The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (24227) Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Robert Henry Hill, 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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (24227) Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Robert Henry Hill, HMAS Sydney (II), Second World War.

24227 Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Robert Henry Hill, HMAS Sydney (II)
KIA 20 November 1941
Photograph: P07545.002

Story delivered 9 June 2017

Today we remember Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Robert Henry Hill, and the ship’s company of HMAS Sydney (II) who were lost after engaging the German surface raider Kormoran in 1941.

Robert Henry Hill was born on 28 November 1914, in North Edwardstown, a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, one of three children born to Harry and Alice Hill. In August 1916, when Robert was one year old, his father Harry enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. Harry Hill served on the Western Front in an infantry battalion and was killed in action in Belgium in late September 1917.

After Harry Hill’s death, his widow Alice and her children moved to Clarence Park. Robert Hill grew up in the inner southern suburb and he became a member of the Intermediate Legacy Club of Adelaide. After leaving school he was employed by the Municipal Tramways Trust.
Following the outbreak of war, the 25 year old enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in March 1940.

He was posted to HMAS Cerberus, the navy’s training establishment some 70 kilometres south of Melbourne, on Hann’s Inlet, Western Port Bay, as an acting engine room artificer 4th class. A month later he was rated as an ordinary seaman. In September he was posted to HMAS Sydney towards the end of the cruiser’s celebrated tour in the Mediterranean.

The pride of the Royal Australian Navy, Sydney was a modified Leander class light cruiser, armed with eight 6-inch guns. The cruiser was built in England, and commissioned into the RAN in 1935.

During much of 1941 Sydney was engaged in escort duties off the Australian coast, taking the cruiser to the Netherlands East Indies and Singapore, as well as Noumea, Auckland, and Suva, before returning to Western Australian waters. In late June Hill was promoted to engine room artificer 4th class.

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, which revealed its true identity as a German raider.

Hoisting the German naval ensign, Kormoran opened fire with its guns and fired 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. The cruiser’s three main turrets, “A”, “B” and “Y”, were soon out of action, but “X” turret kept up fast and accurate fire that hit the raider’s funnel and engine room. Sydney, in turn, was hit by a torpedo between “A” and “B” turrets. Mortally damaged and ablaze, Sydney turned away from the raider but continued 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 hands – 645 men in all – including Hill. He was 26 years old.

Robert Henry Hill is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain. His name is also listed Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War, including his younger brother Flight Sergeant Ronald James Hill who was killed serving in the air force in April 1943.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Robert Henry Hill, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Karl James
Historian, Military History Section