The Hon Bruce Billson MP
Interview – 6PR Nightline with Graham Mabury, 17 October 2006, 9:18 pm
Subject – Progress on forensic work to identify remains found on Christmas Island.

GRAHAM MABURY: Waiting for us in Canberra is the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, Bruce Billson. Few topics excite the interest of Nightline listeners like the loss of the HMAS Sydney. So as soon as we received a media release from the Hon. Bruce Billson -now he's the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence - we knew that you'd be interested. Because it's about the body that has been recovered on Christmas Island and whether that might be the one sailor who may have been from the HMAS Sydney that was ever recovered. Well, he's working back in his Canberra office tonight and kindly agreed to talk to us. The Hon. Bruce Billson, thank you for your time.

HON BRUCE BILLSON: You're welcome, Graham.

GRAHAM MABURY: Bruce, this is an interesting discovery indeed and, as I understand it, through an expedition led by the Navy?

HON BRUCE BILLSON: That's right, yes, it's a fascinating story. I'm sure your listeners would be aware that a great tragedy happened off the West Australian coast back in November 1941. The German ship the Cormoran sank HMAS Sydney, and all 645 men aboard were lost. What's not been able to be recovered is the remains of people or even the location of the wreck until just a couple of weeks ago, in fact. There'd been some efforts by the Navy and by interested family members to try and locate what was thought to be some evidence from the sinking of the ship. Some weeks after the sinking, a Carley float, one of those life rafts, was recovered 2,400 kilometres away up near Christmas Island. And on board were the remains of a partially decomposed person. At the time those remains were hastily buried in an unmarked grave on Christmas Island. There was fear at that time that the Japanese were about to invade Christmas Island so any sign of military presence on the island needed to be destroyed. But the mystery stayed and has grown about just who these remains belonged to, whether they'd come from HMAS Sydney. And an expedition team led by the Navy has recovered those remains and we hope it will answer some of the stories around this great mystery.

GRAHAM MABURY: I understand it is a complete skeleton?

HON BRUCE BILLSON: Yes, it is. What occurred, because of the remains in the Carley Float that were found about three months after the ship had been sunk, they were partially decomposed, they were interned in a rather unusually shaped coffin which reflected the position of the body when it was recovered. And based on that information, the approximate age of the individual, accounts of people that recall those events including a Perth residents. One of the Perth residents, who was a very young boy on Christmas Island at that time has provided invaluable advice on where these remains were located. They have now been recovered, carefully collected and returned to Sydney where they're undergoing further forensic examination. GRAHAM MABURY: The other thing that's fascinating is that apparently there's been a bullet discovered in the body?

HON BRUCE BILLSON: That's right. That's something we didn't expect, Graham. We'd heard stories and legends about these remains: the fact that just weeks later the Japanese did invade the island some time after the vast majority of Europeans had fled. So some of the records surrounding these remains were, let's say, a little bit thin and things were hastily done because of the fear of the invasion. Some of the stories, though, pointed to remains that had perfect teeth, that were wearing a fabric that could have been Navy overalls bleached by the sun. But what's happened when we've recovered these remains we've found rather distinct dental characteristics which we're hopeful might assist the identification process. And, to our great surprise, a bullet wound in the skull and a small calibre round that's been recovered, and that's also undergoing detailed analysis. GRAHAM MABURY: And some press-studs, too, I understand?

HON BRUCE BILLSON: Yes, we've got some press-studs and some fabric that was attached to them, some eyelets - you know the rings that you see in fabric. We think at this stage - and we must be cautious, but we think at this stage those items are consistent with the overalls sailors were wearing at that time. We've got other samples of the timber and the nails that were used, they're being analysed as well, and hopefully we can piece together a bit of a story. Because there's been some conjecture about whether - from the area where the Sydneywas struck by the German raider whether a float could have travelled nearly 2,500 kilometres up towards Christmas Island. There's been Senate inquiries, there's been earlier investigation, but this remarkable information we got from a Perth resident has helped us to locate them. Mr Say Kit Foo is a resident of Perth who was a very young boy at the time this float was recovered. And he remembered the area, he used to play near that area. He, and the work of Brian O'Shannassy a former sailer who had a photograph of the site shortly after the burial. We thought with that new information we'd instigate a new search and it's proven to be very successful thus far.

GRAHAM MABURY: Well you're obviously increasingly confident it is the body from 1942, but of course the likelihood of positively identifying an actual person remains low, I guess?

HON BRUCE BILLSON: Yeah, it is a long shot. What we do have is about half of the medical records that were created when the men on board HMAS Sydney enlisted. So they were some years old compared to the time of the sinking, they're not complete. Sadly a lot of the material that would help with identification is believed to have gone down with the ship. But we think, with this unusual dental characteristics, that that may help, although it will depend a great deal on just - if we've got records of the share of records we actually have, whether they can help point us to some information. There's a bit of work still to be done.

GRAHAM MABURY: And that work will be done by the Australian War Museum?

HON BRUCE BILLSON: Well there's a combination of experts. We are blessed in this country to have some of the world's best forensic pathologists, forensic orthodontists, they are helping with the work of identifying them on the basis of the skeletal remains and some of those dental characteristics. The issues relating to the round itself - the bullet - which is thought to have been from a low-velocity weapon, possibly a hand gun, and even some of the other items that have been recovered, the War Memorial is assisting with that analysis and we'll see what we can find out. So the work's ongoing but this has been quite a significant find and hopefully the mystery that's been around now for over 60 years we can maybe answer some of the unanswered questions.

GRAHAM MABURY: Yeah, hopefully. I mean over here in Geraldton, of course, we've got the magnificent memorial to the Sydney, it's got a huge amount of interest on the west coast. And, Hon. Bruce Billson, thank you for your time tonight.

HON BRUCE BILLSON: You're welcome, Graham, and best wishes to your listeners.