News just in this morning that the searchers have found the wreck of the HMAS Sydney which went down off the West Australian coast after a battle with the German ship Kormoran in 1941.Living in Geraldton for a few years, home of the best memorial to anything I have ever seen, brought the quest for the Sydney to life for me
The full story of the find, I am sure it will be developed as more information becomes available, can be found here.
The memorial has three components (see the bottom picture).
The statue of a grieving woman (wife, mother, sister, lover) looking out to sea, eternally waiting for the ship to come home is incredibly real. You can see the anxiety and the pain in her face.
The "Dome of Souls" is comprised of
645 seagulls, representing each of the Australian sailors that went down with the ship. The Dome is surrounded by a memorial wall that lists each of the sailors names.The story goes that when the site was commissioned and a ceremony held to recognize the moment, a huge flock of silver seagulls flew overhead. Apparently the crowd all drew breath at the same time and just silently watched the gulls. This moment became the inspiration of the Dome.
The Stele (the bit on the left of the bottom picture) is made to represent the bough of the Sydney and apparently points in the direction it was last seen headed.
The precinct was
designed by Joan Walsh Smith.All of these are on top of a hill looking out to sea. There are also 360 degree views to the hills and the coastline. It is an incredible moving site and well worth the visit if you are ever in the area.
7 comments:
If/when I go to Australia, I will be sure to visit this site.
God my education is lacking...I hadnt known of this, but loved the post MG and the memorial...so it was found now? How did this come about?
I had never heard of the Sydney until I moved to Geraldton but apparently it was Australia's worst maritime disaster, and the wreck had never been found. There have been search teams looking for the ship for the last 60 plus years but with a lot of science, additional research (some of the Kormoran sailors survived) and the improved use of sonar, the latest team has been right on the mark.
How interesting. The pic's are beautiful. Don't know if I will ever have the chance to visit in person, but it was sure nice to visit off your blog.~Deborah
Fascinating reading. I love that statue.
It is very beautiful Welshcakes :-) I would go up there at least once a wekk for all of the years I lived in Geraldton - sometimes to look out at the ocean, or to watch a sunset, or to think and breathe, or to walk around the actual memorial. There is a speacila feeling about being there...
Like this post MG, some of these events in our past fade away, but the happenings of the last couple of weeks have reawakened the need to remember the sacrifices, losses, and waste that is war.
RG
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