Chief Petty Officer Robert Havelock Bland
Robert ‘Bob’ Havelock Bland was born in Balmain, Sydney on 5 May 1903 and joined the Royal Australian Navy as an Assistant Cook on 14 April 1921 (having lied about his age claiming he was born in 1902). His initial service was at HMAS Cerberus where he was rated as a Cook on 14 February 1922. In April 1922 he was posted to the Sydney depot ship HMAS Penguin where he served during 1922-24 before joining the destroyer tender HMAS Platypus in September 1924. Robert Bland returned briefly to Cerberus for training in May 1925 and was promoted to Leading Cook on 1 July 1925. He then joined the Boys Training Ship HMAS Tingira which was moored in Rose Bay and served in her during the period 1925-26.
Robert Bland married Florence Alice Thomas at Auburn in December 1926 and they later had two sons. Bland was posted to the RAN College (Jervis Bay) during 1926-27 and Cerberus 1927-28 and was promoted to Petty Officer Cook on 1 July 1927. He then served in the sloop HMAS Marguerite 1928-29 and Penguin 1929-30 before joining the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra in June 1930. He was to serve in her for the next five years during which time the ship operated mainly in Australian and New Zealand waters with occasional visits to New Guinea, New Caledonia and the Netherlands East Indies. On 30 October 1935 he was promoted to Chief Petty Officer Cook and posted to the destroyer HMAS Vendetta.
During the next four years he served in HMA Ships Vendetta (1935-36), Penguin (1936-37), Australia (1937), Penguin (1937-39) and Adelaide (1939) before being selected as commissioning crew for the new light cruiser HMAS Perth. Bland joined Perth in July 1939. At the outbreak of war in September 1939, Perth was in the Caribbean and served there until February 1940. After returning to Australia she carried out convoy escort duties until dispatched to the Mediterranean in December of that year. Perth saw extensive action during 1941 at the Battle of Matapan in March 1941 and the evacuation of Greece and Crete in April/May. After evacuating nearly 1200 troops from Crete on 30 May 1941 the cruiser was steaming to Alexandria when she was attacked by German Stuka dive bombers and a bomb hit the galley and killed two cooks before continuing on to explode in the boiler room. The galley was soon back in action providing hot meals and Robert Bland was awarded a mention in dispatches, in November 1941, for his work ensuring the galley continued to function despite the damage and loss of personnel.
In early 1942 he was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) "For zeal, patience and cheerfulness in dangerous waters while serving in HMAS Perth. This rating has shown himself to be a man of considerable personality and good influence in the ship. By technical ability and devotion to duty he has maintained a very high standard of messing for the ship's company. By his own zeal and energy has invariably provided troops onboard with good hot meals at all hours. After half his galley was destroyed by a bomb he provided hot meals for the ship's company and over one thousand soldiers within two hours."
Perth returned to Australia from the Mediterranean war zone in August 1941. After a refit the ship was employed on convoy escort duties until February 1942 when she was sent to Java to join the Allied force attempting to stem the tide of Japanese invasion. On 27/28 February Perth fought in the ill fated Battle of the Java Sea where she and the cruiser USS Houston were the only Allied ships to survive. Following this disastrous battle Perth and Houston attempted to escape westward, via the Sunda Strait, but steamed directly into a Japanese invasion force on the night of 28 February/1 March 1942.
In the ensuing battle both Allied ships were sunk and those of her crew not killed became Prisoners of War. Robert Bland survived the sinking of Perth and was captured by the Japanese and imprisoned first at Serang in Java and later Changi Camp in Singapore. Along with thousands of other Australian POWs he was then forced to work on the infamous Thai-Burma Railway during 1943-44. At Tamarkan, Thailand he was in charge of the POW Camp kitchen.
Chief Petty Officer Bland survived the war and was repatriated to Australia in September 1945 suffering from malaria and dysentery. He was awarded a second mention in dispatches in March 1946 "For gallantry and resolution while serving in HMAS Perth lost by enemy action in the Far East on 1 March 1942." Bland spent most of 1946 in hospital and although he was keen to remain in the Navy his health had deteriorated to an extent that he was discharged on 10 December 1946 as Permanently Unfit for Naval Service.
Robert Bland was unable to work as a cook due to his medical condition and was forced to take work as a storeman and later as a gatekeeper. He was also granted a war pension due to his suffering at a Prisoner of War. His health continued to fail and he died at Concord Repatriation Hospital on 19 April 1989.
