Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

After a brief stint in the Citizen Military Forces as a driver of an Army Service Corps horse-drawn General Service wagon, Geoff Waye enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in 1938, for twelve years, and completed recruit and employment training at Flinders Naval Depot, HMAS Cerberus, on Westernport Bay, Victoria. He was rated as a Signalman (Visual), trained to communicate via Aldis Lamp and Semaphore Flag.

His first sea posting was to HMAS Penguin, a destroyer tender and Fleet Repair Ship, based in Sydney Harbour. 

In August 1940, he was posted to HMAS Warrego, a sloop in the 20th Minesweeper Flotilla. Warrego was involved in the sweeping of the minefields laid by the German auxillary raiders Pinguin and Passatt off Newcastle, Sydney, Wilsons Promontory, Banks Strait, Hobart, Cape Otway and Spencer Gulf in November 1940. He travelled to New Zealand to sweep the minefield that sunk the liner Niagara. It was during this time on the Warrego that he earned the nickname "Zane', since he loved reading Zane Grey's western novels, and like Zane Grey, was an avid fisherman.

In October 1941, he was posted to the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra. Whilst Canberra was travelling across the Great Australian Bight, in early November, he was 'volunteered' for service on the convoys from UK to Murmansk. He was dropped off at Fremantle, to learn that the posting was really duty at the Flag Office, Fremantle.

Soon after arriving at Fremantle, he saw off his best friend Eric 'the Red' Redman and his cousing Len Waye, on a routine patrol with HMAS Sydney. Sydney never returned, being sunk, with all hands, by the German auxillary cruiser Cormoran in a mutually destructive encounter iff the Western Australian coast. The three had planned to 'paint the town red' upon Sydney's return. My father never recovered from the shock and loss of the 'Pride of Australia'. His emotions at this loss were described in Michael Montgomery's 'Who Sank the Sydney'. He only ever spoke once about this to his son.

Additionally, he had 'survivor's guilt' due to not being on Canberra when it was sunk in the Battle of Savo in August 1942. His battle station would have been on the bridge, which was hit with great loss of life by Japanese shellfire.

In September 1942, Geoff was posted to HMAS Bingera, an auxillary ASW vessel, based on Australia's east coast. He travelled from Perth to Melbourne by rail, with Italian POW, to join his new ship. He spent from September 1942 to January 1944 on convoy escort duties along Australia's east coast into the South West Pacific Area.

In January 1944, Geoff was transferred from the regualr RAN to the Volunteer Reserve, since he had retrained as a teleprinter operator. At that time, the RAN did not have such an occupation - that job was confined to the Volunteer Reserve. This resulted in him being demobilised at the end of hostilities, rather than after his twelve year enlistment.

As a teleprinter operator, he was posted to HMAS Melville Naval Base in Darwin, being promoted to Leading Signalman (TP) in November 1944.

Geoff aspired to become a journalist, so he completed a correspondence course during his service, and regularly wrote short stories, including articles in each of the Australian War Memorial 'HMAS' and 'As You Were' annual publications during the war and immediate post-war years.

After Japan surrendered, he was posted to Victoria Barracks Melbourne. Whilst waiting to be demobilised in May 1946, due to his writing talent, he worked as an assistant to George Herman Gill, the author of the RAN Official History.

His first civilian job was with Melbourne's Southdown Press, as a journalist. In the early 1950's he moved into advertising, and remained in that field until he retired in the 1970's. He passed in 1990, sadly not living long enough to learn what happened to the Sydney, whose wreck was discovered in 2007.