Pacific Star : Able Seaman E G Messenger, HMAS Australia

Pacific Star. Unnamed as issued.

Associated with the service of F2691 Able Seaman Messenger, HMAS Australia. Born in Fremantle, WA on 17 January 1921, Ernest George Messenger enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy on 4 September 1939. F2691 Able Seaman Messenger was posted to HMAS Australia on 10 September 1939. He served aboard HMAS Australia for almost three weeks, before transferring to a shore establishment until February 1940, when he returned to the ship.

HMAS Australia was initially engaged in patrol work on the Australian coast. Between May and July 1940 she was employed on convoy escort duties, firstly between Fremantle and Capetown and then between Capetown and Freetown on the African west coast. She patrolled off West Africa and in the North Atlantic throughout 1940.

After a refit in Liverpool and a period escorting convoys to Freetown, Durban, Suez and Colombo, Australia arrived back in Sydney on 24 March 1941. For the rest of that year she was on duty in the Indian Ocean. She became flagship of the Australian Squadron in December and two months later, in February 1942, flagship of ANZAC Squadron, continuing duty in the South West Pacific.

Messenger served aboard HMAS Australia until January 1942, when he served at shore establishments. In January 1943 he fractured his right navicular and was discharged in August. Messenger's father, Ernest John Messenger, saw service in the Boer War with the 2nd Australian Commonwealth Horse and in the First World War at Gallipoli with the 11th Battalion, AIF.