By Danni Carroll

o The HMAS Sydney Story

oThe Finding

oThe Memorial

oLest We Forget

The Sydney assumed it was a friendly ship because of its great disguise (a German raider), but they were still unsure. They asked the ship for an identity and there came no response. The captain of the enemy knew that their ship was much smaller than the Sydney and didn’t carry as many weapons.

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On the 19th of November, 1941,  the HMAS Sydney was lost at sea with a total of 645 soldiers.  The ship was equipped with guns,

torpedoes, and canons. Their mission was to safely guide the troop ship, Zealander, across the ocean to Indonesia. They

succeeded and were crossing the ocean back to their home land (Fremantle),. when they spotted another ship, it was the HSK

Kormoran , a ship that was planting bombs. 

The captain claimed they were a ship from Holland and as the Sydney got closer they were attacked. There was a good half an hour of fighting before the Sydney was limping away defeated.  Both ships were lost and Sydney’s crew all went down with the ship. No bodies were found.

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On July 2001 the Finding Sydney Foundation was formed.  David Mearns, also known as the Shipwreck Hunter, had been researching the HMAS Sydney since 2003.  The SV Geosounder found the HSK Kormoran first and then less than 4 days later.

Searchers from the Finding Sydney Foundation confirmed they had found the wreckage of the Sydney, less than 24

hours after finding the wreckage of the Kormoran.

 

The first sign that they had of finding the Sydney was at 11:03 on 16 of March 2008 it was a small dark shape detected on the starboard

The Australian ship is more than two kilometres below the surface of the sea but the Finding Sydney Foundation says it is upright and largely intact.

There is a dome that is made of

365 seagulls one for every sailor

that lost there life’s at sea.

Most things in this lovely place are circle because a circle means: Arms of the Nation and the Dome means the soul. The dome is also used as an altar

In Geraldton, one of the most popular Tourist Attractions is the HMAS Sydney Memorial. It was sponsored by the Rotary Club, built in 2001 and cost under a million dollars, as labour was donated and money spent was on materials only. The Sydney Memorial took only 3 weeks to build

The Sculptors were John and Kerry Smith. They made The Waiting Lady, The Memorial and the Stele. They all looked realistic.