Overview

A dark secret lurked aboard HMAS Australia, the flagship of the Royal Australian Navy. In 1942, with a Japanese invasion looming, those aboard the ship were shocked and completely unprepared to deal with the brutal murder of a young sailor by two shipmates who were allegedly part of a homosexual group on the flagship. A swift military investigation and court martial were conducted. The officers faced a difficult, almost impossible task. How were they to prove the guilt of sailors accused of murdering a shipmate without exposing the motive for the crime, which would unleash embarrassing propaganda onto the world for the enemy to exploit? This would prove to be one of the most controversial events in the history of the Royal Australian Navy and trigger unprecedented legal and political events. But the real victim in this tragic story was the young sailor who was stabbed to death on the deck of Australia. He was a faceless victim, lost to the pages of history after he was buried at sea. However, family photographs now put a face to his name, and telegrams and letters reveal the full extent of this tragedy for his family. The full details of the murder, the names of the sailors involved in an alleged homosexual group on the flagship and the dark motive for his murder have been buried for more than two generations in the National Archives. The ultimate fate of the sailors convicted of his murder has also been hidden for far too long. It is well past time that the full story of the three sailors and what happened on board Australia that dark night on the Coral Sea in 1942 and afterwards is finally told.

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9781925927436

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Author Notes This story is based on actual events that happened over 70 years ago. I painstakingly researched material in the National Archives of Australia and the United Kingdom and found new primary material, never before published, to establish what, when, why and how events took place. This material is extensively quoted in the book. In essence, I have let the key characters tell the story through their own comments. However, it was difficult to bring these events to life, and to provide an engaging and compelling narrative, without fleshing out the key events with some creative writing about the feelings and dialogue of the main characters. As all of the main characters in this story have passed away, I relied on letters, journal entries, newspaper articles and biographies to provide the source material for their feelings and dialogue where it was not recorded. I also relied on the comments of close friends and relatives of the main characters to fill in the blank spaces in the official record. I have therefore tried to portray the deeds, thoughts and feelings of the main characters as accurately as possible. In this story, I use Imperial British measurements that applied at the time rather than the common metric measurements used today. Reviews It's the story navy recruiters won't want you to read. Hadler's contribution to this intriguing story is well-written and painstakingly researched. Rewarding reading. --The Australian An important story once buried. A very compelling book I could not put down. It deals with a subject once censored and long forgotten with the story buried in the archives. To the memory of Jack Riley, it is worthy to be read. --The Examiner The degree of research is extraordinary. Robert Hadler gives a comprehensive summary of the trials, appeals and the roles played by prominent politicians and bureaucrats. This is one of the strengths of the book. --The Sydney Institute A plot that reads like a murder mystery. --The Mercury

* https://digital-print-edition.austcommunitymedia.com.au/e67596db-e089-4e7e-8842-b792f2e6b946

Author Information

Robert Hadler lives in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. He is a former award-winning economics journalist who has worked in the Commonwealth Public Service, as a political adviser, a lobbyist for industry groups and senior executive roles in multinational companies. Since he retired in 2015, he has been a Director on Government, corporate and not-for-profit boards. However, his passion is writing about Australian history, and in particular controversial events that sparked military, legal and political challenges and triggered reforms that changed the future direction of the nation.

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