Bravery, sacrifice, and endurance – local serviceman finally recognised

Jack Warwick Callander was born in Numurkah in 1921 before the family moved to Yarrawonga in 1922 where his father Norman had numerous business interests and several farms in the district.

Callander played a major part in the tragic story of the Armidale which encompassed efforts of bravery, sacrifice and endurance. In an extraordinary feat of survival, and despite continuing attacks from bombers and sharks, 49 men, including Callander managed to survive at sea for up to eight days before being rescued.

Before his brave survival, Callender served in the Middle East, then returned to Australia to prepare for the expected Japanese invasion during World War II.

According to the Royal Australian Navy, HMAS Armidale (I) was one of sixty Australian Minesweepers (commonly known as corvettes) built during World War II in Australian shipyards as part of the Commonwealth Government’s wartime shipbuilding program.

On November 29, 1942, Callander was assigned to serve on 'HMAS Armidale' which was to leave Darwin with 'HMAS Castlemaine' and 'HMAS Kuru' to resupply and evacuate troops and civilians from Betano Bay on the south coast of Timor.

'Armidale' and 'Castlemaine' arrived late to Betano after surviving repeated air attacks from Japanese bombers, missing their rendezvous with 'Kuru' which had already embarked refugees and made for open water.

The two corvettes were located 'Kuru' 110km off Timor and the refugees were transferred to 'Castlemaine', which returned to Darwin.

'Kuru' and 'Armidale' were ordered to continue the operation in daylight.

At approximately 1pm on December 1, 1942, five Japanese bombers were spotted by Armidale's lookouts.

Without adequate air cover, there was little hope of surviving the attack and a signal was sent to Darwin requesting urgent fighter cover.

For the next half an hour, Armidale's gunners beat off successive Japanese attacks, and the ship escaped serious damage.

In the meantime, a signal was received from Darwin advising that the much-needed fighters would arrive at 1:45pm.

Shortly before 3pm, Armidale was attacked again by nine bombers, three fighters and a float plane. The fighters split up and came in at a low level hitting Armidale’s decks with machine gun fire.

With their gunners thus distracted, the torpedo bombers mounted their attacks from different directions.

Despite the brave resistance, the ship was hit twice by torpedoes, immediately heeling over to port.

At that point, Lieutenant Commander David H Richards RANR(S) gave the order to abandon ship. Rafts were cut loose, and a motorboat was freed from its falls before men took to the water.

Lance Corporal John Callander survived the initial attack, joining other oil-soaked survivors scrambling to stay alive on the motorboat, also clinging onto items such as fuel drums and painters' planks, which were lashed together as a makeshift raft.

The National Maritime Museum says not all the men could be held out of the water at once, meaning they had to take turns.

Those who spent time in the water faced the danger of sea snakes and sharks, the men would scream and thrash the water when one came too close, the museum says.

Perhaps even greater fortune was on day five of the sinking, Callander was one of twenty-eight men chosen by Lieutenant Lloyd Palmer to be placed on the whaler, in the forlorn hope of rowing 160 nautical miles to Bathurst Island.

On December 5, the whaler, carrying 26 RAN personnel including John Callander, left the makeshift raft and the men began rowing towards Australia - some 470km away.

Problems with the motor forced the men to row until repairs could be made. Once the motorboat was running it headed for an area north of Bathurst Island in a bid to be spotted by Allied Forces.

Rowing in relays and fashioning sails out of overalls, the men managed to travel 165 miles (almost 260km) before being sighted by planes after three days.

Their ordeal, however, was far from over. The Japanese airmen then pressed home further attacks, machine-gunning the survivors.

After being sighted by an RAAY Hudson on December 6 they were eventually rescued by HMAS Kalgoorlie.

According to an article by Lt Col Callander that appeared in the Geelong College’s ‘Ad Astra’ magazine, the sinking of 'HMAS Armidale' in 1942 resulted in the highest loss of life for any corvette in World War II, with only 49 of the 149 men on board surviving the ordeal.

Lt Col Callander’s son Angus is now the president of the HMAS Armidale Association. He and his brother John continue to recognise their father’s legacy, with his extraordinary feat with the HMAS Armidale only recognised last year.

Both sons speak very highly of their father and the ordeal he survived, acknowledging that their father was very fortunate to survive the ordeal and stay in the Army where he reached the rank of Lt Colonel, retiring in 1964 to pursue a career in education.

“Following the HMAS Armidale incident, and after a very short time recuperating in Darwin hospital, Dad was selected to attend the Officers Training School near Adelaide,” Angus said.

“An appointment for which he was selected because of the strong leadership and determination he demonstrated during the HMAS Armidale ordeal.

“On deployment in northern New Guinea during the cessation of hostilities in 1945, Dad volunteered to be part of the Australian contingent sent to Japan as part of the United Nations Occupational Forces.

“From there, he was engaged in conflict on the Korean Peninsula, and after being severely wounded repatriated back to Japan in February 1951.

“On returning to Australia he was awarded an MBE, a decoration for his service during the Korean War, with the citation noting “for coolness and courage under extreme hardship”.

“Recovering from his wounds back in Australia, over the next 14 years on rotation postings at firstly, Eastern Command HQ in Melbourne, to NSW, to Sydney and finally to Perth, Western Australia to head up the WA Cadet Force from 1959 until the end of 1964,” John added.

“With a growing family, he turned down a posting to Adelaide in 1964 and resigned from the Army to embark on a career at Guildford Grammar School, WA where for the ensuing 18 years he had a full teaching program, became Officer in Charge of the School Cadet Unit and a senior Boarding Housemaster.

“He retired at the end of 1982 after sadly losing his wife Helen in March of that year and then dedicated much of his retired life to various volunteer work.”

Like many who survived war and unfortunately saw their mates fall to the foe, Callander did not speak much of his experiences at war. Instead, he moved ahead with his life and looked back on the happier times.

“As children, teenagers and to an extent even as young adults, our father spoke rarely, if at all, about his involvement in war-related conflicts,” John added.

“In fact, any inquiry with him about those experiences often fell on ‘deaf ears’, a trait not unusual for those returning from the horrors and trauma of various theatres of war.

“In contrast, growing up Dad was more inclined to regale us with stories of happy days in the 1920s and 30s within the framework of a close-knit but community focussed family at the Callander’s large home situated at 8 Lynch Street, Yarrawonga.

“Newly married and returning to Australia from Japan with his Australian wife and a one-year-old daughter in December 1951, it was a matter of getting on with life in a post-disrupted world.

“Rather than mulling over the horrors he’d so recently experienced, he had other priorities to keep himself and his mind distracted, not least providing for what became his own large family.

“It was only as life slowed would he be seen lost in thought, perhaps thinking of that fateful afternoon in December 1942 and the subsequent days and nights on a leaky lifeboat unaware of what lay ahead.

“Our father always felt so fortunate in meeting and subsequently marrying Helen Webb, both then involved in different capacities in post-1945 occupied Japan; Dad at a time appointed Adjutant to Australian General, Sir Horac Robertson “Red Robbie”, Mum as Australian nurse with the British Commonwealth Occupational Forces.

“Having grown up witnessing the effect of her own father’s WWI experiences, she knew exactly how to sensitively support her husband in his hour of need, to never judge, but to listen, if indeed he would ever allow her to do so.”

Angus and John feel immense pride in their father's efforts in fighting for his country and surviving an ordeal, many of us couldn’t even bear to imagine.

“As so many others did, the pride we felt in our father can be put down to the fact he was an extremely honourable, yet humble individual,” both Angus and John agreed.

“Shaped by his own upbringing combined with his wartime experiences he always made time for people from all walks of life, recognising that some were less fortunate than himself.”

Whilst a story of bravery, perseverance and strength, the part of Lt Col Callander and fellow servicemen Cpl Lionel Clarke and Pte Matt Telley’s history was not recorded on their official Army records.

Just last year in Perth the official records of these three soldiers were amended to recognise the service and sacrifice of those onboard HMAS Armidale.

Lt Col Jack Warwick Callander died in Western Australia on September 18, 2000.

Both of Jack’s parents, Norman and Aggie are buried in the Yarrawonga cemetery.