Anchor from HMAS Brisbane (II) dedicated on Remembrance Day

Mayor Tom Tate honoured the memory of our fallen servicemen and women at a Remembrance Day service in Mudgeeraba today.

Together with Divisional Councillors Glenn Tozer and Hermann Vorster and members of the Mudgeeraba Robina RSL Sub-Branch, the Mayor dedicated the anchor from the HMAS Brisbane (II), which now stands in Elsie Laver Park, Mudgeeraba.

Mayor Tate said Remembrance Day was a significant date for thousands of people across the country, especially our servicemen and women.

“It’s so important we continue to remember the sacrifice made by those Australians who have served in conflicts, wars and peacekeeping operations,” he said.

“To have the anchor from the HMAS Brisbane (II) in this park gives the local community a place where they can come and reflect on the lives of those lost.”

The HMAS Brisbane (II) was commissioned on 16 December 1967 and adopted the nicknames ‘Steel Cat’ and ‘Fighting Forty-One’. She made two deployments to the Vietnam War, was involved in the post-Cyclone Tracy disaster relief operation Navy Help Darwin and deployed to the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War.

HMAS Brisbane (II) was decommissioned on 19 October 2001 marking the end of an era for the RAN. One of her 5 inch gun mounts can be found on display outside the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

More than 7000 officers and sailors served on the ship during her service life. She now lies as a dive wreck 6.7 kilometres off Point Cartwright on the Queensland coast and forms the centrepiece of the Ex-HMAS Brisbane Conservation Park.