Christmas Island body was a sailor from battle

by Malcolm Brown

THE mystery of the Christmas Island body – which washed ashore in 1942, three months after the battle that sank the HMAS Sydney – was partially solved yesterday with the commissioner of an inquiry into the sinking, Terence Cole, QC, finding the remains were those of a sailor who fought in the battle.

The sailor was wearing blue overalls, which rank-and-file sailors wore, and had probably been killed by a fragment from a German shell that hit his skull just above the left eye socket.

His body had drifted in a life raft known as a Carley float from November 19, 1941, when the Sydney sank, until the night of February 23-24, 1942, when it washed up on Christmas Island.

It was buried there by a district officer, a Sikh policeman sounded the Last Post, and it lay unidentified for decades, with doubts as to whether it was a sailor or even an Australian.

It was exhumed in 2006, a year before the discovery of the wrecks of the Sydney and the German raider Kormoran. It was forensically examined before being reburied with full military honours at Geraldton in Western Australia last year. It is the only member of the Sydney’s crew to have received a proper burial.

Mr Cole said yesterday that markings of "Ca Au" on four press studs that were with the body indicated they had been made by an Australian company. Fragments of textile found in the press studs indicated they had come from a boiler suit worn by Australian sailors.

A conservation manager with the Australian War Memorial, Catherine Challenor, said "CA Au" markings were on other military apparel held by the memorial. The textile fragments in the press studs were still being tested but the material appeared to be blue, not white as an officer would have worn.

Mr Cole said that of the 645 crew members lost with the Sydney, testing of relatives had been done by examination of dental records and DNA. In the process all but 89 names had been eliminated in the search for the body’s identity. None of the 89 had been an officer.

Commander Jack Rush, QC, counsel assisting the inquiry, said a pair of shoes found on the Carley float were branded "McCowan" or "McKewan" Pty Ltd, with a broad arrow symbol. Ms Challenor said the broad arrow was a symbol of Australian government issue clothing.

A senior object conservator at the war memorial, George Bailey, said the fragment of metal taken from the skull, 15 millimetres in diameter and 4.19 grams, had been tested at the faculty of marine and earth sciences at the Australian National University.

It was found to have had manganese, chromium and silicon, all used by Germany in World War II to produce armour-piercing shells, and no lead, which would have been in a bullet. He believed the fragment had come from a shell of German origin.

Detective Sergeant Tim Snow, of the forensic services group in NSW Police, said he had examined the fragment and the indentation in the skull, which was just above the left eye socket. The fragment had been a spherical object that had hit the skull at relatively low speed and the interior of the skull showed a "heat effect", as produced by globular molten metal.

The hearing resumes today.