Saturday, 29 November 2014 00:00
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War memorials reminding everyone that war heroes should not be forgotten are a common sight in all big cities in Australia. It’s a way to remember thousands of Australians who sacrificed their lives during several wars in the last century. They fought for the British Empire. They served in the two World Wars (1914-18 and 1939-45), Boer War (1899-1902) and the Vietnam War (1955-75).
In the coastal city of Geraldton in the mid-west region of Australia a little over 400 kilometres from WA capital, Perth, we visited a war memorial with a difference. It is the memorial for the World War II cruiser HMAS Sydney II recognising the loss of the cruiser along with a crew of 645 aboard.
At the time we were there on top of Mount Scott, we didn’t realise that it was exactly 73 years ago on 19 November 1941 that the ill-fated vessel had gone down. It was sunk by HSK Kormoran, a German raider disguised as a Dutch merchant ship. Both vessels had sunk simultaneously after a half-hour battle. Survivors of the German vessel – 318 out of 399 – had been found in boats and rafts and they were taken in as prisoners of war.
This is the worst naval tragedy that Australia had suffered.
The memorial is not restricted to a single pillar or a wall of engraved names. There are several features here. The most impressive is the dome with 645 stainless steel seagulls – the total number of the lost crew. A granite wall lists out all the names. A bronze statue of a woman looking out to sea waiting for the ship to return is a symbol of hope.
‘Circle within a Circle’ is how a pool of water erected on one side recently (November 2011) is described. Its legend says: It is a Pool of Remembrance which is a circle within a circle of the original Memorial which symbolises the circle of life and death, the concept of Eternity and the Infinite.
It symbolises the finding of HMAS Sydney II on 16 March 2008.
The form of the pool with the circular terracing symbolically “descending down from the depths” evokes the War Grave where the ship now rests silently in the sea floor 120 nautical miles off Steep Point WA. It culminates in the black granite shadow pattern circle of 644 Silver Gulls linking to the Wall of Remembrance and the Dome of Souls, the wing tip of the final 645th Gull marking the exact location of the ship in the granite map of the pool floor.
It is a place of commemoration, contemplation and peace.
Close by, the Waiting Woman waits no more. Now she watches over her loved ones eternally at rest. Her gaze lingers along the exact compass bearing to the ship since she was placed here before the site of the Sydney was known.
The circle of life and death designed in the Memorial to HMAS Sydney II has now been closed.
