The ‘Road’ Less Travelled: Commemorating those who lie in Sea Graves

Battlefield tourism is an increasing global phenomenon, often associated with a ‘memory boom’ and a desire for families to trace their own place in national history. It has also been argued, that travel to sites of conflict is one of the ways in which social memory can be created and perpetuated. In Australia for example, travel to the Gallipoli battlefield of the First World War has become a ‘rite of passage’ for younger generations. In this paper, we explore the notion that social memory of Australians at war is associated with a limited number of sites, particularly Gallipoli, Villers-Bretonneux and the Kokoda Track. Part of the reason for this may be that physical access to these sites is relatively easy, given the vast improvements in international travel options, as well as a plethora of media coverage. There are many other sites that equally deserve to hold special significance for Australians but which do not attract the same attention, particularly because they are far harder to visit and even harder to find. Naval ‘grave’ sites are a case in point. This paper traces a family visit to the site of the 1942 sinking of the HMAS Perth and the USS Houston off north-west Java to commemorate the 70th anniversary of ‘The Battle of the Sunda Strait’. Naval war graves present special demands on those few intrepid pilgrims who choose ‘the road less travelled’, none more than the alien environment, the difficulties in identifying the site itself and the effects of the lack of social memory about such sites. Keywords: markers; naval heritage; pilgrimage; memory; HMAS Perth; USS Houston; Second World War