HMAS Mildura, as she looked during her prime, before she was broken up and sold for scrap metal in 1965.

By LEUT Aaron Matzkows

A ship is only a cunningly put together mass of steel, according to the wartime captain of the Bathurst Class corvette, HMAS Mildura.

But LCDR Claude Guille, Mildura’s CO for an eventful 19 months in 1942 and ’43, said it’s the people who serve in the ship who are the soul of the ship.

Sailors haven’t changed.

The HMAS Mildura Association has put together Some Recollections, the story of the gallant little ship from her launch in 1941 until she was broken up for razor blades in 1965.

The slim tome, edited by Mildura signalman Allan Waugh and his brother Peter, and written by many members of the association, tells an eventful story.

Her first coxswain was PO Dudley Ricketts, a World War I veteran who rejoined the Navy in 1940.

He recalled: “When I reported to Mort’s Dock I met a rather young looking Reserve lieutenant coming towards me.

“I saluted him and asked if he was the CO of Mildura.

“He said he was and I explained that I was his new coxswain.

“He looked at me and replied ‘Thank God’.

“Rather taken aback, I asked him what that meant.

“He said: ‘I see you’re wearing First War ribbons. I am a Reservist from the Merchant Service who doesn’t know much about the Navy. I will be glad of your experience.’

“He proved a fine little bloke and we got on very well together.”

Soon after she first sailed in 1941, there were the obligatory blues ashore, one of which the skipper, the then LEUT Guille, joined in with gusto to help out his crewmembers.

Signalman Dave Birrell remembers: “Claude said the worst part was his wife’s remarks when he returned home that evening in a tattered uniform.

“‘Where have you been? I know you’ve been fighting!’

“Needless to say, the incident was the talk of the mess decks for days afterwards and Skipper Guille’s stocks rose even higher in the eyes of his sailors.”

In a busy war, Mildura encountered dozens of challenges, from the rescue of the crew of an Avro Anson that had to ditch in the water, June 1943, to escorting US and RN submarines out of Fremantle in late 1944 and ’45.

Crewmember Alf “Speed” Thiele came to grief in the west in 1943 after the WA Government banned the sale of bottled alcohol to servicemen in uniform.

The law was particularly galling as it did not apply to Americans and the Aussies had to wear uniform even when on leave.

Speed, nonchalantly carrying two bottles of beer, was sprung upon by two members of the Naval Shore Patrol. Naturally he fought back.

He was charged and sentenced to 60 days in Fremantle gaol, although he was released after only 45 days and returned to Mildura.

“Captain Little (LCDR John Little) summoned me to his cabin and we had a long conversation.
“He told me he was glad to have me back.

“He could not accept I was guilty of all the charges and said: ‘Carry on with the great work.’
“It was great to be back with my shipmates.”

Mildura, in her role as a minesweeper, was the first ship into Hong Kong after the Japanese surrender.

Then in the 1950s Mildura was involved in the British atomic bomb tests at the Monte Bello Islands off Western
Australia, before becoming a static training ship in the Brisbane River at HMAS Moreton in 1960.

Some Recollections is available from the HMAS Mildura Association, PO Box 282, Bentleigh East, Victoria 3165, for $19.90 including postage.

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