Although there are a considerable documents housed in the National Archives, governmental departments as well as those that are held by the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force, there are a number of books that have been published by historians that have devoted many years of thorough research on the disappearance of HMAS SYDNEY and it naval engagement with the German armed raider HSK KORMORAN. For those that wish to further their knowledge on the mystery surrounding the disappearance of HMAS SYDNEY it is recommended that you read them because as well as learning about each of the authors interpretation, they all contain excerpts from hundreds of sources. So let us briefly look at the main three.

WHO SANK THE SYDNEY? - Michael Montgomery
This exceptionally well written book gives an exceptional account of the action that took place. But Mr Montgomery does place a lot of emphasis on the Australian cruiser HMAS SYDNEY. Further to that, the book leans very heavily on the fact that the Australian warship was not sunk by HSK KORMORAN but by Japanese submarines. Of course, this was a great probability, as even Japan boasted that they were involved in the sinking of the SYDNEY through their propaganda mentioned on both radio and in newspapers. Mr Montgomery's claim is further backed up because Australia and Great Britain both had knowledge of this.

The book "Who Sank The Sydney?" contained many references to the action, and many more that would back up his claim of a submarine sinking. The main thing worth asking regarding many of these references, is 'how reliable is this documented evidence' that Mr Montgomery presents to us. But, and this is a big but. Much of this evidence contained in this book could very well be a probability. You can see that Michael Montgomery asking us in the book, 'what is contained in the documented evidence that the Australian government will not release?' Because we do not know the real truth behind the mystery, the submarine theory is possible, but basing research on Japanese aircraft over Townsville and Geraldton, and drawings by one of the German survivors of caves near Carnarvon does not justify the case of a Japanese submarine sinking HMAS SYDNEY.

Mr Montgomery's theories most certainly create possibilities, but the book is not convincing enough to make these theories become a reality.

HMAS SYDNEY, FACT, FANTASY AND FRAUD - Barbara Winter
Unlike Michael Montgomery's book which seems to concentrate more on HMAS SYDNEY in a rather revisionistic way, this book by Barbara Winter which was written a few years later, seems to make a number of attacks on Montgomeries theories regarding the incident. On reading this book by Barbara Winter, which is very good reading indeed, but the references and the sources mentioned as well as the way that the book has been written, is definitely biased towards the accounts given by the German survivors of HSK KORMORAN.

There are many instances in Barbara Winters book that would be very misleading to the student who is making a study of the HMAS SYDNEY - HSK KORMORAN incident. So she should have made further research into ship and naval technology, and seas and currents, with the same amount of enthusiasm as she did with the actual combat engagement. Just like the official account of the incident written for the RAN by their historian G.Herman Gill who based much of his findings on the accounts supplied by the German survivors, Barbara Winter does the same, or at least one senses that she has. It does not appear that the efforts of the crew of HMAS SYDNEY is held too high in esteem. True, we could question the decisions made by Captain Burnett, especially as to why he went in so close and place the ships company at a grave risk, but have we any documented evidence providing us with the reasons as to why he made these decisions? Then the book does not just place accusations against Captain Burnett, who, according the B.Winter took on the task of commanding HMAS SYDNEY because of his ambition of promotion, and that the crew were inexperienced and had never seen battle before.

What makes this book unbalanced, is that Barbara Winter tells us that Captain Detmer was far more experienced, like an ancient warrior of the sea, that the crew of HSK KORMORAN was well disciplined, far more experienced in naval warfare. If this is the case, then why did so many of the raiders shell either fall short of hitting HMAS SYDNEY, at the shallow range that both ships were, neither of them should have missed. But then, what if the HSK KORMORAN did sink the HMAS SYDNEY, and survived to tell the story. It would have been a victory unique, because no armed merchant ship had yet sunk a military warship. We must give Captain Detmer credit for the courage to take on such a ship.

HMAS SYDNEY, LOSS AND CONTROVERSY - Tom Frame
The inside front flap of the cover of this book by Tom Frame says: "Why did Captain Burnett in Sydney bring his ship so close to Kormoran that he risked mortal engagement?" "Why was the Australian cruiser and her 645 men lost virtually without trace?" and "This new study discusses recent developments in archival research and scientific developments..." Actually, the book does not really tell us why HMAS SYDNEY went in so close to HSK KORMORAN, neither does it tell us why 645 men disappeared without any trace. Comparing this book with the first two (this book was the last to be written of the three), Gill's official nine page account in the RAN Official History 1939-45, various documents and narratives of the National Archives etc, Tom Frame has provided us with a more unbiased account of the action. This book is a far more balanced product than the books written by both Montgomery and Winter

Mr Frame has covered just about everything that there is to be known about the HMAS SYDNEY - HSK KORMORAN incident, and although most of the content is very close to what we already know, it does contain a considerable amount of documentation that have not been mentioned in other publications, even though a report from the National Australian Archives informs us that "Tom Frame exposes nothing that is already known."

Each chapter in this book covers something different. We get a good inside look at both HMAS SYDNEY and the German raider HSK KORMORAN which both have their own chapters. Mr Frame covers both "The Navy and the Official History" and "HMAS SYDNEY and the Japanese." A look into various signals and radio messages, and a close look at a carley float that was found, all these have their own chapter devoted to their own subject.

Of these three books, this is possibly the best. Tom Frame really does not show any bias, and everything that needs to be discussed regarding this whole mystery has been put under the microscope. As mentioned in the opening statement, there are no new answers, but this book, which you get the feeling that Tome Frame is searching for the truth, enlightens us further that there may well be more to the disappearance of HMAS SYDNEY than meets the eye.

The ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY 1939–42.
Volumes 1 and 2. Official History of Australia in the War of 1939–45 - G.H.Gill
Considering that this work that comprises two complete volumes of the Royal Australian Navy's involvement in the Second World War, we find that Mr Gill has devoted only a dozen pages of information on the action, involvement and the disappearance of HMAS SYDNEY, which is quite remarkable when you consider that each of the other books mentioned above contain just under 300 pages each. Actually Mr Gill makes very little mention of the actual disappearance, not even any concrete thoughts on the matter. One tends to think that G.Herman Gill, as the official historian of the RAN, was told to write an account of the HMAS SYDNEY - HSK KORMORAN incident with one hand tied behind his back. Most of this work appears to have been based on the statements given by the German survivors, very much akin to Barbara Winters book. We would think that being as this is the 'official history' that we would see considerable documents published in full, even those from signals and the RAAF, but it is very much like learning to swim without water, or as Tom Frame puts it "An Autopsy Without A Body". Which, in a way it really is. It is certainly not the greatest reference book for any student, but then, as it was written in 1957 that is all that was on offer.

This would be a good book for any student to commence his/her research, it does form the basis of other forms of reference that could be read later, and from these other works, you will find that the German survivors accounts were not always identical to each other, that their statements were not as reliable as first thought. But there are discrepancies, and as mentioned, much of is based on the German accounts as being accurate and reliable which were not. But then, having access to all the material he needed to author such an account, was it just a case of what can be published and what could not. Maybe Mr Gill's work has been misinterpreted here, but one would think that this work would have been much more informative than found out to be for an official government publication.

RESEARCHING FROM THE ARCHIVES

For those that wish to learn more about the HMAS SYDNEY - HSK KORMORAN incident, regarding both the naval combat action and the search for HMAS SYDNEY after the engagement using official documemnts, there would be no better place to look that in the National Archives of Australia located in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. Hundreds of documents are available here that would be to anybody's advantage in researching this historical incident. The advantage here, is that these documents contain the most accurate details of the information obtained by the government at the time.

When we say accurate, it may not necessarily be the actual truth, so do not get the impression that any of these documents or reports are of a truthful nature. They are only as accurate as the person or persons supplied to government officials at the time. For instance, there may be a document that shows the account of the engagement by "German Survivor A", he may state that 'the Australian cruiser was on our starboard side at 2,000 yards'. This account by "German Survivor A" is the information supplied to the government at the time. By contrast you may come across a document by "German Survivor B" who states that 'the Australian cruiser was on our starboard side at 3,000 yards'. Which one are you going to believe? These are both regarded as official documents in as much as they are the exact accounts, given to a government official by each of the German survivors at the time of their interrogation. Now you can see the problem that the government, the historians and you have in ascertaining, which one of them is the truth.

Finding other documents relating to the same piece of information that you are looking for, and cross referencing will often assist you in finding the true answer. Whatever you are researching, it is essential that you cross reference, do NOT take one document to be the gospel truth just because it was the first document you read.

Each of the documents in the NAA (National Archives of Australia) has a file or reference number, and often this number is broken further into other numbers indicating often the drawer where it can be found, what section of the drawer, and what part of the section. So we may have a reference number that looks like MP 742/1 175/1/103. As you can see, it looks a complicated system, but there are always personel on hand to assist you. If you do happen to be successful with that search, then you have just found a file relating to the HSK KORMORAN.

It is obvious from the preceeding pages that there is enough conflicting accounts that makes the disappearance of HMAS SYDNEY a controversey. By reading the some of the accounts supplied to the Australian government, namely the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy, one most certainly gets the impression that they are not co-operating with each other. The RAAF, on receiving a signal reported to the naval authorities, but why was it not acted upon immeadiately? Then as soon as it became known that HMAS SYDNEY had not arrived at Freemantle, why was a patrol not ordered instead of just assuming that HMAS SYDNEY may have intercepted a merchant vessel.

Then we have the case of strange glowing lights being seen out to sea on the evening of November 19th and at about the same time that HMAS SYDNEY would have came into contact with HSK KORMORAN. Reports state that "it was reported that glowing lights that could have been a ship on fire were reported from the shore, but who was it reported to? and who has these reports? Is it possible that any such reports were ignored.

Then we have the authorities stating that it was not possible for Japanese submarine intervention because no submarines were in the area at the time. This surely is negative thinking. If they knew what ships were in the area at the time then they would have known that HSK KORMORAN was in the area off the West Australian coast, which leads one to think that had no German survivors been picked up, would they then state that it was not possible for an armed German merchantman to be in a position of the Australian coast.

SEARCHING FOR HMAS SYDNEY

Additional information has come to hand, so this section will be completed as soon as possible and published on this website.