Day 118

Day 118 Canberra

We just had the best day today, we went to the War Memorial. We started pretty slow, Maureen had a few things she wanted to and I had to replace some hose on the water supply so we ended up leaving about 11:30. The memorial is not far down the road from here so we took about 15 minutes to get

Me at the Memorial

Maureen at the Memorial

there. The Memorial is very impressive and is a lot bigger than you first see. We parked in the undercover area and got the Beast out. We then headed up the ramps and up the lift and entered the museum. The first thing you see is the pool of remembrance but I could not get to it as there are steps there. We went in through the orientation entry and into the Hall of Heroes. Here they have listed all the Victoria Cross winners and well as the George Cross, both the top awards possible. We worked our way through part of this reading them all as we went, and at 12:50 we had to leave as the usher had told us that on the hour in the ANZAC Hall they had a presentation there, so off we went.

Lewis MAchine Gun

G for George 90 missions

The hall is massive and has the old Lancaster Bomber G for George, one of the Japanese miniature submarines and a biplane collection as well. At the hour they have a light show going over a raid that was on the 16^th of December 1943. It is very impressive and goes for about 10 minutes. They have a ME109 hanging from the roof like it is attacking the bomber and below it on static display they have two German jet fighters the ME 262 and another ME163 that was really a glider that was shot into the

Captured Albatross

SE 5

sky and then glided down. So we watched the show and were impressed and we went to the nearby café for lunch. Whilst we were doing that, we could see other movies going and the usher then told us that on the hour was the bomber one but at the 15 minute mark there was a WWI flying one and at the 30 minute mark there was one on the submarines in Sydney and then the next time it was on the HMAS Sydney sinking the SMS Emden. So off we went down the lift onto the lower level and we looked at the displays. They

Me and G for George

Obserrvation plane

have a German Albatross that the Australians captured in 1917 and was kept as a war prize on display at Australia House in London until we shipped it home for here. They have some other planes there as well and would you believe, the Red Baron’s flying boots that our soldiers took off his body. We watched the flying presentation that was perfect. It showed our pilots and German planes in this huge dog fight and was well shot.

After that we went over to the Japanese miniature submarine that had been caught in the nets and had blown itself up to prevent capture. They had a presentation on how the night went down and was fascinating to step through it. The M22 was able to sneak into the harbour after the M27 had blown itself up and the third one, M21 had been fired on and sunk with depth charges! Not only did it

My personal Royal Engineers

Testing bridging equipment

manage to sneak in but it fired its torpedoes. One hit the beach and the other hit the harbour wall next to the Katabul that was a ex-ferry used to house navy cadets. 22 cadets died. The wheel house from the Katabul was recovered and was used as a guard house at a navy base before being placed here at the Memorial. The submarine is huge 2/3rds of its length is the batteries and engines. M22 disappeared until about 4 years ago Divers found it off a beach in Sydney, where it lies today.

Had them worried which way I would go

Poppies in the garden

Next to it are two huge naval guns. One is a 6inch gun from the HMAS Sydney (not the one sunk off WA, its predecessor) and the other is from The SMS Emden a German Cruiser which is 4.1inch guns. The Emden had been raiding shipping in the Indian Ocean and had been recognised as a threat to allied shipping. As part of her mission, she pulled into the Cocos Islands to destroy the undersea cable that emerged there before going on to Australia. They approached the island and the signal station people thought, “bugger me, that’s an odd ship for here” they sent out an SOS saying the Emden was there. A luck would have it, the first convoy of troops from Australia was nearby and was being escorted by the HMAS Sydney and a Japanese light cruiser who’s name eludes me were

Wreaths laid

tucking in the Beast

only 52 miles away. HMAS Sydney left the Jap with the convoy and headed off. They sighted one another and battle was commenced the Emden could raise her guns higher than the Sydney’s and as such was able to hit her for 10 minutes before they could return fire. Sydney’s larger guns and faster speed soon stood out and she had the Emden on the ropes and up on a reef pretty quickly and out of the war. The raiding party at the wireless station had been left behind and they were no dummies. They grabbed a small schooner and skedadled to Padang then onto Yemen and hence onto Turkey to join the German Navy there.

Well by the time we had watched the shows and read all the displays and had a cuppa, it was going on 4:30. We had been told that at 5 as the museum closes, they do a reading of a fallen soldier and do the last post. We found our way back to the Pool of Reflection and we were standing there waiting, well Maureen was standing, I had tucked the Beast to one side as I could not go down the steps and up the next lot. They were fussing around getting everything ready and people were standing around waiting to get a good advantage point. Just as they were about to start the ushers came out and told people they could move close to the microphone area and he came over to me and asked if I would like to go closer, I said I would love to but the steps. No worries he says, I will get some ramps, I thought it was just to go down the first set of steps. He gets on the radio, few code words and hey presto another guy appears, out comes a set of fold up ramps and down we go, thanks says I that was terrific, hang on he says and another set of ramps appear and up we go on to the main deck. Absolutely fabulous. They do an intro and ask people to turn off phones, silence during the reading and the last post and for parents to watch kids. Well they read out the service record a soldier, Corporal Reginald Charles Hayden, who had been at Gallipoli and then in France as a signaller and had been awarded the Military Medal before being blown up with another soldier in 1917, he a veteran and the other just 4 days in France. They then have a wreath laying session where 5 people came up and laid wreaths and then the last Post is played. Some little Indian kid was making a noise and there were a few old fuddy duddies like me who kept scowling at him and his folks who did nothing! Must be getting old. Anyway after that we went back down the ramps and thanked the guys and girls there for all the help we had received during the day. Whilst we were waiting for the lift down Maureen was asking about the wreaths and the people who laid them if they were relatives. Turns out anyone can do it. You ask during the day and put your name down, they organise the wreath and hey presto you do it. We are definitely doing this for grandpa Bathgate. Better still, it is shown on their website! As soon as I know the details I will let you all know. I can go up on the Beast with Maureen and she can help me put it down. The ceremony is streamed live at 4:55 AEST so about 1:55 in WA.

We drove back to camp and Maureen went off hunting and gathering again and we had prawns and bread with red wine for tea.

Tomorrow we will possibly go to some lookouts or another venue, Maureen wants to do the art gallery, so we will see what happens.