Annual Lieutenant Frederick Bell VC Memorial Lecture - 2023

The 13th Annual Lt. Frederick Bell VC Memorial Lecture: Ordinary Seaman Edward "Teddy" Sheean VC

2023's Memorial Lecture focuses on one of Australia's World War 2 naval heroes: Ordinary Seaman Edward "Teddy" Sheean VC.

In his Foreword to Tom Lewis's book entitled "Teddy Sheean VC - A Selfless Act of Valour", his Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor General of Australia, gave four reasons why there has been so much Australian interest in the story of Teddy Sheean VC.

First, when Australia was at war in WW2, Sheean and others like him stepped up to serve their country. Second, Sheean was fiercely loyal, charismatic, popular and bursting with confidence. Third, the action itself, exhibiting mateship, endurance, courage and sacrifice. And finally, the Sheean family, shipmates and the community persisted until the VC was finally awarded.

Sheean was a member of the crew of the Royal Australian Navy corvette HMAS Armidale. On December 1st, 1942, the ship was operating north of Darwin in the Timor Sea when it was attacked by a squadron of Japanese bombers. Two torpedoes struck the Armidale, signaling the demise of a courageous Australian warship. Sheean was hit by a machine gun bullet but, in the act of evacuating the ship, made the decision to stay onboard. Sheean strapped himself into the 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon and continued to fire on the enemy as the ship sank beneath him. Survivors saw Sheean shoot down a Japanese aircraft before being struck once again, killing him. His valourous act saved the lives of many shipmates as they abandoned ship.

The struggle for recognition of Sheean's valour took 78 years. He is the first Royal Australian Navy person to be awarded the VC. Shamefully, an Appeals Tribunal's unanimous recommendation in 2020 that Sheean be awarded a VC was rejected and misrepresented by the then Defence Minister. Subsequently, another Inquiry in 2020, headed by the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson AO, found that there had been "maladministration by omission". Dr Nelson stated that "a whole series of events had conspired to do an injustice to the recognition of this young man's bravery. I don't anticipate in my lifetime that I'm likely to see another case like this emerge." The Queen approved the awarding of the VC later that year.

The Speaker

This year's speaker is the President of the Cottesloe RSL Sub-Branch, Mr Jonathon Sciortino. Jon is a retired Royal Australian Navy officer and, in addition to his 16-year Navy career, has worked in a range of professional roles in the financial services and commercial solar industries before he returned to his 'roots' in engineering. Working for professional services company Nova Systems, Jon is an autonomous operations expert and consults to industry globally about the adoption of intelligent systems. In his spare time Jon can be found at local quiz nights in Perth, spending time with his author wife Bronwen and constantly discovering that he is 'adrift' in the eyes of his two tiny overlord 'house panthers'.

Having delivered some outstanding speeches for the annual ANZAC Day services over the past 6-7 years, and having presented the closing speech at the Annual Lt Frederick Bell VC Memorial Lecture over the same timeframe, Jon agreed to channel his own Naval heritage and present the 2023 Lecture.

The Event

As usual, the Annual Lt. Frederick Bell VC Memorial Lecture is a popular event. There are limited seats available at the venue, so don't 'swing the lead' - act now and secure your seats today. As for previous events, a $10 donation to the Cottesloe RSL Sub-Branch will be collected at the door.

This event is proudly supported by RSL WA's Cottesloe Sub-Branch and the Town of Cottesloe.