HMAS Sydney II memorial, Geraldton

Geraldton is a city about 420 kilometres north of Perth with a population of
about 40,000. It was the first town of reasonable size north of Perth.

We had an important stop to make in Geraldton as I had recently won $500 in
a Shell Oil Company competition and a friend had posted the winnings to me
care of the Post Office in Geraldton. We soon found the Post Office and yes
the express mail envelope was there waiting for me. Thank you Dave! Beside
my win of $500 a $5,000 donation was made to cancer research which is very
significant to us.

From the parking area outside the Post Office we could see the HMAS Sydney
II memorial so decided we need to visit it. We had followed the news of the
discovery of the wreck off the Geraldton coastline in March 2008 so it was
really interesting to see the Memorial. 645 Australian sailors were lost
off the Western Australia coastline during a World War II battle with a
German raider the HSK Kormoran in November 1941. There were no Australian
survivors however many of the Kormoran crew survived.

The silver dome of 645 seagulls to represent each of the lost Sydney
sailors. The wall of remembrance shows photographs of the ship and the
names of the lost crew. A bronze statue of a woman gazes out to sea waiting
for the return of the ship. A single dramatic shape represents the bow of
the ship. It is an extremely moving memorial and one that we are really
pleased that we have visited. The ANZAC day services are held at this site.