AMA VICDOC Autumn 2024 - Magazine - Page 39
F
Our guest speaker was
Mr John Hasker AM
who spoke about
The Sinking of the
HMAS Sydney (II)
in November 1941.
John, now retired,
was a Civil
Engineering graduate
from the University of
Melbourne in 1960.
—
REPORT DR JEAN DOUGLAS
RETIRED GENERAL PRACTITIONER
AMA VICTORIA RETIRED
DOCTORS COMMITTEE
ifty eight doctors, partners and friends attended our
successful Retired Doctors’ Luncheon at Young and
Jackson’s Hotel in the city during September.
Our guest speaker was Mr John Hasker AM who
spoke about The Sinking of the HMAS Sydney (II)
in November 1941. John, now retired, was a Civil Engineering
graduate from the University of Melbourne in 1960.
John told the group about his cousin Dr John Reid Hasker
( Jack), Surgeon Commander, the Senior Medical Officer on the
HMAS Sydney when it was sunk by the German raider cruiser
Kormoran after a short battle off the coast of Western Australia.
John had only a basic knowledge of Jack when he was contacted
by a Geelong journalist for comment after the wreckage of the
Sydney was found in 2008.
John was curious to research his cousin’s short life as not a
lot had been passed down. Families so rarely discussed their war
experiences and losses.
He discovered that Jack Hasker was 41 years old and single
when he was lost in the Indian Ocean with 644 other naval seamen.
He was born in Ballarat. His father, Thomas, was a bank manager
with the Bank of NSW in country Victoria. After being transferred
to Warrnambool this became the family home for many years.
He attended Geelong Grammar from 1915-1918 then to Trinity
College at Melbourne University where he graduated in Medicine
in 1925. He was a sports all-rounder at school and university.
After graduation his residency was at the Bendigo Hospital.
In May 1928 he joined the Australian Navy and as a career naval
officer served on a number of navy ships and bases such as Cerberus,
Adelaide, Penguin, Swan and Hobart. He was posted to the HMAS
Sydney on a number of occasions early in 1941 as the Senior
Medical Officer.
John recalled hearing Dr John’s sister Meg speaking about
being visited by him whilst on leave shortly before his ship left
for Western Australia. This would have been the last time he saw
his family.
Much controversy about the sinking of HMAS Sydney can
be found. No documentation remain from the ship with German
logs and diaries the only recordings of the battle. Despite much
discussion within the Australian government over many years,
the wreckage of both the Sydney and the Kormoran was found
in 2008 by David Mearns, a private underwater shipwreck hunter.
John and his daughter Lisa were fortunate to be invited to
Western Australia in 2008 to travel on the HMAS Manoora to
the wreckage site with 280 other other family descendants.
John discussed hearing stories from other relatives of Jack’s
medical practice on board ship: retold by their kin who left the
ship before it sunk. There was no doubt he was a well-respected
and caring ship’s doctor.
The other doctor lost was Surgeon Lieutenant Commander
Francis Harrison Genge, a NSW doctor stationed at Flinders
Naval Base as well as dentist Surgeon Lieutenant Mervyn Townsend
brother of Professor Lance Townsend, the noted Obstetrics and
Gynaecology academic from the University of Melbourne.
It was a privilege to have John as our guest speaker and John
felt very privileged to meet many friends and colleagues from
his school and Ormond College days who attended the lunch.
—
VI CD O C SU M M ER 2022
39
