HMAS Toomeree

Motor Yacht (MY) Toomeree was a 55-foot pleasure cruiser built by Halvorsen & Sons at Neutral Bay in 1937. It was built for Harold Percival (Percy) Christmas, one of the founders of Woolworths and, during the Second World War, controller of the New South Wales division of the Australian Defence Canteen Service.  

Toomeree had been offered for sale to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 1940 but, without an immediate need for its service, the offer was turned down. As the strategic situation in the Pacific deteriorated, there was more pressing need for coastal patrol craft. The RAN requisitioned Toomeree on 8 January 1942. 

Toomeree commissioned as a tender to HMAS Penguin on 15 May 1942. The RAN purchased Toomeree in February 1944.

The patrol boat had been earmarked for service in New Guinea but did not make the journey north until February 1944. The bulk of its service in the intervening period was general patrol, pilotage and harbour duties off the New South Wales coast between Sydney and Newcastle.

Toomeree was in Sydney Harbour on the night of the Japanese miniature submarine attack on 31 May 1942. Toomeree and five other channel patrol boats were off duty and moored at Farm Cove when the attack began. Toomeree patrolled through the night and fired at various unconfirmed submarine sightings.

Toomeree departed Sydney on 27 February 1944 for New Guinea. It arrived in Merauke on 29 April, via Townsville, Cairns and Thursday Island. Toomeree stayed at Merauke for the remainder of its war service. It performed pilotage, air-sea rescue, patrol and general harbour duties. 

Toomeree arrived back in Sydney in mid-November 1945 and decommissioned on 4 December. The vessel was sold back to its original owner, Percy Christmas, in March 1946.