It consists of a link between an old school friend, a trolley from his family business and the HMAS Sydney.

A picture believed to have been taken in the 1930s shows a Port Pirie fishing boat being transported on a Bowden Timber Mill trolley.

The lad standing on the trolley, about centre, was a young Doug Smith who went to Port Pirie West Primary School.

Mr Bowden remembered Doug from when they went to the primary school together and they had been classmates, he said.

Mr Smith who would have been about 90 today, served in World War II and was aboard the Australian light cruiser the HMAS Sydney when it was sent to its watery grave by the German auxiliary cruiser the Kormoran.AA

The two fought each other in the Indian Ocean, off Western Australia, on November 19, 1941.

Both ships were severely damaged and the Sydney was lost with all of her 645 crew members.

It was the biggest ship from any Allied country to be lost with all hands during the war.

The battle and sinkings remain controversial.

The Sydney’s loss caused shock and disbelief in Australia because she was one of the most celebrated ships of the Royal Australian Navy and had been sunk by a converted freighter.

The only eyewitness accounts of the battle were from the crew of Kormoran.

Because the two ships were separated after the battle, the exact reason why the Sydney sank remains unknown.

In March last year, the wrecks of Kormoran and Sydney were located after a long search about 200 kilometres or 110 nautical miles from Steep Point.

They are at a depth of about 2500 metres (8200 feet) and about 22 kilometres (12 nautical miles) from each other.

Our photo on this page remains a link to that legacy.

PHOTO: LINK TO WARSHIP…A young Doug Smith, centre, stands on a fishing trolley owned by Bowden Timber Mill. Tom Bowden, who went to school with Doug, rediscovered the photo recently and bought it into The Recorder. He outlined how Doug was a seafarer on the ill-fated HMAS Sydney.