The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (PM2698) Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Joseph Currie, HMAS Armidale, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (PM2698) Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Joseph Currie, HMAS Armidale, Second World War.

PM2698 Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Joseph Currie, HMAS Armidale
KIA 1 December 1942
No photograph in the collection – supplied by family

Story delivered 1 December 2015

Today we remember Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Joseph Currie, who was killed when the minesweeper HMAS Armidale was sunk in 1942.

“Joe” Currie was born in Williamstown on Port Philip Bay, Victoria, on 13 July 1907. He was the youngest son of Hugh and Katherine Currie, and had three brothers and two sisters. His father was a returned man of the Great War, having served in the Royal Australian Navy.

Living in North Williamstown, Currie was a qualified engineer when the Second World War broke out. He enlisted in the RAN on 15 February 1940. The navy greatly needed Currie’s skills and technical expertise, and he was almost instantly rated as an engine room artificer 4th class. This was the equivalent of a chief petty officer.

After completing his initial training, Currie was posted in mid-1940 to the sloop HMAS Parramatta (II). It left for service in the Red Sea in late June, and some six months later Currie suffered an injury that forced him to return to Australia. Parramatta went on to perform impressively in the Mediterranean, but that November it was sunk by a German U-boat. Only 24 ratings of Parramatta’s company survived. Currie, meanwhile, was posted to the minesweeper HMAS Wollongong.

In July 1942 Currie was transferred to HMAS Armidale as it carried out escort duties in the waters of northern Australia and Papua. In October the minesweeper was sent to Darwin, and soon afterwards sailed with HMAS Castlemaine to Timor with reinforcements for the small Australian force on the island and to evacuate some exhausted troops and Portuguese civilians. On 1 December the two minesweepers rendezvoused with the naval tender HMAS Kuru, which had already evacuated some civilians. These civilians were transferred to Castlemaine, which returned to Darwin.

Armidale and Kuru continued on towards Timor. From 12.28 pm both vessels came under repeated attack from Japanese aircraft, and they separated. Kuru made it back to Darwin. Armidale, however, fought on. Finally, at 3.15 pm, nine bombers, three fighters, and a floatplane attacked the vessel. Hit multiple times, Armidale rolled in the water and sank in three or four minutes.

During the action a Japanese bomber and a fighter were seen to crash into the sea, shot down by the minesweeper’s anti-aircraft guns. When announcing the minesweeper’s loss to the Australian public, Prime Minister John Curtin said rightly that Armidale “had gone down fighting”.

Only 49 of the 149 souls on-board survived the sinking and lived to be rescued. Two of Armidale’s officers and 38 ratings were lost. Currie was among the dead. He was 35-years-old.

Currie is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain. His name is also listed here, on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 other Australian who died during the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Joseph Currie, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Dr Karl James
Historian, Military History Section