Information about this Series
The HMAS cache series has been created by Cankid and Delta Response Team to celebrate the 2013 fleet review and this is 72 of 101 caches. The series features 53 ships, 11 bases, 20 knighted seamen, 5 engagements and 1 cache about the RAN. There are also 9 puzzles for each section of the series, with one final cache. There is also one extra for the enthusiasts out there. The series can be done in a day and is best done in order. The best mode of transport in doing this series is bike.
The Location
The series is located just off Coppins Crossing road and continues through an area quite close to the arboretum. Park at the parking coordinates as provided in the first cache and continue from there. Please show caution and do not obscure the gate. This series will take almost all day so plan ahead, take water and snacks for the trip. As said previously, it is best done by bike. Most of the caches are on fire trails but there are some where you will have to go off track to find them.
This cache
Vice Admiral Sir John Collins was born at Deloraine (Tasmania) on 7th January 1899. He is the son of the late Dr M.J. Collins and the late Mrs Collins, and is a brother of Dale Collins, the Australian novelist. He was one of the first cadet midshipmen to enter the Royal Australian Naval College, after it had been opened at Geelong in 1913, and even at that early stage of his career his high intelligence and ability and his qualities of leadership were apparent.
He "passed out" of the College at the end of 1916, while Britain and her Allies were still at war with Germany, and was sent to England as a Midshipman to serve with the Grand Fleet.
It was while he was serving with the Grand Fleet that he decided to specialise in gunnery, and in 1923 he distinguished himself by winning the Commander Egerton Memorial Prize, which was founded in memory of Commander F.G. Egerton RN, who was mortally wounded in 1899 in the defence of Ladysmith. This prize is awarded annually to the naval officer of the Royal Navy, or any Navy of the Commonwealth, who, when qualifying as gunnery Lieutenant in England, wins the highest marks in practical gunnery.
As later events proved in the Mediterranean in the Second World War, Admiral Collins' specialised knowledge of gunnery was to stand him in good stead. After his return to Australia he held various appointments as Gunnery Officer, including the appointment of Squadron Gunnery Officer, in which he was responsible for the whole Squadron's gunnery training and efficiency.
Later he commanded the destroyer Anzac; after that he did a Naval Staff Course, followed by two years at Admiralty in War Plans, then became Assistant Chief of Staff at Navy Office, Melbourne. When the Second World War broke out he held, as well as that appointment, the post of Director of Naval Intelligence. He went to sea again in November 1939, this time in command of HMAS Sydney. He did not know then that his ship was to bring greater renown upon himself by sinking Bartolomeo Colleoni in the Mediterranean than her famous namesake won in the war of 1914-18 by destroying the German raider Emden at Cocos Island.
Apart from sinking Bartolomeo Colleoni, HMAS Sydney chased her sister ship, Giovanni Delle Bande Nere, until the Italian vessel, having greater speed, escaped.
Sydney won numerous other honours. In bombarding Bardia in the middle of 1940 she was the first British warship to open up an attack on an Italian colony in the Second World War, and she was the first vessel to make her way through the heavily mined Straits of Otranto. She sank the Italian destroyer Espero and took part in several other engagements, including the Battle of Calabria. It was for his ability in commanding HMAS Sydney in the Mediterranean and especially for his destruction of Bartolomeo Colleoni that Admiral Collins (then Captain Collins) was awarded the CB (Companion of the Order of the Bath).
Shortly after his return to the Commonwealth in Sydney he was appointed Chief of Staff to Commander-in-Chief, China. For his work in that post he was mentioned in despatches. Later he became Commodore Commanding the British Far Eastern Squadron which was based on Java, with the rank of Commodore 2nd Class. It was in recognition of the work he did then that Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands conferred upon him the honour of Commander in the Order of Oranje Nassau. In 1943 Admiral Collins went to England to assume command of the cruiser Shropshire which the British Government had presented to the Commonwealth Government to replace HMAS Canberra after she had been lost in operations in the South West Pacific. Shropshire, under his command took part in fighting in various places in the Pacific area. In June 1944, in further recognition of his valuable services, he was made a Commodore 1st Class and given command of the Australian Squadron which was operating then as Task Force with the US 7th Fleet.
On 21st October 1944, whilst taking part in the American landings in the Philippines, his Flagship HMAS Australia was attacked by Japanese suicide aircraft which struck and severely damaged the bridge. The Captain of Australia (Captain E.F.V. Dechaineux) and thirty others were killed, and sixty four, of whom Admiral Collins was one, were wounded. Commodore Collins was evacuated to Australia and for his work in the South West Pacific was made an Officer of the United States Legion of Merit.
On recovery from his injuries, he was temporarily appointed Naval Officer-in-Charge, Fremantle. He remained there until July 1945, when he reassumed command of the Squadron. He entered Tokyo Bay in August of that year in his Flagship HMAS Shropshire for the Japanese capitulation. He was on board USS Missouri during the signing of the instrument of surrender. In November 1946, he relinquished command to Commodore H.B. Farncomb and left for England to attend the Imperial Defence College.
Soon after Admiral Collins had proceeded to England - on 7th January 1947 - the Minister of the Navy announced that both Commodore Farncomb and he were to be promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, thus becoming the first graduates of the RAN College to attain flag rank. Admiral Collins on 24th February 1948, assumed the appointment of First Naval Member of the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board and Chief of the Naval Staff, a post which he retained until he retired on 23rd February 1955.
He was promoted to Vice Admiral on 10th May 1950, and in the Birthday Honours List of 1951 he was made a KBE.