HMAS Sydney suffered mortal damage in the encounter with the raider Kormoran on November 19 1941, but those final salvoes from Sydney had penetrated Kormoran’s engine room. This sealed Kormoran's fate leaving Kapitan Detmers no option than to scuttle Kormoran and take to the lifeboats. The Germans had also suffered casualties with 80 seamen being killed in the bloody encounter.
It seems incredible that Sydney made no radio contact with the mainland in the period leading up to the Kormoran encounter. Two days were to elapse before the alarm was raised after Sydney’s non-arrival at Geraldton. Intensive air searches were carried out, but where was Sydney; she seemed to have vanished completely?
The Mystery Deepens
Hopes were raised with the sightings of several lifeboats in the area, but the realisation that they were German crewmen merely deepened the mystery. Eventually all the Kormoran survivors, 300 in all were rounded up and sent to internment camps. Their officers were subjected to intensive interrogation about the action, and whether by prior planning or accident their accounts had a consistency about them.
It would be twelve days before the Navy revealed to a stunned nation that Sydney had vanished. The only evidence that the ship ever existed was a lone body in a life raft and a lifebelt found eight days later. The life raft, lacerated and riddled with gunfire can be viewed at the Australian War Memorial at Canberra; a poignant reminder of a tragic encounter. In February 1942 a body was washed up on Christmas Island; nearly three months after the vessel sank. In all probability this was a Sydney crewmember.
More Questions than Answers
Meanwhile there were suspicions of an initial Government cover-up; and then a spate of official enquiries, which brought in their wake, scores of theories; many of them outlandish. The post-war period saw the publication of many books, theorising on possible answers to an enduring mystery. One was written by the son of Sydney’s navigation officer, Lt. Cdr. Montgomery, which must have been a painful experience for that writer. Unfortunately, such a plethora of research seems to provide more questions than answers.
Resolution
It would be 1957 before further information was released when the RAN Official History was published. Over the years amateur divers claimed to have discovered Sydney, but it would take a concerted search, with Government financial assistance to finally uncover the remains. This took place in 2008 with the discovery of both Sydney and Kormoran. The evidence of Sydney’s torment is plain to see, with the brutal effectiveness of Kormoran’s salvoes.
Sydney's Legacy
For the surviving relatives and friends of a gallant crew it was a moment of resolution after 67 years of uncertainty. The good folk of Geraldton never forgot Sydney; with the creation of a monument on Mount Scott, overlooking the Indian Ocean, the arena of Sydney’s final conflict. Her crew all made the final sacrifice; but had Kormoran survived the action, the consequences of her presence in the area, with the possible co-operation of Japanese submarines do not bear consideration.
It is a sobering experience for a visitor the Australian War Memorial to contemplate the Hall of Memory where the name of every Australian serviceman and woman who died in those conflicts is recorded. Under the simple heading; ‘HMAS Sydney’, 645 names are displayed; without title or rank; as mute testimony to an event that still resonates in the Australian consciousness.
 |
 |
 |
