Research and Findings on HMAS Sydney (II)

Article | Updated 7 years ago

Searches, Seminars and Findings

In 1976, under the new Historic Shipwrecks Act, the Western Australian Museum became responsible for the wrecks of HMAS Sydney (II) and HSK Kormoran. Reports of the engagement, research, and claims that the wrecks had been found were collated in a file. At 56 volumes this is now the largest of all the Museum’s files.

Searches occurred over this period, addressing claims of magnetic anomalies around Kalbarri, off Shark Bay and near the Abrolhos Islands or examining artifacts brought to surface by fishing vessels. These were found to be unrelated wreckage, deep-water reefs or geological formations.

With the discovery of SS Titanic and the German Battleship Bismarck by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in the mid-1980s, the question was posed: could Sydney also be located? In 1990, WHOI accepted a request to assist the Western Australian Museum with a search.

could Sydney also be located?

What followed was further research into records and conducting interviews with stakeholders including Australian relatives and the Kormoran survivors. At the suggestion of researcher Dr Kim Kirsner, the Western Australian Museum also convened a commemorative workshop and exhibit for the 1991, 50th Anniversary of Sydney’s loss. The key question for the seminar was whether the spread of wreckage could support the assertion that the battle took place at Commander Detmers’ position, of 26°34’South 111°East. While the answer was unequivocally ‘yes’, the papers presented at the seminar provided strong support for the German commander’s claim but were unsuccessful in narrowing down the search area for HMAS Sydney (II). Following this seminar, the prospect of a search for Sydney was dealt a blow when the search area turned out to be 7000sqkm, where WHOI’s successful searches for the Bismarck and Titanic had been under 500sqm. As a result they understandably declined to proceed with the search.

As a result of the uncertainy, theories and claims to have developed new technologies, some quite fraudulent, came and went in the ensuing years, delaying the ultimately successful search for over a decade. Often these claims made front page news, adding further to the conspiracies. A 1997-1998 Parliamentary Inquiry recommended that the Royal Australian Navy sponsor a seminar with a broad scope of researchers and groups, to define a search area and take preliminary surveys in an attempt to find the location. They also recommended that Detmers’ position, if supported by the seminar, would be a logical starting point.

At the resulting RAN Sea Power Centre (SPC) seminar in 2001, a committee led by museum volunteer and author Wes Olson and including Captain Peter Hore RN (Retd.), Commander Geoff Vickridge RANR (Retd.) and researcher Richard Goldsmith concluded that the Detmers’ analysis was correct. They also deduced  that because the Detmer’s position was most likely ‘fixed’ at Noon, the Kormoran lay nearer to 26° South 111° East. They also believed that HMAS Sydney (II) most likely lay nearby somewhere towards the south east, possibly not more than 15 nautical miles away. Despite this finding, the Seminar remained divided on the location of Sydney – either around the Abrolhos Islands, or at Detmers’ point. A compromise – to search Detmers’ position first – was proposed by the Western Australian Museum but was ultimately unsuccessful and the SPC recommended against a search, a position accepted by the RAN and Government.

When its own plans for a search and any hope of receiving funding evaporated due to withdrawal of WHOI in the mid-1990s, the Western Australian Museum assumed a support role. Advice and assistance was provided to researchers and also to a series of trusts and foundations that were subsequently formed. The first was HMAS Sydney Trust led by the late Wayne Sydney Born with the strong support of local parliamentarians, the Hon. Stephen Smith and the Hon. Graham Edwards, a former serviceman. Edwards had lost both legs in battle and he became, along with the Hon. Kim Beazley amongst  the first politicians in modern times to support a search. The Trust was followed by HMAS Sydney Foundation (1996–2001) led by a graduate of the Museum’s course in maritime archaeology, Ed Punchard. It included many more parliamentarians, researchers and maritime specialists including Kim Kirsner and Ted Graham who had a long-standing intererst in finding the Sydney. When the Foundation folded Graham, assisted by Kirsner and Dr Don Pridmore, a remote sensing specialist, formed HMAS Sydney Search Pty Ltd. Later it became known as the the Finding Sydney Foundation (FSF) (2001–2010). Later they were joined by Ron Birmingham QC; Keith Rowe; Commodore Bob Trotter (RAN, retd) as CEO; Bob King OAM and finally Glenys McDonald AM.

Between 2001 and 2005, the Finding Sydney Foundation pursued a research program based on the work of UWA-based cognitive scientists Kim Kirsner and Dr John Dunn. In 2005 the FSF published a 400 sqm search box for Kormoran together with a 570 sqm search quadrant for Sydney centring on 26° South 111° East. Like the Olson committee’s 2001 conclusions, these positions later proved to be remarkably accurate.

In September 2002, David Mearns, wrote to the Western Australian Museum, The Minister for Defence, The Royal Australian Navy and to Ed Punchard at HMAS Sydney Trust (which by then had folded) offering to lead the search despite the findings of the 2001 seminar. As a proven deep-water searcher along with the Woods Hole experts, the Museum strongly supported his candidacy.

Following further research, in January 2005 the Finding Sydney Foundation and David Mearns signed an agreement to cooperate (Memorandum of Understanding) in identifying a search area and in conducting an FSF-led search.

The Royal Australian Navy and the Federal Government believed this collaboration delivered the best chances of a successful search and in June 2005 fully supported the Finding Sydney Foundation’s endeavours and their decision to utilise Mearns’ expertise and experience. The Minister for Defence Senator Robert Hill then wrote to the FSF confirming Government and RAN support for the FSF. Kirsner and Dunn’s findings were provided to Mearns though he also continued with his own research.

On 19 November 2007 at a ceremony held at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle, the Finding Sydney Foundation with David Mearns, many politicians, sponsors, patrons, relatives of the lost crew, researchers, theorists and museum staff, including the Director as Delegate to the Commonwealth Minister responsible for the Historic Shipwrecks Act present formally launched what was to ultimately be a successful search.