STAlUTDRY
DEQAPATIori
111i~lllllllllllllllm
CORR.014.0097.-£
ffiUT:-j I.USTPALIA
L
IVAN \~Irn'IER,
OF
CLE.VE, P.O. Box 3Z!.,IN THE SrA1E OF SOUTH AuSlRALIA 00 SOLE1"II:LY AND
SINCERELY DECLARE
I #1 RETIRED ~INISTER PASTOR IVAN ~!IT1WER REFERRED TO IN COpy OF THE
EYRE PENINSULA TRI3L:NE,~~y 1ST 1997,ATTACHED TO THIS DECLARATION AND
IDENTIFIED AS ATTAO-lMENT 'A'.
I HAVE NOT STUDIED THE I'«JRKS RELATING TO LOSS OF WAS SYDNEY,FoR REASON
THAT I WANT MY RECOLLECTIONS TO BE UNCOLOURED BY OTHER SOURCES.
I CONFINE MYSELF TO ~<l-lAT HANS GERHARD GROSSMAN~! TOLD ME AND II...., PREPARED
TO TESTIFY TO THE TRUll-t OF THESE STATEMENTS,ANYI'MERE.
CAPTAIN BuRNETT'S REPUTATION IS THE ONLY REASml FOR SPEAKH~ AS I DID
AT THE RSL CEREMONY. I HAVE SPOKEN TO SUCH ON GREAT~:J\I\'Y OCCASIONS, FOR
\'MICH I HAVE BEEN I-KlflOJRED BY THE RSL.
I A1'I AWARE THAT ASIO (AUSTRALIAN SECURITY IN1ELLIGENCE ORGANISATION)
WILL DHlY ANY CORRESPONDENCE OR TESTIt-'Ot\'Y FROM ME. Ho.~EVER, I WAS ANGERED \'MEN SOME SPEAKER ON RADIO, I BELIEVE THE 1'bNDAY BEFORE AtaAC DAY,
LAID THE BLA1'IE FOR FATE OF HIS SHIP SQUARELY ON THE CAPTAIN FOR APPROACHIfIE SO CLOSE "BROADSIDE-ON" TO THE RAIDER. HE WAS COMPARED UNFAVOUR ABLY WITH CoLLHJS.
I CLAIM THAT CAPTAIN A~[) CRtW OF THE SYDNEY HAVE GONE TO THEIR DEATHS
WITH A REPUTATION UNTARNISHED BY HISTORY.
1\0,.1 TO SOME SPECIFIC QUESTIONS. HANs GROSSMM'N WAS ACTUALLY GERHARD HEINZ
GROSSMANN. HE CAME AS A CONTRACTED LABaJRER TO THE Soow I"bUNTAINs HYDROELECTRIC AUTHORITY. HIS BROTHER,\l/ALDEMAR HEINZ GROSSMANN,WAS LOST ON THE
RuSSIAN FRONT SO HE APPLIED FOR EMIGRATION UNDER HIS BROTHER'S NA1'IE. ~b
VETERANS OF THE \~ES1ERN OR AFRICAN FRO~rrS WERE BROUGHT OVER IN THE FIRST
GROUP OF 600 IN CASE THEY WOJLD BE CALLED TO ~IORK SIDE BY SIDE WITH AusTRALIAN VETERANS OF THE AFRICAN CAl"PAIGNS.
I'.\-lEN I ARR IVED FOR CHAPLA It\'CY DUT IES IN THE SNO'IY r''ooNTAINS AND CANBERRA
AREAS, IN JANJARY 195L I WAS ONLY 23 YEARS OF AGE. I WAS SENT BY MY CHURCH
BECAUSE I WAS BI-LINGUAL AND BECAME MJLTI-L!NGUAL IN A SHORT TIME, J\I'IONG
THE VARIOUS NATIONALITIES THEN ARRIVIfI.'G IN CoOMA AND THE CN1PS BEYOND
ISLAND BEND,JINDABYNE,BERRIDALE,ETC.
GROSSMANN WAS A 'CON MAN' WHO CLEVERLY WORKED HIMSELF INTO A POSITION AS
REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL THE GERMANS. To A DEGREE THIS AT FIRST SUITED THE
AUTHORITY SINCE THEY HAD ONE PERSON WITH \'MOM TO DEAL. I FOUND IT NECESSARY TO DEAL WITH HIM RE BOOKING OF VENUES FOR SERVICE AND THE PROVISION
OF A rtOONTAIN-wDRTHY VEHICLE. I HAD AT THE TIME A FORD PREFECT,HARDLY THE
TYPE TO TAKE ME OVER HEAVILY-RUTTED ROADS AND BUSH TRACKS.
I HAD OCCASION TO CALL ON GROssr·'ANN ON THE EVENIf\G OF 1315151. I KEEP NO
DIARY,BUT REMEMBER THIS DATE BECAUSE THROUGH MY BRAIN AS I WAS DRIVING
WENT THE SILLY RHYr--1E WE LEARNED AT SO-IOOL: 'THAT HORRID 13TH DAY IN r,'lAY
WAS DESf/OND DARE'S UNWCKY DAY,HE BROKE A GLASS IN 13 BITS,HIS CAT HAD
13 FEMALE KITS!'
GROSSMANN WAS IN HIS TWr WITH A FEW OTHERS WHO QUIETLY LEFT WHEN I CAME.
THE PFARRER WAS NOT A GREAT FAVOURITE J\I'IONG MA1\'Y OF THE HARDEt>:ED SliRVIVORS OF THE RuSSIAN FRONT. HEINZ WAS DRINKING COFFEE,AS MOST OF THE GERMANS DID,CONSISTING OF THREE SPOONSFUL OF COFFEE HEAVILY LACED WITH RUM.
DURIf\X3 THE TIME I SPENT WITH HIM HE BECAME QUITE DRUNK AND TOLD HIS TALE.
THAT
CArt]" PH.D.,
111,2.
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PAGE Two,
STATUTORY DEaARATION. (IvAN l1ITlWER,QAM".,PH.D.)
IIIII~I'I~III~ Ilmlli'lll~
COBR014.000U
Sarll-l AuS1RALIA
I WENT BACK THE FOlLa.1Ir-.G t'ORNlr-.G hI-lEN HE WAS SOBER AND ASKED IF THIS WAS TRUE,
foE RETOLD IT AS I REPEATED IT AT CLEVE AND hI-lICH WAS CORREffiY RECORDED BY THE
llHBUNE) EXCEPT FOR USE OF TERM "FLAGSHIP' hI-lICH I DID NOT USE, I BELIEVE ff'V\S
JlJJSTRAL IA WAS FLAGSH IP•
I REPEATED THE STORY ON A SUBSEQUENT THURSDAY EVENlr-.G TO SENIOR CoNSTABLE
fbLMESBY, HIS WIFE MARGARET WAS MY SCHOOL TEACHER IN YEAR 7 AND WHEN IN CANBERRA
I HAD A STANDING INVITATION TO AN EVENING MEAL WITH THEM. I RETOLD THE STORY)
AFTER WHICH HEC (SENIOR CoNSTABLE HOLMESBY) SUGGESTED I TELL COLONEL SPRY WHAT I
KL\D HEARD.
SPRY CAME AROUND I!"MEDIATELY AND TOOK ME INTO HIS CAR WHERE I TOLD MY TALE WHICH
I HAVE NOT CHANGED SINCE 1951. S<:x-1E TIME LATER)ABOUT THREE WEEKS I THINK) I WAS
ASKED TO t\Q'o1INATE A NEUTRAL PLACE WHERE WE COJLD TALK. I SUGGESTED THE WCA BUILDII\G IN CANBERRA CIVIC CENTRE, THE ROO'1 WAS ON THE UPPER FLOOR.
SPRY ARRIVED SHORTLY AFTER\~ARDS WITH TWO t'EN CARRYING HEAVY BLACK CASES,THIS WAS
1HE FIRST OCCASION ON hI-lICH I HAD SEEN A TAPE RECORDER) AT THAT TIME A MASSIVE
DEVICE WITH TWO SECTIONS.
IN DUE COURSE SIR WILLIAM HUDSON AND HEINZ ARRIVED, I AM VAGUE ON hI-lETHER THERE
I'fIS ANOTHER PERSON WITH THEM)BUT I RATHER THINK HE SAW THEM INTO THE ROO'1 AND
1HEN LEFT.
I WAS POLITELY QUESTIONED ON A NUMBER OF MATTERS hI-lICH NO DOUBT FOUND THEIR WAYS
INTO ASIO FILES BUT \',\-lICH WERE INCONSEQUENTIAL.
THEN HEINZ WAS QUESTIONED FOR PERHAPS AN HOUR AND A HALF OR TWO HOURS, HE FIRST
DID t\'OT WANT TO SPEAK)BUT THEN I TOLD HIM THAT HE WOULD UNDERMINE MY WORK IF HE
/'W)E A LIAR OF ME)AND THAT IN ANY CASE HIS STORY WOULD NOT BE HARMFUL TO HIM.
(How L1TILE I KNEW!) I NEEDED TO TRANSLATE ONLY A FEW TECHNICAL TERMS SINCE HEINZ
I-\lID BEEN AN INTERPRETER ENGLISH/GERMAN AT THE 1936 BERLIN OLYMPICS.
THE FIRST QUESTIONER WAS A NAVAl PERSON WHO DIRECTED MANY NAUTICAL QUESTIONS RE
THE KO~,[)RAN) ITS CQ"1PLEMENT) ITS ARtWlENT) ITS FOOD) ETC. GROSSMANN ANSWERED THEM
ALL IN A MANNER I'IHICH CONVINCED f.N'( PERSON THAT HIS BACKGROUND WAS MARINE RATHER
THAN ARMY, HE THEN WAS CAlLED ON TO ANSWER QUESTIONS RE THE NAVAl ENGAGEMENT )
POSITIONS OF SHIPS AND THE LIKE. I t-W)E MENTAl NOTES OF ONLY A FEW OF THE DETAILS,
\i{AT WAS TESTED M:lST THOROUGHLY WAS THE AM3LE FRO'1 hI-lICH THE SYrnEY APPROACHED)
ITS DISTANCE FROM THE RAIDER AND THE POSITION OF THE JAPANESE SUB. HE WAS TOTAlLY
CONVINCING AND SINCE THE QUESTIONS WERE PUT VERY POLITELY HE SEEMED TO REVEL IN
TELLING HIS TALE, \I,\-lILE I DID NOT LIKE THE MAN) I WAS AlSO COMPLETELY CONVINCED)
SINCE HIS ORIGINAL STORY WAS NOT FAULTED IN ANY WAY, IT IS A TRAGEDY THAT HIS EYE
WITNESS ACCOUNT IS LOST TO THE PUBLIC FOR REASONS I GAVE SIMPLY IN MY CLEVE ADDRESS)BUT WHICH ACCORDIJ1r3 TO 1JooHA.N'S PAPER)WHICH I ACCEPT)WERE MJCH t"ORE SINISTER,
GROSSMANN WAS COMPLETELY CREDIBLE)COLONEL SPRY ACCEPTING THAT THE QUESTIONING HAD
BEEN EXCELLENT AND THAT AlL THE DETAILS HAD BEEN EXTRACTED FROM HEINZ.
f-£INZ WAS NOT DEPORTED WHILE I WAS IN THE AREA, I DEVELOPED A HEART CQ'o1PLAINT)
ALLEGEDLY DUE TO HEIGHTS)BUT WHICH WAS LATER CONFIRMED AS \'ioLFE-PARKINSON-V~YTE'S
l-EART SYNDRa'IE)CURED IN OPEN-HEART SURGERY AT I'IES1MEAD)SYDNEY IN END OF JUNE 1988.
I LEFT FOR ANOTHER POSITION IN SWrH AUSTRALIA IN MIDDLE OF 1952,
IllY SUCCESSOR TOLD ME THAT HEINZ WAS DEPORTED AFTER FAILING A DICTATION TEST IN
UA.ELIC. OF COURSE) I CANt\'OT VOUCH FOR THAT. IF HE HAD BEEN DEPORTED AS AN UNDESIRJlBLE PERSON AHlNG THE WORK FORCE) I BELIEVE THE StmY f'buNTAINS AUTHORITY HAD THE
FQ,oiER TO ENFORCE THIS, I REPEAT THAT I TELL AS FACT ONlY WHAT I HEARD FROM HEINZ.
I DO NOT KI'Or'I HOW HE FELT ABOUT IT. r'1Y INFORf"ATION WAS THAT HE ARRIVED IN GERMANY
IN AUGUST 1952, I HAVE NO INDEPENDENT WITNESS FOR THAT.
VHY DID I HAVE TO SIGN A SECRECY AGREEr1::tT? I WAS INVITED TO DO THIS) IT BEING
POINTED OUT TO ME THAT AS A CIVILIN~ I \"AS NOT REQUIRED TO DO SO)BUT AS I RECEIVED
CERTAIN BENEFITS FROM THE AUTHORITY I ~IGHT BE REGARDED AS A PUBLIC SERVANT TO A
DEGREE, I HAD NO PROBLEM WITH TrlIS AND UNTIL RETIRING IN 1993,HAD MY COpy,
IN REMOVING TO THE: HOUSE I HAD BUILT WITH MY C1t'iN HANDS) I DISCARDED r-uCH MATERIAL:
J\l.YOST CERTA INLY ALSO MY COpy,
11,/3