The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (PM2541) Ordinary Seaman Frank Rupert Hack, HMAS Goorangai (Royal Australian Navy), Second World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (PM2541) Ordinary Seaman Frank Rupert Hack, HMAS Goorangai (Royal Australian Navy), Second World War.

PM2541 Ordinary Seaman Frank Rupert Hack, HMAS Goorangai
Accidentally killed 20 November 1940
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 10 August 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Ordinary Seaman Frank Rupert Hack of the Royal Australian Navy.

Frank Hack was born on 1 October 1921 in Coburg, Victoria, to Rupert and Rhoda Hack. From an early age he planned to go to sea, and after school used to ride his bike down to Port Melbourne to watch the ships and talk to the sailors. He joined the sea cadets as soon as he was old enough and, becoming an active and enthusiastic member of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, spent all the time he could at the district training depot at Port Melbourne.

War broke out in 1939, but Hack had to wait for his chance for active service. In November 1940 a crew member of HMAS Goorangai, a fishing trawler fitted out to act as a minesweeper, had been transferred to shore duty. Goorangai had been in the Bass Strait for two weeks searching for minefields after a British ship and an American freighter were lost in quick succession to German mine-laying operations. Jack Kenny, an ordinary seaman aboard, had suffered violent seasickness, and so Ordinary Seaman Frank Hack was called to take his place.

After being told to prepare for service on the minesweeper, Hack rushed home to tell his family, and then joined the ship. The minesweeper was in Queenscliff, but a storm was rising, and so, with Frank on board, they set off for Portsea, which was a safer harbour.

As the Goorangai passed through the dangerous rip at the mouth of Port Philip Bay in the darkness, she was hit by an outbound merchant ship and torn almost in half. A crewman on the ship that hit the Goorangai reported, "In the short time it took me to run along the promenade deck to the rail by the bridge, the Goorangai had disappeared. There was not a sound but the crash of water." In that short space of time, some eyewitnesses heard men calling for help, but could do little for them. Floatation devices were thrown out into the darkness, and lifeboats deployed immediately, but despite a long search, no survivors or bodies were found. The minesweeper had sunk almost immediately with all hands still on board.

Over the following weeks diving operations recovered the bodies of five of the crew. The remaining 19, including Frank Hack, were never recovered, and the wreck of the minesweeper was blown up to clear the channel.

It was Frank Hack's first day at sea. He was 17 years old.

The names of Frank Hack and all of the crew of HMAS Goorangai are listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with more than 40,000 others from the Second World War. There is no known image of Frank Hack.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Ordinary Seaman Frank Rupert Hack, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.