Bradley's Head Naval Memorial

The Bradley’s Head Naval Memorial is the site of the HMAS Sydney I memorial mast, which commemorates the “Sydney-Emden” action. This was the first engagement at sea of a Royal Australian Navy ship during the First World War on 9 November 1914 at Keeling Island near Cocos Island. The memorial also honours those who served in the Royal Australian Navy and all ships lost in service.

The memorial primarily consists of the steel tripod foremast of HMAS Sydney I, which was removed during the breaking up of HMAS Sydney I at Cockatoo Island, following her decommissioning in 1928. The mast is approximately 17 metres high and supports a sheltered gun direction platform and raised observation post. A 1993 topmast sits above with a yardarm and rigged block halyards. Steps and a viewing platform have been built at the mast base. The memorial is erected astride the nationally significant 1840s defence fortifications on the southernmost tip of Bradleys Head.

The HMAS Sydney I mast was purchased and presented to the RSL of Australia (NSW Branch) by Mr William Rankin of Toowoomba. It was erected at Bradley’s Head on 24 October 1934 (The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 October 1934) at the joint expense of the Commonwealth Defence Department, the Municipality of Mosman, the Cockatoo Dock and Engineering Company and the Sydney Harbour Trust.

The memorial was dedicated to those who died in the “Sydney-Emden” action by the Mayor of Mosman, Alderman Dalton Carroll, on 24 November 1934. Those in attendance included Colonel Alfred Spain (Chairman of the Ashton Park Trust) and Colonel A W Hyman, among other dignitaries and representatives from the three defence services, with former members of the HMAS Sydney crew as guard of honour. The ceremony was held to coincide with a visit by HRH Duke of Gloucester, who passed Bradley’s Head on board the destroyer HMAS Stuart at the time of the dedication (The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 November 1934).

On 12 November 1964, the memorial mast was rededicated as an official memorial to the memory of those who served in the Royal Australian Navy and the 19 naval ships lost in service.

On 18 November 1991, an additional memorial with plaques was unveiled immediately opposite the memorial mast by the Governor of New South Wales, Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair, in honour of those who served on the HMAS Sydney ships and in memory of those who perished while serving on them. This monument consists of a raised circular centrepiece, with four circular bronze plaques, set within a square of pink and white granite, divided by a cruciform aligned with the memorial mast. The cruciform is created by four pink granite name plates, one each for the four Sydney ships. 

The memorial has also been expanded with the addition of 23 plaques laid with tree plantings along a Memorial Walk.

The Bradley’s Head Naval Memorial is considered by the Royal Australian Navy to be the premier naval monument in Australia, and since 26 June 2007, is the only naval memorial to which ceremonial honours must be rendered by all passing naval ships, both Australian and foreign, when entering Sydney Harbour.  

Commemoration services for the HMAS Sydney-Emden battle are held annually at the memorial. Foreign armed services and diplomatic representatives visit the site to lay wreaths when visiting Australia.

A final notable inclusion at the site is a Doric column, which originally stood at the GPO in George Street, Sydney, and was relocated to Bradley’s Head in 1871 to mark one nautical mile from the centre of the Martello Tower at Fort Denison and provide accurate sea trial measurements.