[BATTLE OF COCOS] Group of original photographs taken by a crew member of HMAS Sydney in the aftermath of the engagement with the Emden on 9 November, 1914.

Group of 5 (five) gelatin silver print photographs, in uniform 85 x 130 mm format; all in good condition, the versos numbered 1 to 5 in ink in a fully contemporary hand; these numbers correspond to the five brief descriptions typed on an accompanying sheet, 160 x 200 mm, old folds but well preserved.

On 9 November 1914, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney engaged and disabled the German raider SMS Emden off North Keeling Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. This engagement, which marked the Royal Australian Navy’s first ship-to-ship action and its first major victory, was a major turning point in the Asian and Pacific theatre in World War One.

There was no official photographer on board HMAS Sydney; any photographs documenting this famous naval action which have survived were taken by officers or crew using a personal camera. The group of five photographs offered here, which have clearly remained together since the World War One period, includes the iconic image of the Sydney‘s crew assembled on the foredeck (foc’sle) immediately after the engagement with SMS Emden. Another copy of this image is held in the Australian War Memorial collection; however, while the AWM’s copy came from the personal collection of Lieutenant Rupert Garcia, an officer on the Sydney, the identity of the photographer is not known. We have not been able to trace examples of the other four images in the present group in institutional collections. The typed captions on the accompanying matching each image are as follows:

1. Gun crews of HMAS “Sydney” taken after the first bombardment of the “Emden” and when the former vessel was steaming at full speed to capture the German collier which accompanied the “Emden”.
2. Aft control station of the “Sydney” shewing shell holes.
3. Portion of deck of the “Emden” shewing funnels, slightly bent. German marines on right of photo.
4. Another deck view of the “Emden” – corpses covered with blankets.
5. All that was left of her. The “Emden” ashore on Cocos [sic] Island.