The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (PM2755) Engine Room Artificer Roy Pascoe Redman, HMAS Goorangai, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (PM2755) Engine Room Artificer Roy Pascoe Redman, HMAS Goorangai, Second World War.

PM2755 Engine Room Artificer Roy Pascoe Redman, HMAS Goorangai
Accidentally killed 20 November 1940
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 2 March 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Engine Room Artificer Roy Pascoe Redman of the Royal Australian Navy.
Roy Redman was born on 25 January 1902 in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne. Very little is known of his early life, but when the Second World War broke out he was married to Annie and living in the Basin, Victoria, where he worked as an engineer. Roy was also a member of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, and was called up for active duty in September 1939 following the outbreak war.

Redman was posted to the HMAS Goorangai. This vessel had been a fishing trawler in peacetime, but when the war started she was taken over by the Navy Board and fitted out for minesweeping. Her peacetime captain had also been a member of the Naval Reserve, and after reporting for active duty was posted to remain captain of the Goorangai in her new role.

In early November 1940 a British ship and an American freighter were lost in quick succession Bass Strait to German mine-laying operations. HMAS Goorangai was one of a number of minesweepers sent to locate and destroy the mine fields. After that operation the minesweeper returned to Queenscliff, but a rising storm sent the ship to the safer harbour of Portsea.

As the Goorangai passed in darkness through the dangerous rip at the mouth of Port Philip Bay 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 the moments between, 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 that of Roy Redman, were never recovered, and the wreck of the minesweeper was blown up to clear the channel.

After 15 months of war, HMAS Goorangai was the first vessel of the Royal Australian Navy to be lost in the Second World War, and the first surface vessel of the RAN to be lost in wartime at all.

The names of Roy Redman and the crew of HMAS Goorangai are listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 others from the Second World War. There is no photograph of Redman in the collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Engine Room Artificer Roy Pascoe Redman, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.