Letters from George Edwin Patey to his family, 1914

Letters relating to the First World War service of Admiral Sir George Edwin Patey, Royal Australian Navy. In a series of letters home to his family Patey describes the offensive campaign against German assets in Southeast Asia in August and September 1914. He details the initial raid with HMAS Australia on Rabaul in German New Guinea, having correctly predicted that the German East Asia Squadron (consisting of the heavy armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as well as several light cruisers and colliers) had already retreated across the Pacific to the east. Regardless, Patey details that it would be important to capture the wireless station in the area and to ensure the protection of local trade supply routes.