Victory for the Navy
Forging the Nation - Federation: the First 20 years
- Forging the Nation: home
- Federation
- National identity
- Seeking security
- The First World War
- Towards the future
- Australians
- Introduction
- Capture of New Guinea
- Victory for the Navy
- Gallipoli campaign
- The Western Front
- Conscription
- Light Horse in Middle East
On November 1914 the cruiser HMAS Sydney engaged and destroyed the German raider SMS Emden in an action off Cocos Island in the Indian Ocean. Only one year after the main units of the Royal Australian Navy had first assembled in Sydney Harbour one of them had delivered an important victory. Other ships protected ports and coastlines, kept trade routes open, escorted troops and engaged the German Navy.
Billy Blue-Gum takes to the Gun-Tree
From The Bulletin 19 August 1915, pg 1. Collection of the Australian War Memorial.
Encounter with the Emden.
This cup and saucer, made for the home market, celebrate the victory of the HMAS Sydney over the SMS Emden off the Cocos Islands on 9 November 1914. Four crew from Sydney, and 134 from Emden, were killed in that action.