H.M.A.S. YarraPrint Page

The monument commemorates the sailors who died when the H.M.A.S. Yarra was sunk in March 1942 during World War Two.

On 2 March 1942, Yarra arrived at Tjilatjap with the depot ship Anking, the tanker Francol, and the minesweeper MMS-51: the sloop was ordered to escort the other three ships to Fremantle.  A day later, the ship rescued forty survivors of the Dutch ship Paragi from liferafts.

Early on 4 March 1942, the convoy encountered a Japanese fleet: the cruisers Atago, Takoa and Maya, accompanied by four destroyers. Yarra's commander, Robert William Rankin, laid down a smokescreen, then ordered the convoy to scatter while the sloop held off the Japanese warships. Despite the efforts of Yarra, the other three Allied ships were pursued and sunk, and the sloop was sunk by cruiser gunfire shortly after 08:00, with only 34 survivors from the ship's company and the Paragi  rescuees.  Attrition reduced the number of survivors to 13 by the time they were rescued on 9 March by the Dutch submarine K XI.

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