FIRE AT SEA
The HMAS Westralia Disaster
A peacetime tragedy. A family fight for the truth.
On the morning of 5 May 1998, HMAS Westralia proceeded to sea. As the engines were brought to full power, fuel hoses burst. Flames erupted and thick black smoke filled the engine room.
The crew fought bravely to save their ship. They were unable to save four of their own.
- MidshipmanMegan Pelly
- Petty OfficerShaun Smith
- Leading SeamanBradley Meek
- Able SeamanPhillip Carroll
The human cost was lost in the battle and blame game between different government departments and private contractors. The families wanted the truth and genuine compassion. What their hard-fought campaign for justice revealed instead was a labyrinth of innuendo, fraud, nepotism, dishonesty and incompetence.
Drawing on more than two decades of meticulous research by naval historian Dr Kathryn Spurling, Fire at Sea tells the story the Royal Australian Navy and successive governments would rather have buried — in the words of the families, the witnesses, and the sailors who were there.
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Watch the ADFA Edit (30 min)A shorter cut presented at the Australian Defence Force Academy
Twenty-five years of asking the hard questions.
Dr Kathryn Spurling is one of Australia's foremost naval historians. A former lecturer at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, she has spent her career uncovering the stories the official record left out — particularly the stories of women, of sailors who paid the price for institutional failure, and of families denied a fair hearing.
Her book The Westralia Tragedy: A Light in the Darkness took years of interviews, FOI requests and document trails to complete. Fire at Sea brings that research to the screen alongside director and cinematographer David Jenkins.
Kathryn has lectured at the Australian Defence Force Academy, the Royal Australian Navy Heritage Centre, and Defence establishments across the country. Her work has been featured on ABC, in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, and across veteran-affairs media.
Music released under CC-BY-4.0
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Spurling refuses to let the Westralia families be forgotten. This documentary is the result of two decades of asking the questions Defence didn't want answered.