The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (PM2059) Ordinary Telegraphist Albert MacDonell, 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 Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (PM2059) Ordinary Telegraphist Albert MacDonell, HMAS Goorangai, Second World War.

PM2059 Ordinary Telegraphist Albert MacDonell, HMAS Goorangai
Accidentally killed 20 November 1940
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 29 March 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Ordinary Telegraphist Albert MacDonell of the Royal Australian Navy.

Albert MacDonell was born in England on 12 May 1912. Very little is known of how or why he came to be in Australia, but by the late 1930s he was living in Richmond, Victoria, with his wife, Jean. As well as being a carpenter, he was a member of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, and was called up for active duty in September 1939 following the outbreak of the Second World War. He had two brothers on active service in England, and two brothers-in-law in action with the Australian military.

MacDonell was posted to HMAS Goorangai. This vessel had been a fishing trawler in peacetime, but when the war started it was taken over by the Navy Board and fitted out for minesweeping. Warrant Officer David McGregor, who had captained her in peacetime and was also a member of the Naval Reserve, had also been called up and remained captain of the Goorangai in its new role.

In early November 1940 a British ship and an American freighter were lost in quick succession in Bass Strait to German minelaying operations. HMAS Goorangai was one of a number of minesweepers sent to locate and destroy the mines. After two weeks on that operation it 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 it 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 moment in between 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 Albert MacDonell, were never recovered, and the wreck was blown up to clear the channel.

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 Albert MacDonell and the crew of HMAS Goorangai are listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from the Second World War.

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

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section

Sources: http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/records/awm108/awm108-11-0922.pdf.

“Details of ship”, The Argus, 22 November 1940, p. 5.

“Saw lights on Goorangai: signalmen’s stories”, The Argus, 6 December 1940, p. 2.

“Goorangai sunk: passengers heard cries of sweeper’s crew”, The Argus, 22 November 1940, p. 5.

“Trawler Goorangai lost in collision”, Barrier Miner, 22 November 1940, p. 6.

“No body recovered from Goorangai”, Barrier Miner, 22 November 1940, p. 3.

“Details of disaster: stories of eye-witnesses”, Kalgoorlie Miner, 22 November 1940, p. 4.

“Body recovered from Goorangai identified”, Burnie Advocate, 23 January 1941, p. 6.

“The Goorangai”, Townsville Daily Bulletin, 22 January 1941, p. 2.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~maav/goorangai.htm.