Grave
Issues
A
raft of further tests will be conducted on a body excavated from
a grave on Christmas Island to determine whether it is a sailor
from the ill-fated HMAS Sydney. BARRY ROLLINGS reports.
Volume 49, No. 21, November 16, 2006
 |
The
full weight of forensic science will be brought to bear on identifying
the body recently repatriated from Christmas Island and strongly
thought to be a sailor from the ill-fated HMAS Sydney II.
The body was repatriated by the RAAF on October 8 after being
discovered and exhumed by an expert team of five.
Team leader CAPT Jim Parsons and forensic dentist CMDR Matthew
Blenkin gave a media briefing and photographic outline in Canberra
on October 26 of their expedition and the forensic methods that
might help identify the body.
It was emphasised that as yet there are no conclusive findings
from the analysis and identification process that began about
a fortnight ago mainly at the Shellshear Museum of Physical Anthropology
and Comparative Anatomy at the University of Sydney’s Department
of Anatomy and Histology. That is expected to take at least eight
weeks, including DNA recovery if that is possible and necessary.
On October 17 it was announced that an object in the skull appeared
to be a bullet but confirmation of the object can be achieved
only by detailed analysis, that began on October 28.
A team of highly experienced conservators and curators at the
Australian War Memorial (AWM) also are analysing eyelets and small
fragment samples from the burial site of the “unknown sailor”
to determine if he was a Sydney crew member.
AWM senior textiles conservator Catherine Challenor, who has worked
with military textiles for more than 20 years, is examining tiny
pieces of fibre attached to the studs to determine the type of
fabric, if it was dyed and the weave of the cloth.
HMAS Sydney and its complement of 645 were lost on November 19,
1941 after engaging the German ship Kormoran off the coast of
Western Australia. On February 6, 1942 a carley raft floated into
Flying Fish Cove at Christmas Island, carrying a body thought
to be a crew member of HMAS Sydney. After a medical examination
the body was buried in the old European Cemetery.Preliminary analysis
in the field revealed the deceased to be a young Caucasian male,
relatively tall for that time, with a number of distinctive dental
characteristics that would be compared to existing dental records.
CMDR Matthew Blenkin, who outlined how the analysis of remains
would take place, said that the possibility of a positive identification
remained low.
Examinations, many of them being conducted in parallel, would
include dental, anthropological, pathological, ballistics –
including metallurgy on the mystery object in the skull –
and possibly DNA as well as the work being done by the AWM.
Photos and X-rays of the “unknown sailor’s” missing
and existing teeth would be compared with the ship’s dental
records in an effort to look for points of concordance or a match.
The difficulty of comparing modern evidence with what were simply
written records of the time was compounded by the fact that all
the dental records were lost with the Sydney, although about half
the complement’s records were still available from when they
were recruited.
CMDR Blenkin said that the dental records, like other forensic
procedures, might help narrow the possibility of who the “unknown
sailor” was. Even if they did not provide a direct positive
identification, they might rule large groups of people out of
the mix.
“We will work with what we have but it does take a lot of
slow, painstaking comparative work,” he said. Anthropological
analysis would be done in parallel and would give a biological
profile of gender, age, race and height, which may help narrow
the field further.
“The final step, if we can’t get positive ID from dental
records and the biological profile, is the DNA process,”
CMDR Blenkin said.
