The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (PM2748) Cook Montague Wilfred Madden, 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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (PM2748) Cook Montague Wilfred Madden, HMAS Goorangai, Second World War.

PM2748 Cook Montague Wilfred Madden, HMAS Goorangai
Killed in accident 20 November 1940
Story delivered 5 November 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Montague Wilfred Madden, cook of HMAS Goorangai of the Royal Australian Navy.

Montague Madden was born on 2 July 1915 in London. How and why he came to Australia is unknown, as is the reason for his taking the name Madden. His widowed mother was still in Dagenham, Essex, when he was in Australia at the outbreak of the Second World War. He was a member of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, and was mobilised for active service in May 1940.

Madden was posted to the HMAS Goorangai. This vessel had been a fishing trawler in peacetime, but when the war started she was taken over by the Navy Board and fitted out for minesweeping.

In early November 1940 a British ship and an American freighter were lost in quick succession to German minelaying operations in Bass Strait. HMAS Goorangai was one of a number of minesweepers sent to locate and destroy the mine fields. Following the operation the minesweeper returned to Queenscliff. But a rising storm sent the ship to Portsea, which was a safer harbour.

As the Goorangai passed through the dangerous rip at the mouth of Port Philip Bay in the darkness, she 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 short moment in between, some 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 Montague Madden, were never recovered, and the wreck of the minesweeper was blown up to clear the channel.

The names of Madden and all of the crew of HMAS Goorangai are listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Cook Montague Wilfred Madden, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section