By Mike Turner During WWII many Australian women worked in new defence support roles. The mine warfare roles were manning Mine Watching Posts, manufacturing moored mines and manning the RAN ...
HMAS Bungaree
They Also Served – LCDR Frank Derek Simon RD RANR (S)
Sixteen-year-old New Zealander, Frank Derek Simon, came to Australia in 1936 to take up an apprenticeship with a local shipping company. He stayed with his aunt and uncle in Sydney ...
RAN Minelaying Effort during WW2
This extract is taken from NHSA Monograph No. 179 ‘HMAS Bungaree – Australia’s only Minelayer’ – which was published in 2003, but has not been widely circulated. The Admiralty suggested ...
RAN Minesweepers and Minehunters
HMAS Bendigo – New Guinea 1942
Australian Naval History on 7 August 1946
HMAS Bungaree decommissioned on and returned to her owners on 5 November 1947. Bungaree was subsequently on-sold twice and in 1960 was renamed Eastern Mariner. Whilst operating in South Vietnamese ...
Australian Naval History on 28 November 1944
HMA Ships KALGOORLIE and TOWNSVILLE, (minesweepers), completed a three months’ search for mines in the Great Barrier Reef, during which time 491 mines were swept. The mines were laid by ...
Australian Naval History on 1 January 1943
HMAS MINDARI, (gunnery instruction centre), was commissioned at Woolloomooloo, Sydney. CMDR N. K. Calder, RAN, was appointed to OBE for dedicated service while commanding HMAS BUNGAREE in mine-laying operations in ...
Australian Naval History on 7 December 1942
HMAS BUNGAREE, (minelayer), laid a defensive minefield along the Great Barrier Reef QLD, to protect shipping lanes from Japanese submarine attacks. ...
Australian Naval History on 5 August 1942
Australian Fleet Auxiliary Bishopdale while sailing for Brisbane from Noumea struck a mine in an Allied mine field which had been laid by HMAS BUNGAREE, there was no fire or ...
Australian Naval History on 29 June 1942
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS IPSWICH, (LCDR J.S. McBryde, RANR) was commissioned. IPSWICH was laid down in Evans Deakin Yard, Brisbane, on 6 March 1941, and launched on 11 ...
Australian Naval History on 9 June 1941
MV LEAVING, (RN landing barge SD15), arrived at Sidi Barrani. The vessel was stolen from the Germans in Crete, and was sailed across the Mediterranean by a crew of Australian ...