The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (5925) Mechanician Robert Naismith, HMAS Perth, Royal Australian Navy, Second World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each 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 Craig Blanch, the story for this day was on (5925) Mechanician Robert Naismith, HMAS Perth, Royal Australian Navy, Second World War.

5925 Mechanician Robert Naismith, HMAS Perth, Royal Australian Navy
KIA 1 March 1942
Photograph: P09053.001

Story delivered 28 February 2014

Today we pay tribute to Mechanician Robert Naismith, who was killed on active service with the Royal Australian Navy on 1 March 1942.

The son of J. Hamilton Naismith and Matilda Naismith, Robert Naismith was born in Port Adelaide, South Australia, on 13 December 1898.

Naismith enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy during the height of the First World War in January 1917. He was soon posted to HMAS Warrego, serving aboard the ship as part of the Australian destroyer flotilla in Mediterranean, where it took part in the blockade of the Adriatic Sea. After the Armistice of November 1918, HMAS Warrego was part of the British naval force which sailed up the Dardanelles and into the Black Sea.

In 1923, Robert Naismith was married to Eileen Gallagher in Sydney. In July that year Eileen gave birth to their daughter, Jean Matilda Naismith. Two years later, in January 1925, Eileen gave birth to a son, Robert Charles Naismith.

Following the end of the First World War, Naismith continued to serve in the Royal Australian Navy and was posted to a number of shore stations and ships, including HMAS Sydney, HMAS Canberra, and HMAS Australia.

On New Year's Day 1942 Naismith was posted to HMAS Perth. In mid-February 1942 the Perth sailed for the Netherlands East Indies. Later that month - amid a force of Australian, British, Dutch, and American ships - the Perth fought in the major naval battle for the Java Sea. Five of the 14 Allied ships that took part in the action were lost to a formidable Japanese force. The Perth, alongside USS Houston, was lucky to survive. Both ships were able to break off from the engagement and make for Tandjung Priok to refuel.

Over the following days HMAS Perth and USS Houston made for the southern coast of Java through the Sunda Strait. En route they engaged with a Japanese invasion force heading for Java. In the ensuing battle for Sunda Strait the outnumbered Perth and Houston were both sunk.

Over 350 members of Perth's crew - including Robert Naismith - were killed when the ship went down. Of the 320 survivors, 106 died during the following three-and-a-half years as prisoners of the Japanese. At war's end in 1945, only 218 remained alive to return home to Australia. Only 368 of Houston's 1,061 crew survived the sinking.

For many years afterward on the anniversary of the loss of HMAS Perth Naismith's widow Eileen placed a memorial notice in the Sydney Morning Herald on behalf of the family.

After 25 years of service in the navy Naismith gave his life, aged 43. His name is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain, which is dedicated to the thousands of British Commonwealth sailors who lost their lives at sea or who have no known grave.

His name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 Australians killed in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Mechanician Robert Naismith, and all of those Australians - as well as our Allies and brothers in arms - who gave their lives in service of their country.