Voyager Memorial Park, Jervis Bay

About

The Voyager Memorial Park is located in Huskisson, Jervis Bay overlooking Point Perpendicular. The park was originally dedicated on 22 April 1972 to commemorate the 82 lives lost as a result of the collision between HMAS Voyager and HMAS Melbourne in Jervis Bay on 10 February 1964 in what remains Australia’s worst peacetime naval disaster. The park was established largely due to the efforts of the Huskisson and District War Memorial Appeal Committee. The original Huskisson war memorial was a large sandstone memorial arch located in the centre of the park behind the Huskisson RSL (now part of Club Jervis Bay). This memorial was dedicated by Chaplain Walter Wheeldon MBE, RAN (Rtd) on 25 January 1993. The arch was mounted on top of a brick wall enclosure which had a series of brass name plaques on it. Each plaque was dedicated to a serviceman from the area who had since passed away. At the same time, a Lone Pine tree was planted in the park in memory of those who served and died at Gallipoli. This tree was grown from a sapling brought back from the Gallipoli peninsula. It is believed that the archway has since been removed and replaced by the Court of Remembrance in 2019. The Lone Pine tree however has remained in situ. The Voyager Memorial Park was substantially upgraded in February 2019 with the opening of the Court of Remembrance which is dedicated to all those who served in the Armed Forces of Australia. This consists of six sections of black granite wall which extend out from the central circular shaped court area. Each section of wall focuses on a different aspect of military service which local service personnel have been involved in.  One section of the wall, known as the Anzac Wall of Remembrance, focuses on all those who have fallen in wars and conflicts and lists the names of the men from the area who were killed in action during the First World War. Mounted onto the rear side of this section are seven brass plaques for the South African Boer War, First World War, Second World War, Korean War, Indonesian Confrontation, Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. Each plaque lists the statistics of how many served in the conflict from each of the three services, how many of those where killed, how many were wounded and how many were Prisoners of War.  Another section of the wall, known as the Voyager Wall of Remembrance, records the history of HMAS Voyager and the Voyager disaster as well as listing the names of the 82 sailors who lost their lives.   A third section of the wall lists (on both sides) the names of deceased members of the Huskisson RSL sub-branch who had made a significant contribution to the ongoing operation of the RSL.  The Voyager memorial walkway was also upgraded with new interpretive panels linking into the various aspects of the site. Located along the side of the memorial walkway is a sundial and flagpole. The brass sundial is mounted onto the top of a large rock. It was presented by the Cockatoo Naval Dockyard (where HMAS Voyager had been built) and is dedicated to their fallen comrades who lost their lives as a result of the disaster. An anchor retrieved from the ocean floor after 50 years was positioned at the start of the walkway as part of the upgrade in 2019. This anchor is of the same style that would have been used on HMAS Voyager. The Voyager Memorial Park hosts services on Anzac Day (25 April), Remembrance Day (1 November) and the Anniversary of the Voyager Disaster (10 February).