Many Defence Force Divisions are preparing for big celebrations on April 25 to commemorate the fateful landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli Beach, Turkey.
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However, another relatively unknown group, the descendants of the AE1 crew, have plans underway for a memorial at Garden Island, Sydney, on the September 14. This commemorates the day, three days after the commencement of WW1 that the Australian Submarine AE1 was lost off Rabaul - giving this horrible memo ration the honour of being Australia’s first tragedy.
As a mark of respect the Australian War Memorial in Canberra used one of its daily closing services, The Last Post, to commemorate the AE1 crew.
The sailor chosen to be illustrated was the great uncle of Alison Carter of Urunga, Leading Seaman Gordon Clarence Corbould. A cousin, Paul Taylor of Canberra attended and was handed the poster photo, Gordon’s citation and the history of the AE1 along with a poppy to place in the Memorial’s Wall of Honour next to Gordon’s name. Leading Seaman Corbould was a last-minute appointment before the submarine sailed.
The brief history, read by Major Glen Taylor, noted that, “one of the first acts of the Australian Government following the outbreak of war was to arrange for a volunteer force called the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, or ANMEF, to seize German colonies in New Guinea and the south-west Pacific. At 7am on September 14, AE1 left base to patrol along the coast near the Duke of York Islands. It failed to return.”
The submarine had been accompanied by HMAS Parramatta, which was conducting its own patrol at the same time, but conditions were extremely and it was difficult to keep sight of the submarine.
No trace of AE1 was ever found, despite extensive searches, and it was surmised that the vessel had been sunk on a reef or other submerged formation. The only option was to conclude that AE1 was lost with all hands.
The crew had spent the previous three years in Britain training how to sail and operate the bombings as the AE1 and AE2 were built. They had only been home a short while when AE1 was called into action. The crew’s names are honoured on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
