Monuments & Guards

I spoke of our states size in comparison to some other places on earth.
Here is a 1920's map showing our state with known mineral deposits at the time with England and Wales shown in the same scale, so yeah to see all the memorials may take years!

Couple more pics finishing off here with pic #1 the view that the bronze woman statue looking out towards the ocean for the ship and her husband/brother/lover wishing its return.
The shadows cast by the dome give a nice representation of the propellor in the memorial (Not from the Sydney).
Lastly a bit of info on the wall I did however manage to jag the Australian flag nicely in pic #3 pretty chuffed on that one.

Next stop is Northampton where I'm sure some of you tankers would have spent a bit of time in one of these belting round bashing things up! :yikes:

Again another rather small rural town with the monument, this time they are under cover which has protected the displays somewhat from the salt air.

The verse on the obelisk is not one I am familiar with only "We shall remember them" one so any enlightenment would be welcomed on this could it be a local govt-shire thing!

And the good ol' Centurion no doubt some Aussies here and in the UK would have had a time bashing around in these brutes, love the nickname !
There was a 105mm there as well but everybody pretty much has seen plenty of 105's in their journey.
I have a 2 volume set of Australia's tankers in Vietnam which I have yet to read it's called
Cannister! On!, FIRE! By Bruce Cameron so you can get you own copies if you wish.

Tired old veteran Centurion, with a 105. It was 50 years ago now I was doing battle drills off the back of one of those. Glad I had the chance now, not many around can still say they did.

I always look at those monuments for related guys. I see three sets of kin there, likely three sets of brothers gone. Would have made things hard around the sheep farm after...

Just some pics to give you a bit of an idea of the farms for wheat etc some may be a few hundred thousand acres over the horizon and beyond.
These farms pale in size with regards to some of Australia's cattle stations some of which are oooo's of square kilometers.

Odd shot of a truck as an ornament and a small church in the middle of nowhere nothing else there where farming families in the day would come on Sundays, it may still be used !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

A poignant memorial to a part of our naval history which saw one of our finest vessels that was lost with all hands, however she finished her adversary off though mortally hit.
(A detailed survey of her wreck showed the German raiders initial salvo's to be devastating to the Sydney)

So much to this story why she got so close, the captains failure, the carley raft at Christmas Island with the unknown sailor, the japanese submarine theory.

What I liked is the monument of the bow section showing you the depth of her deck to keel in relation to the stone wall gives a good reference.
Then the black wall (Not unlike the US VN war casualties) which has the name of all the sailors and their rankings on board.
The bronze woman eternally scanning for her lost love and finally the dome of the memorial it felt just like when I stood on the Arizona memorial a great sense of loss!

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The mystery would be why the captain of the Sidney exposed her in the way he did in a state of relative unpreparedness. The Q ships of WWI demonstrated what could be achieved by a ship prepared to open fire the instant the command is given even against a wary foe.

Atlantis focused a lot of fire on the bridge of Sydney and wasn't that command centre knocked in the first minute of firing? Didn't the captain of the Atlantis later congratulate some or all of his AA gunners on their accurate fire at the bridge?

Was it ever determined at what angle the Carley Float found on Christmas Island was struck by the bullets or fragments? That is whether in the storage position or in the water?

The large number of survivors from Atlantis and the complete lack of even floats or lifeboats from Sydney suggests very strongly that Atlantis or even her boats, finished off all the survivors from Sydney, or any they could reach, and made sure there was as little evidence of that as possible. IIRC it was believed by the captain and officers of Atlantis that they ran some risk of being considered not subject to the Geneva Convention for the way they disguised themselves. It would have mattered what they believed, not what the facts were. They also no doubt hoped to escape to Japan for repairs if Sydney could be destroyed before an alarm was raised by radio or by survivors. Had that been achieved Atlantis could have continued her career in the area after repair and replenishment.

IIRC there was no serious effort made at the outset to separate the officers and ratings and interrogate anyone seriously, and of course silence was enforced once they were confined together. The whole thing was handled in a rather naive and amateurish way.

Atlantis???? KORMORAN maybe.

The Kormoran gunners before they dropped their plates had zeroed in on the most important areas of the Sydney mainly her fire control & turrets the Sydney secondary armaments were not manned and the range was only 1300 yards!
Rumors flew around of a Jap sub finishing off the Sydney and the survivors sharks would have had a field day as they did on the Indianapolis disaster, German survivors recalled seeing a ball of light over the horizon up until about midnight presumably the Sydney burning up.

Despite the initial shock and good shooting by the Kormoran the return fire from the Sydney created some damage to her engines and casualties on the raider.
Why get so close initially when she could have outranged the Kormoran, we will never know as the truth that died on those sailors lips when she sank.

Also the Atlantis was in a different part of the globe at the time.

What a shame to see that grand old man, the gentleman of all tanks, the Centurion, looking as shabby as he is. I'm sure that a minor stripping of the turret bins, spare wheels, decking....., you know the kind of thing..... followed by a light bead blasting and a few coats of hard wearing paint will bring the now grand old lady back to looking her prime.

A Centurion deserves better than that - although to be fair, the weather has been kind to the steel

Perenjori farming area location in our wheatbelt.
Tried to use a rose and silhouette as a poignant reminder of the loss of war, the plaques also show farmers were prevalent in these areas enlisting should have been a protected occupation..

Bit of a burst on the Walers (Whale-er's) horses only 1 came back the rest shot by their riders or given into poverty & slavery as work horses.

One of the few plaques to have women's names included.