A sailor killed in a wartime collision in Port Phillip Bay and buried in an unmarked grave for more than 70 years will finally get a headstone this week, as the truth behind an accident that led to the deaths of 24 sailors emerges.
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The reservist seaman was killed along with the entire crew of HMAS Goorangai following a nighttime collision with the merchant ship MV Duntroon in Port Phillip Bay on November 20, 1940.
Just six of the 24 crew killed were recovered from the Goorangai, which sunk rapidly in waters off Portsea. They were buried at Williamstown cemetery, with the five identified sailors given headstones. However the sixth man remained unidentified and was buried in a plot beside his crewmates in an unmarked grave.
This Thursday a dedication ceremony will be held at his graveside, where a headstone has recently been installed following the dogged research of naval reservist Andrew Campbell.
Mr Campbell's work over many years has also overturned the accepted story behind the deaths of 21 sailors and 3 officers in Port Phillip Bay.
''The incorrect story is that the Goorangai wasn't lit and the Duntroon was,'' Mr Campbell said. ''But my research has actually found the opposite.''
When war was declared, Goorangai, a former coal-powered steamship, was charged with conducting mine sweeps of Bass Strait.
The ship often returned to Port Phillip Bay to refuel and load supplies from Queenscliff before returning to Bass Strait where German-laid mines had already accounted for ships, including the first US vessel lost during World War II, the City of Rayville. Sunk off the coast of Cape Otway, the Rayville was lost barely a fortnight before the Goorangai went down.
On the night the 200-tonne Goorangai sank near the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, she had resupplied at Queenscliff before crossing the bay to Portsea to anchor.
Mr Campbell located 11 witness reports stating the Goorangai had all navigation lights turned on - while the departing Duntroon had shut down its lights in preparation for leaving the bay.
''By the time it was at the end of the channel, all the lighting was shut down,'' he said. ''You wouldn't see it unless you were very close to the ship.''
Mr Campbell said the archives showed Duntroon's charts weren't presented to the marine board of inquiry and its log was presented only on the last day of hearings.
''The captain also admitted that he wrote the log the day after the collision and that he relied on other people's notes and the blackboard notes in the engine room,'' he said.
HMAS Cerberus commanding officer Captain Stephen Bowater praised Mr Campbell's work, which has been accepted by the Office of Australian War Graves.
''To be able to erect a headstone to mark the grave of a World War II sailor, so long after his ship was lost, is a significant achievement,'' Captain Bowater said.
The dedication ceremony will take place on Thursday at 11am at Williamstown Cemetery.
