Today, I was taking a leisurely stroll through the site of the former Prince Henry Hospital at Little Bay here in Sydney, close to where I live. My father passed away here in October 1965. Just inside the main entrance is a clock tower. As I approached it, I noticed this plaque on the wall of the tower facing the entrance featuring a rather prominent RAAF logo (Per Ardua Ad Astra). This naturally drew my attention so I walked up to it and noticed it was a dedication to two Australians who were killed in action together in 1943 – Flying Officer Norman Dwyer and Wing Commander Stanley Gordon Stilling, DFC. As the plaque states, they were both cousins who lost their lives in the Celebes on 1 October 1943. What it doesn’t tell you is that they were both serving with 20 Squadron RAAF at the time of their deaths. 20 Squadron was one of four RAAF squadrons operating Catalinas at that time. Stilling was the CO of 20 Squadron at the time of his death. Their final operation was carried out in Catalina, A24-67. Norman Dwyer was 30 at the time of his passing and Stilling 31. Stilling Street at Rathmines, the site of the wartime RAAF flying boat base, was of course named after Stilling. Now, you may be wondering, as I did, as to why a memorial to these brave men would be found here at Little Bay. I was able to find out that Dwyer was born in Botany, so he was more or less a local. William Dwyer was his father, so I take it that Edith was his mother. I do know that well-known Professor John Dwyer was head of the AIDS treatment and research centre at Sydneys Prince Henry Hospital and I think I heard somewhere that his father held a prominent position at the hospital at one time (I wonder if this was William Dwyer?????)
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 08:27:42 +0000
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