H.M.A.S. AustraliaPrint Page

The bronze plaque commemorates H.M.A.S. Australia, for service between 1928 and 1954.

H.M.A.S. Australia (I84/D84/C01) was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). One of two Kent-subclass ships ordered for the RAN in 1924, H.M.A.S. Australia was laid down in Scotland in 1925, and entered service in 1928. Apart from an exchange deployment to the Mediterranean from 1934 to 1936, during which she became involved in the planned British response to the Abyssinia Crisis, H.M.A.S. Australia operated in local and South-West Pacific waters until World War Two began.

During 1941, H.M.A.S. Australiaoperated in home and Indian Ocean waters, but was reassigned as flagship of the ANZAC Squadron in early 1942. As part of this force (which was later redesignated Task Force 44, then Task Force 74), H.M.A.S. Australia operated in support of United States naval and amphibious operations throughout South-East Asia until the start of 1945, including involvement in the battles at the Coral Sea and Savo Island, the amphibious landings at Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf, and numerous actions during the New Guinea campaign.

On 31 August 1954, H.M.A.S. Australia was paid off and marked for disposal. She had been in service for 26 years, the longest career of a RAN warship to that date.

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