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Robert Underdown   27 May 1920 - 20 Nov 1941   †  MIA, Australia
Roll of Honour UNLEY SA
Robert Underdown Ewens's name is located at panel 7 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial
                           

On November 19, 1941, the cruiser HMAS Sydney commanded by Captain Joseph Burnett, RAN, was approx 150 miles south-west of Carnarvon, W.A., and on a southerly course to Fremantle, W.A.

About 5.30 p.m she sighted a merchant vessel about 12 miles range.  After confused signalling the other ship identified herself as the Dutch ship Straat Malakka. She was actually the disguised German raider Kormoran  

When the HMAS Sydney ordered her to make her secret call sign, the German Captain, Commander Theodor Detmers, realised he could not bluff his way clear and had no alternative but to fight.

At 6.30 p.m , Kormoran unmasked her guns and opened a devastating fire on the Australian cruiser, simultaneously hitting her with a torpedo.

The Sydney was soon ablaze with her forward turrets wrecked. However, her after guns returned a short but effective fire, hitting the Kormoran in the engine room and causing a fire that eventually was to prove fatal to the raider. Down by the bow, she turned as if to ram the German ship or to bring her starboard torpedo tubes to bear. She passed close astern of Kormoran and narrowly missed her with a salvo of torpedoes. All the time she was under fire from the raider’s guns.

She limped off into the evening well ablaze and her glare could be distinguished until 11 p.m , after which only occasional flickerings could be seen and these had vanished by midnight. Meanwhile, Kormoran’s crew had abandoned ship and the raider blew up at 1.30 a.m . Seventy-eight of Kormoran’s complement of 393 were lost. The survivors were picked up by other ships or reached the West Australian coast.

None of Sydney’s 645 men survived.
Information from the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, A.C.T.  Australia

The wreck of the HMAS Sydney has since been found -  from the report dated 7 April 2008..........

PHOTOS showing lifeboats from HMAS Sydney on the ocean floor have provided a new clue to the fate of all 645 crew lost with the warship in World War II.

The Finding Sydney Foundation has been studying photos taken by a remotely operated submersible vehicle (ROV) at the warship's final resting place off the West Australian coast.
First photos of the wreck released on Friday showed lifeboats missing from their cradles, raising questions about whether some crew had escaped HMAS Sydney before it was finally sunk by the German raider Kormoran in November 1941.

But on Saturday, searchers found five wooden lifeboats, indicating many crew had been unable to escape the badly damaged ship before it went down.

"These all sat pale and ghostly on the sea floor, still proudly displaying their anchor emblem, white with a blue anchor on some boats and blue with red anchor on another. "In one case we located one lifeboat resting over the other."

Observer and historian John Perryman said the discovery of the boats was "remarkable and sobering".
"Some showed signs of damage by gunfire and in one instance two of the boats were resting on top of one another," he wrote on the foundation's website. "This certainly supported our earlier assessment that few of Sydney's boats were launched following the action." :  .there were four other lifeboats to be accounted for.

The presence of Sydney's badge on the boats was striking  "These carefully hand-painted coloured icons remain intact, undisturbed, and will continue to serve as a silent epitaph to HMAS Sydney and her valiant crew."  

Searchers have found a large amount of debris from the warship, including its bow - separated from the main wreck - parts of the ship's superstructure, masts, a funnel, unused torpedoes, and a number of black shoes.


William Reynolds  -  Boer War -      †   Roll of Honour - Canberra
            21 Sep 1878 - 09 Jun 1901
                                 Killed at Reitz  
Breaker Morant - Fifty-nine South Australians died from wounds or illness.
Among them were Charles Frederick Millman, aged 36 years from Echunga He was killed in action on 31 October 1900 and buried at Jacobsdal, South Africa. Albert Arthur Vickery of Mintaro, Francis George Matthews of Wirrabara, William Reynolds Ewens of Port MacDonnell, John Edgar Gluyas of Quorn, Captain Samuel Grau Hubbe from Macclesfield, who was killed on 12 September 1900 at Ottoskoop and Lieutenants Leonard Gordon of Strathalbyn and John W. Powell of Mount Gambier.
 

Arthur Edwin  -     Boer War      Roll of Honour - Canberra Sergeant
                                                             Promoted to Squadron Sergeant-Major

Alan Reynolds -    WW11                  Distinguished Flying Cross

Alick Bertram -     WW11

Arnold George -    WW11

Arthur Ross  -        WW11

Beatson George -  WW1

Clifford Wooley -   Boer War            Roll of Honour - Canberra  Trooper

Cecil Edwin  -         Boer War            Roll of Honour - Canberra  Trooper

Leonard Thomas - WW11

Murray Frank -      WW11

Richard Arthur -     WW11

Robert Edwin -        WW11

Thomas Lloyd -       WW1

William Beatson -   WW11