William Morgan Bridgeman as an able bodied seaman, HMAS Sydney, Royal Australian Navy (RAN), British Grand Fleet, North Atlantic Ocean 1915-1918, interviewed by Dr Alistair Thomson

Places	Europe: United Kingdom Mediterranean: Malta North & Central America: Canada, Nova Scotia North & Central America: Caribbean Oceania: New Guinea1 Oceania: Pacific Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain, Gazelle Peninsula, Rabaul Area, Rabaul
Accession Number	S01307
Collection type	Sound
Measurement	1 hr 5 min
Object type	Oral history
Physical description	audio cassette; BASF LH extra I 90; mono
Maker	Bridgeman, William Morgan Thomson, Alistair
Place made	Australia: Victoria, Melbourne, Williamstown
Date made	1 May 1983
Access	Open
Conflict	Second World War, 1939-1945 First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright	Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright
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.
Source credit to	AWM Research Grants Scheme

Description

Bridgeman relates his early life on a farm near Castlemaine; school at Yapeen; joining the Navy in 1913; transfer from Garden Island to Papua New Guinea when war broke out; being on board HMAS Sydney as it escorted the first ANZAC troops out of Australia, and the sinking of the Emden; leave at and travel to Rabaul, Malta, West Indies and Nova Scotia; joining the British Grand Fleet at Glasgow; actions defending against German zeppelins; morale on board the HMAS Sydney, relationship with officers and the severity of the ship's Skipper; rates of pay; night patrol, Armistice and returning home.