Kim Beazley family link to Australian maritime disaster

Mr Beazley's uncle, the Reverend Syd Beazley, was among the more than 1000 Australian prisoners of war and civilians killed aboard a Japanese transport ship in the South China Sea in 1942.

The former politician said the discovery of Montevideo Maru more than 4000 metres under the sea, off the coast of the Philippines, would bring a sense of healing for many families, including his own.

"Finding the site of Australia's most devastating loss at sea will help heal Australia's collective memory for generations," Chair of the Australian War Memorial Mr Beazley said.

"This has solved a Second World War mystery and my family's history. This is a monumental moment in history and for the families who have agonised and grieved about what happened to their loved ones on this ill-fated ship."

Mr Beazley's uncle was a resident of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea's East New Britain province, and was onboard the ill-fated prison ship.

On July 1, 1942, a US submarine torpedoed the ship, not knowing it was carrying allied troops and civilians who had been captured in Papua New Guinea.

"According to an account from the handful of surviving Japanese crew, the Australians in the waters sang Auld Lang Syne to their mates still trapped in the ship as it sank beneath the waves," Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.

In 2009, Mr Beazley joined a group of relatives urging the federal government to authorise a search for the missing wreck.

Mr Anderson said the remarkable finding meant some families now had closure.

"We should take both pride and comfort in the fact we live in a country where we have continued, for 80 years, to find the Montevideo Maru's final resting place. This will bring some measure of closure to the relatives and, I hope, allow all those who perished, to finally rest in peace," he said.

Australian Associated Press