Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Equipment - Speaking Tube, Morts Dock & Engineering Co. Ltd, circa 1941
... voice pipe...This brass speaking tube or voice pipe was used by the crew...Speaking tube or voice pipe, brass, conical shape, broken... Warrnambool great-ocean-road This brass speaking tube or voice pipe ...
This brass speaking tube or voice pipe was used by the crew to communicate within the ship. It was recovered from the wreck of the Royal Australian Navy vessel, HMAS Warrnambool in 1948.
The HMAS Warrnambool J202 was commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy for use as a minesweeper during World War II. The Bathurst Class Corvette, fitted out with a range of armaments, was launched in Sydney 1941 and was.
The ship began service in Bass Strait in 1941. At the end of the year it called into its namesake city, Warrnambool, where the crew paraded for the public marching eastwards along Timor Street. A gift of books for the ship’s personnel and a plaque bearing the City of Warrnambool’s Coat of Arms were presented to the ship.
The ship was involved in evacuating a family of nine from the Dutch East Indies that was later successful in its challenge of Australia’s Immigration Restriction Act (White Australia Polity). The ship had many other appointments around Australia.
On 13th September 1947 HMAS Warrnambool was leading a flotilla of minesweepers in northern Queensland’s coastal waters, clearing mines previously laid to defend Australia. The ship hit a mine, which exploded and very quickly sunk the ship. Boats from the nearby ships rescued most of the seamen although one was killed at the time. The survivors were taken by the HMAS Swan II to Darwin, and they went from there to hospitals in Brisbane and Sydney. Three of these men later died from their injuries.
A number of items were recovered by Navy divers in 1948 including the ship’s bell and a plaque with Warrnambool’s Coat of Arms. In 1972-75 the wreck was sold and other items were salvaged. In 1995 a memorial plaque was erected in Warrnambool near the RSL.
NOTE: The RAN built a second HMAS Warrnambool FCPB204, launched in 1981 and decommissioned in 2005. There was also a steam ship SS Warrnambool built in London 1892 and broken up in 1926.
[A more detailed history can be found in our Collection Record 3477.]
This speaking tube is an example of communication used in the mid-1900s on board a vessel. It is significant is significant for its association with Royal Australian Navy and its vessel, HMAS Warrnambool (J202).
The HMAS Warrnambool played a nationally significant role in overturning Australia’s Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (colloquially known as the White Australia policy). The ship rescued, and brought to Australia, Samuel and Annie Jacob and their family after they evacuated Dutch East India. The family was threatened with deportation and made the first successful appeal to High Court regarding that Act.
The HMAS Warrnambool has
- Local significance for being the namesake of the City of Warrnambool
- Local significance, having docked in Warrnambool Harbour
- Local significance, the crew having paraded in Timor Street, Warrnambool
- State significance for its first patrol being in Bass Strait.
- National significance, being present in Timor at the Japanese surrender
- National significance, shown by the significance of the ship’s bell being curated as Military Heritage and Technology at the Australian War Memorial.
- National significance as part of Australia’s defence force history, being one of only four Bathurst class corvettes lost while in Australian service, the only Bathurst class corvette lost after World War II, the only RAN vessel to be sunk by a mine, and associated with the last four Navy deaths of WWIISpeaking tube or voice pipe, brass, conical shape, broken off at base. Wide end has a rolled edge. Recovered from HMAS Warrnambool, sunk on 13-09-1947.flagstaff hill, maritime village, maritime museum, warrnambool, shipwreck coast, mort's dock & engineering co ltd, h.m.a.s. warrnambool, hmas warrnambool, hmas warrnambool i, hmas warrnambool j202, hmas swan ii, j202, world war ii, bathurst class corvette, royal australian navy, ran, sydney built ship, bass strait patrol, sea mine patrol, mine sweeper, mine clearance, navy divers, great barrier reef, cockburn reef, southern cross diving and salvage, warrnambool city council, cr j r astbury, mayor j r astbury, warrnambool patriotic fund, seal, coat of arms, ship’s bell, hmas warrnambool 1941, shipwreck by sea mine 1947, sinking ship, sunk ship, sea rescue, life saving, lifesaving, speaking tube, voice pipe, communication on ship, marine technology, marine equipment, minesweeper
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village
Bendigo Historical Society Inc.