Chief Petty Officer Donald Matheison Viney, HMAS Perth, RAN
Australian War MemorialDonald Viney was born in Devonport, Tasmania, on the 18th of March 1906, the son of Arthur Edward Viney and Mary Mathieson Briggs. Known as “Don”, he was the younger of two boys. His older brother, Kenneth, served in the Australian Army.
He was 14 years old when he joined the Royal Australian Navy on 4 October 1920 as a Boy Second Class on the training ship HMAS Tingira.
By 1924, Viney was an Able Seaman in HMAS Brisbane, where he became one of the victims of a series of mysterious attacks which culminated in the murder of seaman George Ritchie. Interviewed at the inquest, Viney recalled an incident which had occurred around September 1923, when he woke with a pain in his shoulder and found a heavy weight on the floor next to him.
Don met his wife, Mignon Martha Florence Harrison, who he affectionately addressed as “Poppy”, at a dance at Myalla in 1925. They married in 1930, and their first child, Donald Larry, was born later that year on 10 December. Their second son, Peter, was born in early 1940.
Less than a year after Peter was born, Don left Poppy with their two young sons and sailed with HMAS Perth as a chief petty officer in September 1940. At their parting, Don “nearly broke down” but consoled himself in the thought that “this war won’t go on forever”.
Throughout January 1941, Perthwas involved in patrols of the Mediterranean and troop transport to Malta and Crete. Don spent this time enjoying the experience of being in the Mediterranean, and bought gifts for his wife and toys for his sons. His experience with the other Australian ships in the Mediterranean during the early months of 1941 fostered in him “a warmth of pride to belong to the land of the Southern Cross”. He found plenty of time for leisure, and organised cricket matches ashore between different ships’ companies, and pistol matches against the Egyptian police.
In March 1941, Perth participated in the Battle of Matapan against the Italian Fleet, and played a minor role in the sinking of three Italian cruisers and two destroyers. Don found the battle “thrilling and exciting” and wrote to tell his eldest son that “I will have a beaut story to tell you when I come home”.
In August 1941, Perth returned for refits and duties in Australia, and Don took full advantage of being able to call and see his family and to “hug and kiss” them all and “forget all our worries”.
By February 1942, Don and Perth, under the command of Captain Hec Waller, joined British, American and Dutch ships in waters around Indonesia to engage the Japanese Fleet.
Don wrote his last letter home to Poppy on 17 February. Full of hope for the future, he told his wife “I am just longing for the day when we can be together again, please God it won’t be long”.
At 11.06 in the evening of 28 February, a lookout on Perth sighted the Japanese destroyer Harukaze. Soon Perth was engaged by Harukaze and another Japanese ship, Fubuki. Twenty minutes later, Perth received its first hit, and then just after midnight, Perth was again hit. Captain Waller ordered the company to abandon ship, and Perth sank at 12.25 am on 1 March 1942.
Don worked valiantly during the battle. He was wounded badly, but returned to his post below decks after getting medical assistance. After the final hit, Don had no chance to get out; he went down with the ship, along with 346 others.
Three years later, Poppy received word that Don had been killed when Perth sank. It was another three months before official notification came that Don was presumed Killed in Action.
Donald Viney was remembered by his shipmates as “outstanding in every way” and the “hero of the Perth”. He would never have the moment he longed for of the “fine sunny day [when] there will be excitement in the Viney family [when] your old Dad will be coming home…and we’ll be happy forever.
- AWM Roll of Honour https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1689539
