Teddy Sheean statue and renamed naval training vessel unveiled in Latrobe during Remembrance Day ceremony
Published Nov 2024 by ABC News
In short:
A life-sized statue has been unveiled and a naval training vessel renamed in honour of Tasmanian war hero Edward 'Teddy' Sheean, as part of Remembrance Day honours.
The 18-year-old died in 1942 while defending his fellow crew members attempting to flee their sinking naval vessel while under attack by Japanese aircraft.
He was posthumously awarded Australia's highest military honour in 2020 after a decades-long campaign by his family.
What's next?
Tasmanian Deputy Premier Guy Barnett has written to the Federal government to request the Collins Class submarine HMAS Sheean be gifted to Tasmania after it is decommissioned.
More than 80 years since his death, Tasmanian war hero Edward 'Teddy' Sheean has been recognised with a life-sized statue and the renaming of a naval training vessel in his honour.
The announcements mark a significant moment in what has been a drawn out and difficult journey for recognition for the Tasmanian war hero and first Royal Australian Navy VC recipient.
The memorial statue was revealed at a Remembrance Day service in his hometown of Latrobe, in Tasmania's north-west.
The work was created by sculptors Gillie and Marc, whose work Tasmanians may recognise from the "Rabbitwoman and Dogman" statue at Hobart's Salamanca Place.
During the service, Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AO also announced the Australian Navy cadets training ship had been renamed 'Training Ship Sheean'.
Ordinary Seaman Sheean died on 1 December 1942 while defending fellow crew members fleeing the HMAS Armidale while under attack from Japanese aircraft in waters off the island of Timor.
After sustaining chest and back wounds, the 18-year-old — the youngest and most junior sailor onboard — defied orders to abandon the ship, instead strapping himself to an anti-aircraft gun on the sinking vessel.
He downed one bomber, while keeping other aircraft away as the crew abandoned the vessel.
Only 49 of the 149 people on board survived the attack and the following days adrift on life rafts.
"His actions were among the most conspicuous, and gallant we have seen in our Navy," Vice Admiral Hammond said.
A long journey for recognition
In 2020, Sheean was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest Australian military award for acts of bravery in wartime.
But the fight for recognition of Sheean's wartime bravery has been protracted and marked by setbacks.
Born in 1923 in the north-west Tasmanian town of Latrobe, Sheean was the fourteenth child of James and Mary Jane Sheean.
The young farm labourer enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy in April 1941.
He died after serving less than two years in the navy — his act of bravery mentioned in a military dispatch following the battle, but failing to garner any further official recognition in the following decades.
Sheean's nephew, Garry Ivory, has spent decades spearheading a campaign for greater acknowledgement of his military deeds.
In 2013, a bid for Sheean to receive the Victoria Cross was rejected, with the Defence Honours Awards and Appeals Tribunal arguing his actions "did not reach the particularly high standard required for recommendation of a VC".
In 2017, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence refused to consider him for an accolade.
The Tribunal then made a recommendation to the Government in 2019 for the Victoria Cross to be awarded to him, but this was rejected by then-Defence Minister Linda Reynolds and then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
A year later, following a series of political tit-for-tats, Mr Morrison back tracked and another expert panel was formed to re-examine the case for a Victoria Cross award, which was granted in 2020.
At the Remembrance Day service on Monday, Mr Ivory said the statue and renaming of the naval training vessel was the "icing on the cake" following the Victoria Cross award.
"It means the world to us," Mr Ivory said.
"It is just a wonderful feeling that Teddy is remembered by a lot of people, and especially by the local community of Latrobe."
'He's my hero', Deputy Premier says
A staunch advocate for Sheean's posthumous recognition, Tasmanian Deputy Premier Guy Barnett said the significance of the day was "immense".
"Edward 'Teddy' Sheean VC is a national hero, he's my hero, and I couldn't be prouder," Mr Barnett said.
At the Remembrance Day service, he said the recognition of Sheean's legacy was one of the happiest days of his political career.
"To work side by side with Garry Ivory and the family, and the veterans, for decades to achieve today and give justice to Teddy is overwhelming," Mr Barnett said.
In 1999, a Collins Class Submarine was renamed the HMAS Sheean in recognition of the soldier — the only vessel in the Royal Australian Navy to bear the name of a junior sailor.
Mr Barnett said he has written to the Federal government to request the submarine be gifted to Tasmania after it is decommissioned as "another physical reminder of Teddy's heroism".
