HMAS Goorangai

HMAS Goorangai was a 223-ton auxiliary minesweeper of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was sunk in an accidental collision with MV Duntroon in 1940, becoming the RAN's first loss of World War II, and the first RAN surface ship to be lost in wartime.

Goorangai was built in 1919 as a trawler for Sydney-based fishing company Cam & Sons Pty Ltd. At the start of World War II, Goorangai was one of eight vessels requisitioned from Cam & Sons for military service, and was commissioned into the RAN as an auxiliary minesweeper. She was operated by Royal Australian Navy Reserve personnel: 21 sailors and 3 officers.

Following the loss of SS Cambridge and MS City of Rayville in November 1940 to sea mines laid off Wilsons Promontory and Cape Otway, Goorangai and two other auxiliary minesweepers, HMA Ships Orara and Durraween, were sent to clear to Bass Strait to sweep for mines.

On the night of 20 November, Goorangai was crossing the mouth of Port Phillip Bay to anchor at Portsea for the night. The minesweeper was sailing under 'brownout' conditions, with minimal lighting. At 20:37, the troopship MV Duntroon, en route to Sydney, emerged from Port Phillip Bay and cut Goorangai in two. The small auxiliary sank within a minute, taking all 24 personnel aboard with her. Only six bodies were recovered, one of which couldn't be identified. Because the wreck was close to a shipping lane, it was destroyed by explosives in January 1941. The Court of Marine Inquiry initially found both ships to be at fault for the collision, but later exonerated the captain of Duntroon as poor positioning of lights aboard the minesweeper was identified as the main cause of the accident.

A memorial cairn was erected at Queenscliff in 1981. The ship was recognised under the Historic Ship Wrecks Act on 16 November 1995. In 2004, the Royal Australian Naval Professional Studies Program initiated a series of occasional papers focusing on subjects related to the Naval Reserve: the series was named Goorangai, after the ship.