Browne, Roland Seymour (Major, b.1887 - d?)

These collections of papers were donated to the Defence Department by an unknown person and passed on to the War Memorial for inclusion in our collection. The papers can be divided into two distinct sets. The first set relate to the service of Major Roland Browne of the Commonwealth Investigations Service with a Special Wharf and Ship Security Guard for the Port of Melbourne between 1940 and 1941 and the second set to investigations into the sinking of the HMAS Sydney (1936-1941). This second set of records comprises a dossier of information obtained from the survivors of the HSK Kormoran, between December 1941-January 1942. The dossier contains a general report on the action between HMAS Sydney (1936-1941) and the Kormoran and records relating to members of the Kormoran's crew: a report on the interrogation of Captain Detmers, copies of poems by seaman Edmund Abel, photographs of sketches by Dr List, an interpretation of Dr List's sketches, a photograph and translation of a letter in German, a nominal roll of the Kormoran's crew, a record of a visit by Captain Detmers to his crew, a report on the interrogation of a wireless officer from the Kormoran and a interview with Dr Habben the Junior Medical Officer abroad the Kormoran. An incomplete copy of this dossier and the originals of the German letter and sketches by Dr List are also held by the Australian War Memorial in Private Records collection: PR88/178, HEHIR, John Leslie (Captain, Australian Intelligence Corps, AIF).