Gefecht des Hilfskreuzer, Kormoran mit dem australischen Kreuzer Sydney am 19 November 1941 vor der westaustralische kuste, Marinemaler Jochem Sachse. This painting by German naval artist Jochem Sachse depicts the sinking of both the Kormoran and the Sydney.

Captain Joseph Burnett, HMAS Sydney’s commanding officer, on the bridge.

‘From Captain and Ward Room Officers H.M.A.S. Sydney 21 Feb. 1941’

When Lieutenant Thomas Edgar Davis married Sheila Isabel Mitchell on 21 February 1941 his fellow officers in HMAS Sydney presented the couple with this silver-plated metal tray. Etched on the tray are facsimile signatures of Captain John Collins and 27 other officers. Less than nine months after Thomas and Sheila Davis were married, Sydney was lost with all hands off the coast of Western Australia. Lieutenant Davis and fifteen of the officers who had signed the tray, were among the missing.

Sketches by Dr Fritz List, the 'war reporter' in the Kormoran.
Dr Fritz List apparently drew these sketches when he was interned at Carnarvon in Western Australia. Early in 1942, they were discovered in the possession of the Kormoran's surgeon, Dr Habben, at the POW camp in Murchison, Victoria. It is possible he was going to carry them to Germany when he was repatriated from Australia in 1943.

At first glance, these sketches in green ink attempt to depict a burning ship (Kormoran); a small sailing craft (Kormoran's lifeboats under sail at sea); a boat approaching a shoreline showing a number of caves (the successful arrival of one of Kormoran's lifeboats on the West Australian coast); a cave with two arched entrances (possibly the place where List buried his Leica camera); a figure wearing a hat (possibly the local Australian military authorities); a group of people inside a building (possibly the interrogation of the Kormoran survivors); and a number of people in various positions around another building (presumably the POW camps).

However various interested persons have interpreted the sketches in different ways. Despite evidence to the contrary, it has been alleged that the sketches contain both meaningful symbols and messages in shorthand to relay secret information about the sinking of the two ships. Others have added to the controversy by suggesting that the sketches refer to Japanese involvement in the Sydney/Kormoran action, a suggestion which, according to Frame, should never have been taken seriously.

The Japanese Ambassador to Australia, Mr Tatsuo Kawai, sent this cable expressing his sympathy at the loss of HMAS Sydney, just days before Japan invaded Malaya and was at war with Australia.