The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Chaplain George Stubbs, HMAS Sydney (II), 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on Chaplain George Stubbs, HMAS Sydney (II), Second World War.

Chaplain George Stubbs, HMAS Sydney (II)
KIA 20 November 1941
Photograph: P09368.002

Story delivered 12 March 2014

Today, we remember Chaplain the Reverend George Stubbs and the ship's company of HMAS Sydney (II), lost after engaging the German surface raider Kormoran in November 1941.

A modified Leander-class light cruiser, Sydney was armed with eight six-inch guns and was the pride of the Royal Australian Navy. Built in England, the cruiser was commissioned into the RAN in 1935.

Chaplain George Stubbs was one of the oldest men in Sydney's company. Born in April 1884 in Christchurch, New Zealand, he was the son of John and Georgina Stubbs. As was common at the time, George Stubbs was sent to Britain to study and graduated from the University of Durham in 1912. On returning to New Zealand he was ordained first as a deacon and then as a priest in the Church of England. Based in Otago between 1913 and 1915, he was curate of Palmerston and then the vicar of Balclutha.

Following the outbreak of the Great War, Stubbs joined the RAN in August 1915 and subsequently served as a chaplain in the light cruisers Encounter and Brisbane. Encounter's captain noted that Stubbs performed his duties conscientiously and had "a good influence with the men", taking a great interest in their welfare.

After the war, Stubbs transferred to the Royal Navy (New Zealand division) in 1921 where he remained for the next four years. In 1926, he returned to Australia and was subsequently posted to the heavy cruisers Australia and Canberra. By now a married man, in the late 1930s Stubbs was posted to the shores stations Cerberus and Penguin. Having been a navy chaplain for over twenty years Stubbs may have lost some of the vigour and energy of his youth, but he still possessed what one officer described as a "real charm of manner" that "greatly endears him to those with whom he comes in individual contact".

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Stubbs was posted to Sydney in early October 1941. His time back at sea, however, would be only too brief.

During the afternoon of 19 November Sydney was steaming back to Fremantle, Western Australia, after escorting a troopship part way to Singapore. It was then that the cruiser engaged the German raider Kormoran. In the brief but vicious action, Sydney was set ablaze and left mortally damaged. The raider was also damaged, and as the German sailors evacuated the stricken Kormoran, they watched the Australian cruiser, only a distant glow on the dark horizon, disappear into the night. By midnight Sydney was gone, lost with all 645 hands - including Stubbs. He was 57 years old.

Stubbs is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain. His name is also listed here, on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 other Australian who died during the Second World War.

We now remember Chaplain the Reverend George Stubbs and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.