Geraldton, Western Australia, has established itself as “ground zero” for the commemoration of the loss of HMAS Sydney and all hands in November 1941. Its hill-top, slightly over-done memorial overlooks the Indian Ocean. But the loss of the Sydney happened far to the north-west of Geraldton. Relics and historic sites are easy to find. Start in Carnarvon at the very good free museum near the jetty.

Here you’ll find the lifeboat in which the German crew from the raider Kormoran came ashore after they scuttled their ship. Apart from a rusted-out keel it’s in remarkably good condition and worth a look.

Head north from Carnarvon about 60 km on a good gravel coast road and you’ll come to Quobba Station. This is a wild, rugged coast with blowholes, rogue waves and a simple stone memorial to HMAS Sydney not far from the homestead. You can stay at the homestead in very spectacular surroundings. It’s also near the site where the Kormoran crew landed. They climbed out of their lifeboat on Quobba at Red Bluff (another 80 km north). Quobba Station owners have set up safari tents at this remote outpost. When the Kormoran crew landed they threw their handguns overboard and one of these was recovered recently and is now on display at the Geraldton museum. With a little sleuthing we found these relics and sites with ease. It’s a pity that the locals around here have not made more of their links with HMAS Sydney, especially since the shipwreck was recently discovered.

The bloke who delivered the mail to the 15 families along the Birdsville Track during the 1940’s and 50’s in a beaten up old Leyland Badger truck has been immortalised in a bronze bust that was unveiled on Sunday 16 November at Waterloo, Tom’s birthplace in the mid north of South Australia. And the old bloke was there to witness the moment.

Tom, now 94, is a tough, dogged giant of a man who delivered the mails, supplies and good cheer along Australia’s most remote mail run. He’s the only bloke we know who could lift a full 44 gallon drum onto the back of a truck.

“I have trouble lifting a schooner of beer now,” quipped Tom.

In 1954 the Shell Film Unit made a documentary about Tom and his mail run. “The Back of Beyond” won numerous cinema awards. Tom was awarded an MBE for his services to the outback.

In 1999 Tom reappeared in a sequel that showed him restoring his old mail truck and making one last run down the Birdsville Track carrying 7000 letters. “Last Mail from Birdsville. The Story of Tom Kruse” screened on TV and the DVD has gone on to become one of the Royal Flying Doctors’ big fundraisers
Last Sunday 300 of his admirers gathered to honour Tom’s exploits outside the house in which he was born in Waterloo.
“I can’t understand all the fuss,” Tom said as he unveiled the bronze bust. “I was just doing my job.”
The bust is the last of four to be unveiled. The others are at Marree, the southern end of the Birdsville Track, Birdsville at the northern end. Another stands near his restored mail truck at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood, South Australia.