The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (S/495) Electrical Artificer 2nd Class Henry Charles Bryce Porter, HMAS Perth, RAN, 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 , the story for this day was on (S/495) Electrical Artificer 2nd Class Henry Charles Bryce Porter, HMAS Perth, RAN, Second World War.

S/495 Electrical Artificer 2nd Class Henry Charles Bryce Porter, HMAS Perth, RAN
KIA 1 March 1942


Today we remember and pay tribute to Electrical Artificer 2nd Class Henry Charles Bryce Porter.

Henry Porter was born on 31 May 1900 in Newcastle, New South Wales, the son of Joseph and Maud Porter.

Little is known of his early life. At some point in time, he moved to Sydney, where on 13 October 1923, Henry married Margaret Talley, in the suburb of Annandale. Margaret had been born in West Ham in east London, emigrating to Australia as a child. A daughter, Enid, was born to the couple seven years later.

Porter was a member of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, and with the advent of the Second World War was mobilised. First reporting for duty on 19 February 1940, he was initially involved in training at HMAS Penguin and HMAS Cerberus. As an electrical artificer 2nd class, he was tasked with the electrical maintenance of ship’s machinery, such as engines and generators, as well as the installation and maintenance of ships’ electrical systems.

In June 1940, Porter joined HMAS Perth, one of three modified Leander-class light cruisers used by the Royal Australian Navy during the early part of the Second World War.

Initially patrolling the Western Atlantic and the Caribbean in search of German shipping, and escorting convoys, Perth was later transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet and helped to escort convoys to Malta, as well as playing a role in the Battle of Cape Matapan.

Porter was a keen photographer, and during his service took photographs of shells exploding in the water and smoke screens around ships during the battle of Matapan.

Perth escorted convoys to Greece and Crete and helped to evacuate Allied troops. The ship was badly damaged by Axis aircraft during the evacuation of Crete, and Porter also captured these events.

Today, his photographs, including a formal group portrait of the crew of the ship, are part of the National Collection at the Australian War Memorial.

After Perth returned to Australia for permanent repairs, Captain Hector Waller assumed command. Early in 1942, Perth sailed from Sydney, joining an escort for a convoy of four oil tankers and two cargo vessels on a mission to claim oil from the Dutch East Indies before the Japanese could invade.

The Japanese invasion was as swift as it was effective. Two weeks after the fall of Singapore, Perth and the heavy cruiser USS Houston were making their way along the southern coast of Java. They were the only large Allied ships to have survived the Battle of the Java Sea the day before – after which they retreated and attempted to resupply, having been ordered to sail for Tjilatjap via the Sunda Strait.

On evening of 28 February, they encountered the Japanese western invasion convoy at the northern entrance to the Sunda Strait, escorted by a large Japanese flotilla of two light cruisers, eight destroyers and a minelayer – and supported by another four cruisers, an aircraft carrier and further destroyers.

Heavily outnumbered, running low on ammunition and changing course constantly to avoid attacks from every direction, the Australian and American crews fought against impossible odds.

Together they sank a Japanese transport and a minesweeper, then severely damaged a further three transports. But given the weight of numbers and superior firepower of the Japanese force, the result was inevitable.

Perth suffered her first hit from a Japanese shell at 11.26 pm. Half an hour later, Captain “Hec” Waller ordered his ship to try to force a way through. But with her crew reduced to firing practice shells and illumination starshells, Captain Waller was forced to give the order to abandon ship.

Perth was hit by two more torpedoes before sinking shortly after midnight. USS Houston continued to fight on, sinking 20 minutes later.

Perth lost 350 officers and men including her commander, Captain Hector Waller DSO, and Electrical Artificer 2nd Class Henry Charles Bryce Porter, who was 41 years old.

With no grave but the sea, today he is commemorated at Plymouth Naval Memorial in England.

His name is 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 service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Electrical Artificer 2nd Class Henry Charles Bryce Porter, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section