The sailor on the Sydney Cenotaph.

In `Around the Water Cart', Sabretache, December 1999, mention is made of the figures of the soldier and sailor on the Cenotaph in Martin Place, Sydney. Details are given of the soldier model, Corporal William Darby, AIF, but the name only is given of the sailor, Leading Seaman John William Vercoe, RAN (actually Varcoe in his naval records). Varcoe was born at Baker's Swamp, NSW, on 20 July 1897. He entered the RAN on 3 June 1913 as a Boy Second Class and trained in Training Ship Tingara, a three masted sailing ship, formerly Sobraon, launched in 1866 and used as an immigrant ship and a reformatory for delinquent boys before being acquired by the RAN in 1912.

Varcoe left Tingara on 22 September 1914 as a Signal Boy and was drafted to HMAS Cerberus and HMAS Pioneer before joining the destroyer HMAS Parramatta on 14 April 1917. By then a signalman, he served in Parramatta until 20 July 1919. The destroyer was one of six RAN River Class destroyers based at Brindisi, Italy. On 15 November 1917, an Italian steamer, Orione, was torpedoed while on passage from Valona to Brindisi. Parramatta took Orione in tow and, while setting up the tow, the two ships were again attacked by a submarine. Parramatta continued with the tow until relieved by a tug. Varcoe had been aboard Orione and for his efforts in maintaining communications he was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal (DSM). Of the 1071 `Tingara Boys' who served in the RAN in World War 1, Varcoe was the only one to win an award. Tingara trainees made up about 10% of all RAN World War 1 ratings. On 9 April 1923, by then a leading seaman, John Varcoe signed on again in the RAN for a further five years. He was discharged from the Navy at Sydney on 8 April 1928.

The two bronze statues on the Cenotaph were designed by Sir Bertrand Mackennal, an expatriate Australian sculptor who had designed the tomb of Edward VII at Windsor and the medals for the Olympic Games of 1908. Mackennal also constructed the statues of Cardinal Patrick Moran and Archbishop Michael Kelly, which stand at the southern end of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.

The statues of the soldier and sailor had not been completed when the Cenotaph was dedicated on 8 August 1927. They were later unveiled before a large crowd on 21 February 1929 in the presence of Sir John Monash.

Sources:

James J Atkinson, By skill and valour. Honours and awards to the Royal Australian Navy for the First and Second World Wars. Spink and Son, Sydney, 1986.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 10, pp 301-302.

John Bastock, Australian Ships of War, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1975.

`Joe Furphy', `Around the Water Cart', Sabretache, Vol XL, No4, December 1999, p.39.

K S Inglis, Sacred Places. Melbourne University Press, 1998.

Greg Swinden, Medals to the Royal Australian Navy During World War 1, Mostly Unsung Publications, Gardenvale, Vic, 1997.