- Author
- Hinchliffe, L.M.
- Subjects
- History - pre-Federation
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- HMAS Swan II
- Publication
- March 1989 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
After the September Crisis HMAS SWAN, which had been in Western Australia at the Crisis, was ordered by the Naval Board to proceed to Broome to unveil a memorial to Wm. Dampier who visited the area in 1699 and was the first Englishman to see Australia and write about it.
It had been waiting for a suitable ceremony for some time but SWAN was available, the Bishop of the North West was available and the citizens were also available.
The photo shows the Guard in the middle of presenting arms, Commander R.R. Dowling, RAN who unveiled the memorial and the Bishop of the North West together with “the dog”.
During the blessing of the memorial “the dog” christened each corner of it in turn and then trotted off, as shown. It was very hard to keep a straight face I can assure you. I was the Guard Commander.
It is also interesting to note that the Guard was trained on the sandy shore of Shark Bay and the bugler was a steward dressed in borrowed plumes and using a long mouthpiece the size being determined by trial and error because he was a cornet player basically.