Sailor and volunteer Tom Fisher.
Camera IconSailor and volunteer Tom Fisher. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Vale Tom Fisher: Vinnies hail ‘selfless gentleman’ and last surviving member of HMAS Sydney

Justin BianchiniMidland Kalamunda Reporter

Tom Fisher, who left the ship just weeks before it was sunk in 1941 with the loss of all hands, died on Saturday aged 95.

Mr Fisher, a long-serving member of the St Vincent de Paul Society, made a promise that if he survived the war he would dedicate the rest of his life to the service of others.

Society chief executive Mark Fitzpatrick said the community had lost a loyal and selfless “gentleman” who had helped hundreds of people during his amazing life.

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“Tom’s commitment to the society and the work we do cannot be overstated,” he said.

“Whether as a member, conference president, regional president, state president or society archivist and historian, Tom never stopped giving.

“Tom was a loving, giving man who had a cheeky, brilliant and extremely funny sense of humour that made us all laugh and enjoy his company. There are not many people we have come across who touch our spirit in such a beautiful way as Tom did.

“A homeless service named in Tom’s honour is to be officially opened in August and we wish that he could have seen this project come to fruition, but we know his wife Shirley and his family will be proud to be part of the this significant occasion.

“Tom was so chuffed to learn that a homeless shelter would be named in his honour and it will be a living testament to his life of kindness and generosity to the community he served so selflessly.”

He was the first to open a pantry in his home in 1980 to provide food and clothing to people in need.

Mr Fisher recently told the ABC he still remembered when a telegraph operator gave him the news of the Sydney’s sinking.

“One came to me and said, ‘You shouldn’t be wearing that cap band because your ship is lost, it’s sunk’ and I wouldn’t believe him, especially because I’d written letters to the boys I left,” he said.

“I was shocked, I just couldn’t believe it and off the coast of Western Australia and to be lost; there was no action there, no enemy action, we were going to the action.”

He recently got a sneak peak of a project to complete a 3D reconstruction of the shipwrecks of the Sydney and the German raider Kormoran.

“It brings back the different actions we were in and associating with the men I lived with and fought with,” he told the ABC.