This year marks the 80th anniversary of the dedication of the HMAS Sydney Memorial Mast at Bradleys Head, Mosman. The ceremony took place on 24 November 1934, attended by thousands who watched from land and sea.

Original plans for the seating and positioning of guests, dignitaries and members of the public for the HMAS Sydney Memorial Mast ceremony at Bradley’s Head have been rediscovered and photographed in high resolution and are now available online.

At Bradleys Head, Mosman, overlooking Sydney Harbour, the HMAS Sydney mast commemorates the victory over the German light cruiser Emden at the Cocos Islands the 9th of November 1914. 100 years ago today.

Underwater plaque that commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cocos. More wreck photos at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands’ Sydney-Emden 100 website.

On the blog we’ve looked at the main WWI memorials in Mosman but there’s another unique landmark with a strong connection to the First World War. It remembers the only man buried in Mosman.

The third and last of the ‘main Memorials erected in the Municipality’ with a WWI connection has an appropriately prominent Harbour position at Bradleys Head.

It remembers the first engagement at sea during the Great War in which a ship of the Royal Australian Navy took part. Survivors of the “SYDNEY”-“EMDEN” action were present on the day it was formally instituted as a permanent memorial on 24 November 1934.