How DNA led to the identity of an unknown WW2 Australian

The HMAS Sydney memorial at Geraldton WA at night (PHOTO: Jeremy Austin, University of Adelaide)

Thomas Clark's name at the HMAS Sydney Memorial in Geraldton (PHOTO: Jeremy Austin, University of Adelaide)

Thomas Clark's name at the HMAS Sydney Memorial in Geraldton (PHOTO: Jeremy Austin, University of Adelaide)

Photo of (L>R) Jeremy Austin, Colin Clark (Thomas Clark's nephew), Dr Jodie Ward (AFP), Commander Greg Swinden (RAN) at Tom Clark's grave in the Geraldton War Cemetry, June 2022. (PHOTO: Jeremy Austin, University of Adelaide)

It's been a long quest to solve an Australian military mystery, identifying a man, who for 80 years was the  'unknown' sailor. This is a case that had bugged the Royal Australian Navy for decades, trying to put a name to a World War Two crewman who was found to have initially survived a fierce nautical fight battle off the coast of Western Australia in 1941 between the HMAS Sydney and a German warship. Both boats sank and it was thought that all the Australian crew died. But months after the ocean conflict, a life raft with the remains of an unidentified HMAS Sydney     Crewman was found near Christmas Island. He was one of the 645 crew who died in what remains Australia's greatest naval disaster. No other bodies were recovered. But who was he? This is where DNA expert Dr Jeremy Austin from the University of Adelaide takes up the intriguing story.