The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (B2735) Able Seaman Edgar Norman Hooper, HMAS Sydney (II), 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (B2735) Able Seaman Edgar Norman Hooper, HMAS Sydney (II), Second World War.

B2735 Able Seaman Edgar Norman Hooper, HMAS Sydney (II)
KIA 20 November 1941

Story delivered 19 November 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Able Seaman Edgar Norman Hooper and the ship’s company of HMAS Sydney (II), who were lost after engaging the German surface raider Kormoran in 1941.

A modified Leander-class light cruiser armed with eight 6-inch guns, Sydney was the pride of the Royal Australian Navy. Built in England, the cruiser was commissioned into the RAN in 1935 with a mixture of ages and levels of experiences on board.

Edgar Hooper was born on 24 September 1921 in Boonah in south-east Queensland, the eldest child of Norman and Isabel Hooper. The family moved around the state as Norman Hooper worked as a publican in various locations. The family eventually settled in Wynnum, on the shores of Moreton Bay in Brisbane.

Growing up, Edgar was a keen sportsman, playing cricket and rugby league, and involved in boxing. He also worked for the Telegraph newspaper.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the RAN on 3 September 1940 and was posted to HMAS Cerberus, the navy’s training establishment some 70 kilometres south of Melbourne, on Western Port Bay. He remained at Cerberus for just over five months before a short posting to HMAS Kuttabul, and on 28 March he was posted to the cruiser Sydney.

Sydney was one of several Australian warships sent to the Mediterranean after the outbreak of war. After demonstrating its fighting prowess by sinking the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni in the battle of Cape Spada on 19 July 1940, Sydney returned home to Australia in February 1941, receiving a hero’s welcome.

For most of 1941 the cruiser was engaged in escort duties that took it to the Netherlands East Indies, Singapore, Noumea, Auckland, and Suva before returning to Western Australian waters.

In early September Hooper was promoted to able seaman. On 19 November 1941 Sydney was steaming back to Fremantle, having escorted a troopship part of the way to Singapore. At about 4 pm the cruiser spotted a suspicious merchant ship and decided to investigate. By 5:30 pm Sydney had almost drawn alongside the vessel which suddenly revealed its true identity as a German raider.

Hoisting its German naval ensign, Kormoran fired its guns and torpedoes. The first salvo slammed into Sydney’s bridge. The Australian cruiser returned fire, but the raider’s second and third salvos again hit Sydney’s bridge and amidships. Its three main turrets were soon out of action, but a fourth kept up fast and accurate fire that hit Kormoran’s funnel and engine room. Sydney, in turn, was hit by a torpedo between turrets. Mortally damaged and ablaze, Sydney turned away from the raider, continuing to fight using its secondary armament and torpedoes.

Kormoran was also burning. At 6.25 pm its captain gave the order to abandon ship. As the German sailors evacuated their stricken vessel, they watched the Australian cruiser, now a distant glow on the dark horizon, disappear into the night. By midnight Sydney was gone, lost with all 645 hands, including Able Seaman Hooper. He was 20 years old.

Today Edgar Hooper is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain. His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on your right, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Able Seaman Edgar Norman Hooper, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Karl James
Historian, Military History Section