Vale

The Ensign is available for any ex-RAN Member. Please tell your next-of-kin about it so they know we can help and it can be used at your own funeral if you so desire. As a mark of respect and remembrance, the person’s name, rank and serial number is embroidered on the flag.
Please contact China Hammal if you wish to use the flag.

I am sad to advise that the Office of the Chief of Navy has been informed of the passing over Easter of ME (Engineering Mechanic) Graeme H Sculley DSM in Ballarat after a battle with cancer. Fellow HMAS HOBART shipmate of ME Sculley, Rear Admiral David Holthouse, contacted me and requested that I inform the RAN Senior Retired Community via my normal means - it is an honour and my privilege to do so. I apologise for this late notice however I am aware that many Navy colleagues who served with or who new Graeme are already aware of this sad news and details of the funeral arrangements in Ballarat VIC tomorrow, Wednesday, 15 April 2009. ~~A copy of the funeral notice is attached~~.

Captain Blazey and Rear Admiral Holthouse both spoke to Graeme a week or so ago and share that he was dealing with his long-running battle with severe illness with the same courage and fortitude that he exercised on the night of 17 June 1968.

The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Russ Crane, and all the men and women serving in the Royal Australian Navy today, join together in paying our respects to a distinguished Navy Veteran and pass on our thoughts to Graeme's family at this sad time.

Ric, or "punchy" as he was more commonly known, was instrumental in the formation of the Western Australian branch of the VLSVA, and was the founding president, serving for three years in that position.

Ric was born in England in September 1943 and travelled with his family through Africa before settling in Australia, where his father was an engineer on the Snowy Mountains Project. They later moved to Tasmania.

It was from Tasmania that Rig joined the Royal Australian Navy, serving in various ships and establishments including the Junior Recruit School at HMAS Leeuwin, and HMAS Sydney in Borneo and Vietnam.

Ric is well remembered for his boxing ability, holding championships in two weights, his compassion for Vietnam Veterans, and for his work as a JP. He was a driving force behind the gaining of recognition for Naval Logistic Forces in Vietnam, having had many sessions with politicians on the subject.

He passed away from a heart attack on the 2nd of February, 2002, during a visit to the Phillipines, his ashes being returned to Western Australia for burial.

A commemorative service was held at the Victory Life Church in Osborne Park on Tuesday the 5th of march, where he had recently been ordained as a Minister.

Thank you once again for the use of the White Ensign at my father’s funeral. The navy was an integral part of my father’s early life and he carried this interest through to his later years. It was a fitting touch to the ceremony to have the Royal Australian Navy flag on his coffin.

The following is a brief extract of his navy life that can be placed on the website.

D J (Doug) McPherson - Service No. 22895
Served with the Royal Australian Navy from 27/2/1939 to 26/2/1951
Rank on discharge - Stores Chief Petty Officer (S)
Date of Death – 20/7/2002

My father joined the RAN in February 1939 and after basic and specialist training was assigned to sea duty. He served on a number of ships both during and after the Second World War, the most notable being the HMAS PERTH. He transferred to the PERTH on 22/9/39 when it was involved in escort and patrol duties in the West Indies and Western Atlantic. The ship then underwent a refit and engine trials back in Australia prior to escorting the troopship QUEEN MARY to the Middle East. In January 1941, the PERTH was involved with patrols that included transport of troops to Crete and Malta. Whilst in port at Malta it was damaged by a near miss in an air raid. During March the PERTH played a role in the Battle of Matapan in which the Italian Navy lost three cruisers and two destroyers. In May 1941 the PERTH assisted in the evacuation of Crete. It was at this point that the ship was attacked by German aircraft and received a direct hit in a boiler room. When the PERTH returned to Australia for an extensive refit my father was transferred to another vessel. This proved to be fortuitous for him as the PERTH was later sent to Java where it was engaged in battle with the Japanese navy and was sunk on 1 March 1942.

My father had another lucky escape when he was a member of the crew of the HMAS KUTTABUL. The KUTTALBUL was at anchor in Sydney Harbour when Japanese midget submarines launched an attack in May 1942. One of the submarines fired its two torpedoes at the heavy cruiser USS CHICAGO. They missed the target but one of the torpedoes struck the KUTTABUL killing 19 sailors. My father was on shore leave at the time.

After the war my father served on other ships and completed his 12 years naval service on the HMAS Parkes at Garden Island in Western Australia.

My dad had many stories to tell about his navy service and is sadly missed by his wife of 59 years Daphne and his two sons Kevin and Laurie.

In keeping with our motto “Care and Support” the Association again ‘took care of our own’ with the scattering-at-sea of the ashes of Able-Seaman Steward William John Baker, F5486, and Private Doris Eileen Baker, W45798.

In ‘fair weather, a group of family and friends, members of the Association, and members of the Naval Association, gathered at the Naval Association Rockingham premises to meet with Chaplain Yesberg of HMAS Stirling for a send off in the appropriate manner.

William and Doris served in the Navy and the Army respectively during World War Two, William seeing service in the Corvettes and Minesweepers from Leyte Gulf to Okinawa, while Doris served in the Army Canteen Service in Queensland and New South Wales, mainly in the Nowra and LIMAS Albatross.

This special occasion was made possible with a dispensation from Canberra for the ashes of Army personnel to be scattered at sea, a first for our Association, as husband and wife had both expressed a desire for a joint burial.

This was a meaningful event for me as it was subsequently found that I shared ancestors with the Bakers through four generations. We are grateful to the Navy for their participation.

In keeping with Dad’ s wishes to have his ashes spread at sea in true Navy tradition, I wish to thank all those people who have made this possible, especially The Royal Australian Navy in Vietnam Welfare Association.

My Dad, William John Baker, died on 1^st January and on the 27^th January, 26 days later, my Mum Doris Eileen Baker (nee Hennessy) also passed away. With the heaviness of a double loss, it has given me a sense of comfort to have Dad and Mum’s wishes honoured. My Aunt, Margaret Pumphrey, relates that as far back as 1945 when Dad’s brother Colin died suddenly, Dad made it clear that his wish and expectation would be to have his ashes spread at sea at a Naval Service.

As true blue Aussies, both Dad and Mum had the good grace to die on Public holidays so we all had the opportunity to be with them in their final hours.

We are truly appreciative of all the care, support and compassion that each and every one of the members of the Navy and the Department of Defence has offered us for this first ever joint service at sea as we wish Mum and Dad “A Final Bon Voyage”.

In Sincere Appreciation from all the family,
Margaret Pumphrey, Shelley, Maurice, Shireen and Denis Jung

It is with regret that we advise the passing of our mate Bob Bellear, Tuesday evening 15th March '05 after a long illness. Bob was a
sailor, stoker, fine Rugby player, and damn fine gentleman. He was also the first aboriginal to pass law exams and was elevated to the
Bench in 1996 as Mr. Justice Robert Bellear of the District Court of NSW, on which he served with distinction.

ROBERT (BOB)

0ne-time social activist Bob Bellear single handedly shut down Sydney’s major courts and the New South Wales Parliament. Had he been there to see it, Mr Bellear would have been greatly amused. But it was his death at 60, after a long illness that took the halls of power to a standstill.

Judge Bellear, the first Aborigine to be appointed to the bench in Australia, was given a state funeral at the Sydney Town Hall that attracted dozens of his fellow judges and a who's who of politics and society.

It was standing room only as Judge Bellear's coffin, draped with the Aboriginal flag and adorned with a wreath of red, black and yellow feathers, was carried past mourners.

They included former state attorney-general Jeff Shaw, boxer Tony Mundine, Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, Governor Marie Bashir, former NSW chief Justice Laurence Street, Senator Aden Ridgeway, former premier Barry Unsworth and state politician Fred Nile.

Judge Bellear's brother Sol, former deputy chairman of the now disbanded ATSIC, told the gathering how his brother had risen from a humble start as the eldest of nine children on the NSW north coast to join the navy and rise to the rank of petty officer.

He said that later, the treatment of Aborigines by police in the Sydney suburb of Redfern prompted Bob Bellear to study law.

"He got sick and tired of seeing how Aboriginal people were treated," Mr Bellear said.

Judge Geoff Eames, who in the 1980's worked on the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody with Bob Bellear, then a barrister, said that as a judge Bob had embraced people of all races.

"Never could a judge be better qualified to administer equal justice for all," he said.

Judge Virginia Bell, who said she first met Mr Bellear when he was studying law and had given him first brief as a barrister asked mourners to join her in celebrating him as "a great Aborigine, and a great Australian and a great judge."

"He was truly a lovely decent man," she said.

Judge Bellear's wife Kaye said she had lost her husband and best mate, and recounted their early years.

"The first few years of marriage were difficult because of the racism we encountered, wherever we went," Mrs Bellear said. "But Bob always had a good left hook and he used it many times in those days."

Judge Bellear's coffin was carried through an honour guard from the Moree Boomerangs Football Club, an Aboriginal rugby league club whose members he defended against police charges in the early 1980s.

D.D. McNICHOLL
Sunday Times
March 27th 2005

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