The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Commander Alexander Mackay Wilkinson, 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Commander Alexander Mackay Wilkinson, HMAS Sydney (II), Second World War.

Lieutenant Commander Alexander Mackay Wilkinson, HMAS Sydney (II)
KIA 20 November 1941
No photograph in the collection – supplied by family

Story delivered 19 November 2015

Today we remember Lieutenant Commander Alexander Mackay Wilkinson and the ship’s company of HMAS Sydney (II), who were lost after engaging the German surface raider Kormoran in 1941.

Alexander Wilkinson was born on 6 January 1906 in Queenscliff, Victoria, the son of Major George and Gretchen Wilkinson. An officer in the permanent forces, George Wilkinson was a lieutenant colonel at army headquarters in Melbourne when his son Alexander joined the Royal Australian Navy as a cadet midshipman in January 1920.

After three years at the RAN College in Jervis Bay, Wilkinson was posted in 1924 to the newly commissioned light cruiser HMAS Brisbane (I). Later that year he was promoted to midshipman while serving in HMAS Adelaide (I). As was typical for naval officers of the period, Wilkinson was given various postings over the next decade, advancing to a sub-lieutenant. He spent time in the United Kingdom “on loan” to the Royal Navy for service and training. He passed his course and was promoted to lieutenant in mid-December 1928.

In 1933, while serving in the navy’s depot and accommodation ship HMAS Penguin (III) in Sydney Harbour, Wilkinson married Eileen Utz at St Philip’s Church on the 6th of July. The couple welcomed two children into the family home in Mosman.

In December 1936 Wilkinson was promoted to lieutenant commander. Three years later he was posted from Penguin to HMAS Swan (II) as the sloop’s intelligence officer. Following the outbreak of the war he returned to Penguin in 1940 as a staff officer (intelligence) with the base staff.

In July 1941 Wilkinson was posted to the Sydney as its intelligence officer. A modified Leander-class light cruiser, Sydney was armed with eight 6-inch guns and was the pride of the Royal Australian Navy. Built in England, the cruiser was commissioned in 1935 with a mixture of ages and levels of experience on board. It was one of several Australian warships sent to the Mediterranean, where it had demonstrated its fighting prowess sinking the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni in the battle of Cape Spada. In February 1941 it returned to Australia, where it received a hero’s welcome.

Sydney’s captain, Captain Joseph Burnett, described Wilkinson as “a capable and hardworking officer”, conscientious and thorough in his work, with a pleasant personality.

On 19 November Sydney was steaming back to Fremantle, having escorted a troopship part of the way to Singapore. At about 4 pm the cruiser spotted a suspicious merchant ship and decided to investigate. By 5:30 pm Sydney had almost drawn alongside the vessel when it suddenly revealed its true identity as a German raider.

Hoisting its German naval ensign, Kormoran fired its guns and torpedoes. Its first salvo slammed into Sydney’s bridge. The Australian cruiser returned fire, but Kormoran’s second and third salvos again hit Sydney’s bridge and amidships. Its three main turrets were soon out of action, but a fourth kept up fast and accurate fire that hit Kormoran’s funnel and engine room. Sydney, in turn, was hit by a torpedo between turrets. Mortally damaged and ablaze, Sydney turned away from the raider, continuing to fight using its secondary armament and torpedoes.

Kormoran was also burning. At 6.25 pm its captain gave the order to abandon ship. As the German sailors evacuated their stricken vessel, they watched the Australian cruiser, now only a distant glow on the dark horizon, disappear into the night. By midnight Sydney was gone, lost with all 645 hands, including Wilkinson. He was 35 years old.

Alexander Wilkinson is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain. His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on your right, along with around 40,000 others from the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lieutenant Commander Alexander Mackay Wilkinson and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Dr Karl James
Historian, Military History Section