Subject

Three Nails

Text

n/a

Inscription

Plaque: Pray for those who gave their lives in H.M.A.S. Pirie 11/4/43 Air Attack Erected by V.Monaghan

Description & History

The Chapel of Our Lady Star of the Sea was designed by PJ O'Connor and Brophy and built by WA Medbury as a memorial to 'those men of the Royal Australian Navy who gave their lives in World War I and II'. The Foundation stone was blessed the Melbourne's Archbishop, the Most Rev. D. Mannix DD, LLD, on 6 October 1946. The builder ordered windows from Brooks, Robinson & Co. in March 1948, most to be made of 'amber quarries with a green outside border and a ruby inner border' with emblems inset, as was the case for this group in the north nave that each measured approximately 63 x 19 inches.

HMAS Pirie, a Bathurst class Minesweeper, was commissioned at Wyalla (SA) on 10 October 1942. Taking part in Operation Lilliput off Oro Bay on 11 April 1943, she came under heavy attack from Japanese fighters. A direct hit penetrated the bridge and upper deck, which killed seven men - Lieutenant John Winston Ellershaw, Able Seamen Victor Joseph Cremer and John Isaac Keeling, and Ordinary Seamen Arnold Edwin Catley, Frederick George Delaney, Victor George Ross and Douglas Maxwell Gladman. After repairs the ship returned to New Guinea and patrolled Australian coastal waters, completing many operations until war's end.

References & Acknowledgements

AWM Roll of Honour; http://www.navy.gov.au/