Memorial LookoutPrint Page

The lookout commemorates two servicemen killed dismantling a mine during World War Two.

Two sailors, Able Seamen W. L. E. Danswan and T. W. Todd, were sent to redo the wires but tragically the mine was shifted by the waves onto one of its horns and exploded killing both men. These were the first World War Two casualties on Australian soil.

In November 1940, the German raider Pinguin had laid anti-shipping mines along the southern Australian coast, including the approaches to Port Adelaide. In July 1941, one of the mines was encountered by a fisherman floating off Rivoli Bay, the navy were contacted, and the mine was first towed to the town beach, only about 300 metres east of the Beachport jetty, before being moved about two kilometres further from the town. They laid an explosive charge on the mine, with a long fuse. Soon afterwards, the mine exploded, killing Danswan and Todd who were walking down the dune towards it. It is widely believed - based on inaccurate newspaper reports at the time - that there was a premature explosion of the detonating charge. However a Board of Inquiry found that the charge had not fired, instead the mine had not been secured properly, and an incoming wave shifted it, causing it to detonate. The Board was very critical of the actions of the officer commanding the operation.

The memorial was erected by the National Trust in 1974. 

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