to HMAS Sydney on Remembrance Day

Media Release

Port Pays Homage to HMAS Sydney on Remembrance Day.

World War II veteran Ean McDonald from Gooseberry Hill, who served on the HMAS Sydney II, will be among hundreds of people attending a moving Remembrance Day Service at Fremantle’s St Patrick’s Basilica starting at 5pm, to  commemorate the crew of the ill-fated navy ship.  

The 11^th of November 2008 will be the 67^th anniversary of the ship’s final departure from Fremantle (on November 11, 1941) from which it never returned.

Retired Lieutenant Commander McDonald will give the Naval Ode at the special service which will also include reflections by Pat Ingham, a bride of just six weeks when she was widowed by the sinking of the Sydney off the coast of Western Australia on November 19, 1941.   

Mayor Peter Tagliaferri emphasised the special service is open to the public and urged everyone to attend.

The ‘eight bells toll’ (symbolic of the changing of the watch) at 5.10pm will be in  memory of the men lost and use a replica of the Sydney bell, shipped from Sydney especially for the event. 

Lieut. Commander McDonald turned 21 the day war was declared in 1939 and was a keen naval reservist in Fremantle when called up as a signalman with the Royal Australian Navy.

He served on the Sydney from 1939 to 1940 when he was drafted to serve on the Scrap Iron Flotilla of destroyers in the Mediterranean . Fifteen months later, aboard Sydney ’s sister ship the HMAS Perth, he learned of the Sydney ’s fate via its chilling radio call ‘engaging enemy raider.’   

The ship was lost. There were no survivors.

The wreck of the HMAS Sydney II was discovered on March 16, 2008 in 2,468 metres of water 112 n au tical miles off Steep Point on the coast of Western Australia .

The discovery solved the 67-year mystery of the final resting place of the ship and 645 crew who went down with their ship after it engaged with the German Raider Kormoran.  

Mr McDonald said he was honoured by the privilege of saying the Ode in memory of old shipmates.

Mayor Peter Taglaiferri said it was fitting that Fremantle hosted such a significant memorial service.

“This was the ship’s home port at the time and it’s from Fremantle that she set sail on her final voyage,” he said.

“There were a lot of West Australian’s onboard bec au se it made up its crew in Western Australia before the war and the men made many strong connections in the Fremantle community.”

“This special service and our Remembrance Day Service at Monument Hill at 11am are an opportunity to recognise the service men and women whose sacrifices helped make Australia what it is today and in many ways created  the lifestyle we enjoy today.”   

For more information contact City of Fremantle Media Officer Kerry F au lkner on 9432 9827 or 041059 4072. For information about HMAS Sydney II contact Commodore Bob Trotter on 0418 487 158.