HMAS Sydney
My father was just 21 on the night he died,
Aboard HMAS Sydney, the navy’s hope and pride.
In the Mediterranean, all her battles she’d won,
But on the night of November 19th 1941,
The HMAS Sydney finally met her fate.
The Gods of War wanted blood and wouldn’t wait.
The navy’s greatest tragedy in peacetime or war,
Many planes went searching but she was no more.
Who really knows what happened that fateful night?
I’m sure the Sydney put up a real good fight.
But in the morning not a trace of her was found,
Even though survivors of the Kormoran did abound.
Disappeared over the horizon ablaze from stem to stern
What really happened to her? Will we ever learn?
A terrible tragedy, a nation in stunned disbelief,
And so many hearts now numbed with grief.
The Germans told their story, they swore it was true,
But can we really know, with no one left of Sydney’s crew?
A search goes on, looking for her resting place,
But searches cost money, can they keep up the pace?
Many years have now passed with not one single clue,
Of the fate of the Sydney, she sank into the blue.
Yet in many hearts the Sydney still lives,
And so many remember what a sailor gives.
So today in Geraldton a monument stands,
A tribute to the Sydney, lost with all hands.
And in November each year, we remember them yet,
And they shall grow not old... Lest we forget.
©Lee O’Neill
14 July 1999
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