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PAINSTAKING WORK: SQNLDR Dr Denise Donlon, the team’s anthropologist, sifts through soil removed from the grave on Christmas Island. |
Volume 49, No. 19 ,October 19, 2006
By Barry Rollings
Navy’s expert research team is trying to identify the remains it has repatriated from a Christmas Island grave that could possibly be a sailor from the ill-fated HMAS Sydney II.
CAPT Jim Parsons, who led the expedition, said the party had arrived home on October 8 with remains that appeared to be those of a deceased person who was recovered from a carley float life-raft on February 6, 1942.
They were taken to the Shellshear Museum of Physical Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy at the University of Sydney’s Department of Anatomy and Histology, where a full analysis of the find, including skeletal and dental analysis, would be conducted.
“We also found some press studs which may be consistent with the wearing of the blues [uniform] as reported at the time,” CAPT Parsons said.
Forensic pathologist WGCDR Jo Du Flou (RAAF Special Reserve) is assisting in the next stage of the project.
A team of five spent about a fortnight on the island in late September-and early October. They used the fresh evidence of Mr Brian O’Shannassy, which included his photo of the approximate grave site, and Mr Say Kit Foo – both now of Perth but former residents of Christmas Island – to locate the grave and exhume the human remains.
HMAS Sydney II and its complement of 645 were lost on November 19, 1941 after engaging the German ship Kormoran off the coast of Western Australia.
Almost three months later, a carley raft floated into a bay at Christmas Island carrying a body believed to be a crew member of HMAS Sydney II. After a medical examination, the body was formally buried with full military honours in the old European Cemetery, but the grave was not marked and the exact location was unclear until the new evidence came to light.
Mr O’Shannassy, who accompanied the expedition team, was a former Navy signalman in World War Two and worked as an accountant-bookkeeper on Christmas Island from 1950-52. He became acquainted with Mr Jack Pettigrew who had attended the burial in 1942.
Mr Say Kit Foo was born and raised on Christmas Island,
where his father was employed. In that time he developed an intimate knowledge of grave locations.
“Further work will need to be done to establish the characteristics of the skeleton, before we can be fully confident,” CAPT Parsons said.
This will involve a physical examination of the remains and comparison with historical records.
“Every effort will be made to positively identify the remains but we must be mindful that there are many difficulties with this process,” the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, Bruce Billson, said.
“Unfortunately, only just over half of the crew’s medical and dental records are available and these are from the time of enlistment before Sydney was sunk.”
