Skip to main content
Advanced Search
HMAS SYDNEY
HMAS SYDNEY

HMAS SYDNEY

Date1927
Object number00036212
NameCap tally
MediumCloth
DimensionsOverall: 30 x 1164 mm
ClassificationsClothing and personal items
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from John B Kiley
DescriptionThis HMAS SYDNEY cap tally belonged to John Berchmans Kiley. Tallies are attached around a sailor's cap and identify the ship in which they serve. This cap tally represents Kiley's service on HMAS SYDNEY around 1927 after his initial training on HMAS TINIGIRA.HistoryJohn Berchmans Kiley was born on 29 January 1910 and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1925. He began his naval service on HMAS TINGIRA, a ship for boy sailors moored at Rose Bay in Sydney, where he trained for 15 months. He served on HMAS SYDNEY for around 12 months before joining HMAS HMAS MELBOURNE on its last voyage to England in 1928, returning home on the new HMAS AUSTRALIA in the same year. John undertook four years of training at HMAS CERBERUS studying a range of gunnery courses. Kiley reached the rank of Leading Seaman, and to his great disappointment was invalidated out of the navy around 1930 due to respiratory illness. The light cruiser HMAS SYDNEY was the first vessel of the newly-formed Royal Australian Navy, commissioned in June 1913. During World War I it was initially engaged in operations in the Pacific and in November 1914 escorted the first troop convoy to the Middle East. On 9 November HMAS SYDNEY engaged with and defeated the German cruiser SMS EMDEN off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. It was a great event celebrated across Australia and showed Australia's allies - Great Britain in particular - that the federated states could indeed defend its shores. Throughout the rest of the war SYDNEY served in the Caribbean and also with the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet in the North Sea. After the war the cruiser returned to Australian waters and undertook routine duties until paid off in 1928 and broken up in 1929.SignificanceThis cap tally is part of a collection of personal effects belonging to John Berchmans Kiley. It is an important historical record of the daily life of a boy sailor in the Royal Australian Navy in the early 20th century.