HMAS Sydney II Memorial

Before Covid 19 lockdown, we had an opportunity to visit Geraldton and I finally got to see the HMAS Sydney II Memorial.

 

Throughout my life in WA, there had been continual news stories of the search for the wreck of this ship and this had aroused my interest in the Memorial/

 

The story behind this Memorial is as follows.

 

In November 1941, the HMAS Sydney II was sunk off the coast of Western Australia by the German Raider HSK Kormoran.

The HMAS Sydney II lost all 645 men.

The Kormoran also sank, but of their 390 men, 318 survived.

The whereabouts of the HMAS Sydney II remained a mystery until the wreckage was found, fairly recently, in March 2008. 

Grandma C walking towards the Dome of Souls

 

This Memorial was built in 1998, about 10 years before the wreckage of the Sydney was discovered. The Dome is made up of 645 seagulls, representing the lost men of the Sydney II/

 

The Steele, symbolic of a standing gravestone, is in the shape of the prow of the Sydney II

 

The Pool of Remembrance, displaying the latitude and longitude coordinates of the wreck.

The Wall of Remembrance

What I found most poignant of all, is the statue of the Waiting Woman.

The Memorial sits on Mount Scott and from there we got a view of the port of Geraldton, with its grain silos and also a view of out ship, the Vasco da Gama.

Monsignor Hawes And His Churches (2)

My first post regarding Monsignor Hawes and his churches is here and more about the man and his work here.

As I've said in that post, I don't generally enjoy visiting churches and temples when on holiday unless they are truly extraordinary.

However, whenever I am in Geraldton (400 km north of Perth, pop 40,000) I never fail to visit this creation of the Monsignor.

Enjoy these snapshots I took of the St Francis Xavier Cathedral.

View as you enter from the front

Looking left towards the organ

The Organ

Looking towards the altar

Glass panels looking into the crypt ...

... where the founding bishop of the Geraldton Diocese, Bishop William Kelly lay

Looking towards the front entrance

KMK, my bell ringing friend, sorry I forgot all about the bells, but luckily a crop of the following picture ...

 

... can just about make out one in the top of the tower.

Incidentally, in my previous post mentioned at the start of this post, I mentioned another of Monsignor Hawes churches at Yalgoo but did not post a picture.  I have since found a photo I took in 1993 of this church and here is a scan of it.

Cropped version

Much of the land around the church is built up on the last time we visited nearly 4 years ago now,.  It is no longer as desolate looking.