"Petition to stop the destruction of the HMAS Perth" Topic

Friends, I appreciate this is a bit off topic to naval gaming, but I hope you can forgive the transgression for a good cause.

The HMAS Perth was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy on March 1, 1942 in the Sunda Strait, between Sumatra and Java. Of the Perth's company of 686, only 218 were repatriated.

link

The HMAS Perth is currently unprotected as an "official war grave".
The Governments of Australia and Indonesia are yet to ratify the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage (this treaty would oblige both countries to protect such sites).

Since September 2013, scuba divers who have visited the site have made official reports relating to large-scale damage to the HMAS Perth including the sighting of a large floating salvage crane.

Strangely, the Australian Government appears to be reticent about doing anything to protect the wreck. The petition is intended to give our elected representatives a bit of a 'push' to do the right thing.

Our American cousins may also be interested because the USS Houston was also lost in the same action.

I am not a petition signer as a rule, but this one I think is worthwhile.

chn.ge/1a3tUWK

Again, apologies if I have offended any rules of the forum, no offence intended.

Doesn't matter if you have offended any rules Mate, this is more than a good cause!
Good luck to you, I pray you succeed.
C

I am an American,am I able to (validly) sign this petition?

The Perth (and Houston) is well worth protecting.

Good shout, why we need petitions to governments of free countries to respect and honour the graves of those who preserved that freedom during its darkest hour really is most disappointing. Perhaps it says something about our values today.

Hi Patrick,

There seems to be no restriction on nationality. The website has a drop down menu for your country of residence. In my view, if citizens of other countries are prepared to sign, then it is of even greater value to embarrass our government into acting. I can only encourage you and your fellow citizens to do so.

I might even be so bold as to say that respect for human remains is a matter that ought to transcend matters of borders or treaties or nationality or race. Especially when there are survivors of the Perth who are alive and very much outraged at the desecration of their shipmates' final resting place. This isn't ancient history, this is still in living memory.

I am an American,am I able to (validly) sign this petition?

The Perth (and Houston) is well worth protecting.

Ditto!

Done.

Signed without problem. I'm Canadian.

I have signed and sent links to about 20 of my contacts asking them to sign and forward to their contacts. Good luck with this!

Signed!

Good on you mate petition signed

Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

Signed (from USA)

As others have said. Thanks for bringing this to our collective attention.

Eric

A wasteful action, unnecessary loss of two ships and their crews (not to mention the debacle earlier in the day), and the most glorious fight in RAN history. The Houston and the Perth went down swinging, a very worthy petition. Wish our Government would do more, but they won't.

Like every other aspect of our relationship with Indonesia, it's complicated. It always comes down to paying the right people to do the right thing.

Signed – and I hope those doing the salvaging die horribly at sea.

I don't know if the Indonesian govt is involved, there are a lot of wrecks in that part of the world and I doubt the scrap salvage operation was targeted specifically at the Perth.

Hi All,

Just to say thank you for the response. I get an email notification each time someone signs using the link I provided, and I am very happy to say I have received a LOT of notifications. Many thanks for your support.

I should emphasise that I don't blame the Indonesian salvor or the Indonesian Government. They probably don't know it is a war grave, and even if they did, I wouldn't blame them for not caring overly much. The Perth is ours, not theirs, and it is up to us to protect her, and those who went down with her, from interference.

I appreciate the diplomatic niceties are not straightforward, but I do not understand the complete lack of government response to date beyond the impression that it is all a bit hard. Especially, given the interest in recent years in finding other wreck sites important to Australians, such as HMAS Sydney in 2008

navy.gov.au/hmas-sydney-ii

The Centaur wreck was also found by Mr Mearns (he was on a roll) in 2009.

link

The ABC documentary on the finding of the Sydney is particularly poignant. There are still widows and sons and daughters who remember and grieve. I think it can be found on DVD. Yep, here: link

Anyway, thanks for the support, and please pass on the word to anyone who might be interested in getting the Australian Government to do the right thing by these sailors and their families.

Not offended – get the news out by any means necessary…
What they (and millions of others) did, enables us to live the life that we are privileged to enjoy now…

Signed. I'm a Kiwi.

Signed

Signed

Signed

Got it done.

Done.