Hugh Randall Syme Government College, General Motors & Bar was an Australian naval officer, bomb disposal operative, and newspaper proprietor.
Background
He was born in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, and educated at Scotch College and the University of Melbourne. His father, John Herbert Syme was called to the Bar, but instead managed the accounts of the city newspaper The Age which his father David Syme owned.
Career
He was awarded the George Cross for his actions in defusing unexploded bombs and landmines during Hugh Syme himself worked on the paper for a time before the outbreak of war. He was a keen amateur yachtsman and part-owner of an 82-foot (25 m) yacht, and joined the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve on the outbreak of war. He was posted to Britain and ended up at HMS Vernon, the Royal Navy"s mine disposal and developing mine countermeasures establishment.
In 1943 he was awarded the George Cross "for great bravery and undaunted devotion to duty".
He had carried out nineteen mine-recovery operations. The most important was in November 1942 at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where he defused a new mine known as a Type T. He had to hang upside down in a mudhole and endure painful electric shocks while insulating the wires for the detonator.
He returned to Australia in 1943 and set up a mine disposal unit at HMAS Cerberus. However the unit was not used operationally, as the United States Navy controlled mine clearance operations in the Pacific area.
The story of his wartime service was told in Softly Tread The Brave – A triumph over terror, devilry, and death by mine disposal officers John Stuart Mould, Government College, General Motors and Hugh Randal Syme, Government College, General Motors and Bar by Ivan Southall.
He returned to The Age and became general manager in 1946. He continued in senior posts in newspapers and broadcasting for the rest of his life. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal in 1953 but turned down a knighthood, feeling that he had performed no more than his duty.
Hugh Syme died on 7 November 1965 from a cerebral tumour at Epworth Hospital, Richmond, and was cremated with Anglican rites and full naval honours.