Place | Oceans: Indian Ocean, Java Sea |
---|---|
Accession Number | AWM2016.2.253 |
Collection type | Film |
Object type | Last Post film |
Physical description | 16:9 |
Maker |
Australian War Memorial |
Place made | Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell |
Date made | 9 September 2016 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial![]() |
Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (22991) Supply Assistant David John Woolstencroft, HMAS Yarra, 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (22991) Supply Assistant David John Woolstencroft, HMAS Yarra, Royal Australian Navy, Second World War.
Film order form22991 Supply Assistant David John Woolstencroft, HMAS Yarra, Royal Australian Navy
KIA 4 March 1942
No photograph in collection
Story delivered 9 September 2016
Today we pay tribute to Supply Assistant David John Woolstencroft, who was killed on active service with the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War.
Born in Warragul, Victoria, on 25 January 1922, David Woolstencroft was the son of Bernard Woodall Woolstencroft and Isobel Selby Woolstencroft. He was the eldest of five siblings. The family resided in Newport, in Melbourne’s west. As a young boy David attended Neerim South State School, Noojee State School, and Mordialloc High School.
During the Second World War, four members of the Woolstencroft family served their nation. Bernard, a veteran of the First World War, enlisted again and served as a paymaster in Melbourne, holding the rank of staff sergeant. His three eldest children all served: David in the Royal Australian Navy; Bernard in the Royal Australian Air Force; and Joan in the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force.
David Woolstencroft enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in March 1939, only months before the outbreak of war. In November 1939 he joined the crew of the sloop HMAS Yarra, which was posted to the port of Aden in August 1940 to join Red Sea Force. Over the next year the ship took part in patrols in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. In November 1941 HMAS Yarra was in the Mediterranean helping to escort convoys bringing supplies to the besieged garrison at Tobruk.
Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific in December 1941, Yarra returned from the Mediterranean. The ship was sent to Java for escort duties between Batavia and Singapore, and in February 1942 it rescued 1,800 survivors from the sunken troopship Empress of Asia.
At the end of February Yarra was escorting a small convoy of three ships from Java to Fremantle. On 4 March the convoy was intercepted by five Japanese warships – three cruisers and two destroyers. Despite being outgunned and outranged, Yarra placed itself between the enemy and the ships in its convoy and prepared to attack.
Despite its gallant efforts, the ship took several hits and began to list heavily after enemy shells destroyed the engine room and steering. As the Yarra sank, the crew was ordered to abandon ship. Of the 151 crew, 138 were killed in the attack or later died on life-rafts.
David Woolstencroft was among those killed. He was 20 years old.
The names of the crew are commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain, which is dedicated to the thousands of British and Commonwealth sailors who lost their lives at sea or who have no known grave.
First reported missing, Woolstencroft’s death was not officially confirmed until December. This was not the only tragedy to strike the family during the war, and in March 1945 David’s brother Bernard, a pilot in Bomber Command, was killed during an operation over Germany.
David Woolstencroft’s name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 others who died while serving in 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 Supply Assistant David John Woolstencroft, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section
-
Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (22991) Supply Assistant David John Woolstencroft, HMAS Yarra, Royal Australian Navy, Second World War. (video)