Africa Star: Able Seaman Geoffrey Rosevear, HMAS Sydney (II)

Africa Star. Unamed as issued.

Born in Launceston, Tasmania in 1911, Geoffrey Rosevear entered the Royal Australian Navy on 12 February 1929. Assigned the service number 19251, he undertook basic training before being posted an ordinary seaman to the seaplane tender HMAS Albatross (I) at the end of the year. Rosevear was promoted able seaman in late 1930.

After serving in the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra, where he trained as a rangefinder and her sister ship HMAS Australia, he joined the light cruiser HMAS Sydney II at the end of 1936. In 1938 he married Eileen Mather in Sydney.

During the Second World War Rosevear was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his actions during the Sydney's battle with the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni off Cape Spada, Crete on 19 July 1940, in which the Italian ship was sunk.

In February 1941 HMAS Sydney returned to her home port, Sydney, where the crew were greeted by huge crowds. A street parade and civic reception followed. Many men were given a period of well-earned leave. Geoffrey's younger brother, Able Seaman Lance Rosevear, who had entered the RAN in 1935, took the opportunity to return to Launceston to marry his sweetheart Olive Killworth.

At the end of February the ship left to undertake escort and convoy duties. On 19 November 1941, off the coast of north-west Australia, Sydney was attacked by the German raider Kormoran. Both ships were mortally damaged. While the majority of the crew of the Kormoran survived, HMAS Sydney was last sighted by the Germans ablaze as she disappeared over the horizon and sank with the loss of all hands. The names of Geoffrey Rosevear and his brother Lance are commemorated on the Plymouth Memorial in England and on the HMAS Sydney II Memorial at Geraldton, Western Australia.