Jon Sullivan (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At 2.50 am on 10 January this year, the first photographic images emerged from the seabed off Moreton Island verifying what we all knew to be true—that is, that the shipwreck identified by sonar on 20 December last year was indeed the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur. Nearly 67 years after her sinking on 14 May 1943, the final resting place of the ship and of the 268 souls who perished is finally known with certainty. Poignantly, amongst the images collected from the ocean floor is one of a perfectly preserved Australian Army slouch hat. Centaur lies 30 miles due east of Moreton Island, at 27 degrees 16.98 minutes south, and 153 degrees 59.22 minutes east, at a depth of 2,059 metres.

The search for Centaur was directed by David Mearns of Blue Water Recoveries, the team responsible for locating the wreck of the Australian warship HMAS Sydney off the coast of Western Australia in March 2008. I note that Mearns paid tribute to Centaur navigator and survivor Gordon Rippon, whose information on position and course shortly before the sinking greatly simplified the search. The search vessel was Defence Maritime Services’ MV Seahorse Spirit. DMS are a major port service and support craft contractor to the Australian Navy and the Seahorse Spirit is used extensively in recruit training. The sonar images collected by Williamson and Associates during the search phase of the operation had identified a single target meeting the search parameters. It was at this site, on 10 January, that the ROV operated by Phoenix International captured the images showing conclusively that this was indeed the wreck of the AHS Centaur.

On 12 January the ROV placed a memorial plaque prepared by the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association Inc. on the foredeck of Centaur. The search for the final resting place of the Centaur was made possible by $4 million of joint funding from the Rudd Labor government and Queensland’s Bligh Labor government, but it came after nearly a decade of urging by the association on behalf of the survivors and their families, and descendants of those who lost their lives when Centaur was torpedoed.

Shortly after my election in December 2007 I was alerted by a constituent to the work of the association and began communicating with its secretary, Jan Thomas, then doing what I could do to advance the goal of the association, including raising the matter in this parliament on the 65th anniversary of the Centaur sinking, calling for the search to be initiated. Jan Thomas is a remarkable woman with many achievements, achievements for which she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2009. Jan’s role in the formation of the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association and her continuing role as the association’s secretary was certainly at the heart of her nomination for that honour. At the time, she told her local newspaper that she was absolutely overwhelmed to receive the accolade. However, I also recall her words on the ABC’s The 7.30 Report, telling of a childhood dream of going to Brisbane to find her father, who as a six-year-old child she was certain had not died. Sixty-six years later, Jan went to Brisbane and did find her father, Dr Hindmarsh, and I suspect that that may have pleased her more than her OAM, an accolade she had not sought. I feel very privileged to have met Jan Thomas and to have played some part, however small, in assisting her with the realisation not only of her dream but of the dreams of many hundreds of descendants of those aboard Centaur at the time of her sinking.

I am grateful also to Jan for introducing me to survivor Martin Pash, an interesting man with whom I was able to have a long conversation about the sinking of Centaur and of the 36 hours survivors spent afloat on makeshift rafts, awaiting rescue. I know that I am not the only member of this parliament to have advocated on behalf of the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association. I know that at least one serving member has a relative amongst those who perished. I know that they will be similarly pleased at the identification of the Centaur’s final resting place.

The Centaur has a protection zone of 200 hectares around it, under the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. There are also major commemorations being planned following the discovery of Centaur, the first of which will be a service of thanksgiving and remembrance which will be held at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane on 2 March. A further ceremony for relatives is proposed to be conducted at sea at a later date. I note also that a commemorative service is to be held at the Centaur Public School at Banora Point, in the electorate of my colleague the member for Richmond, tomorrow week. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend because of commitments in my own electorate. However, the naming of the school itself is a commemoration of the sacrifice made by those who lost their lives aboard the Centaur: members of the Merchant Navy, the 2nd/12th Field Regiment and the medical corps doctors and nurses. (Time expired)

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 5 pm, the debate is interrupted.