On 9 November 1914, the German cruiser Emden was engaged and sunk by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (I) near the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. In 1917 one of the 4.1-inch guns recovered from Emden was erected in Hyde Park in Sydney as a memorial to the battle, near the present site of the ANZAC war memorial.
There is a second Emden gun in Sydney, mounted on Garden Island near the former site of the RAN Heritage Centre - where it has a direct line of sight to the signal mast of HMAS Sydney (I) - erected across the harbour at Bradley Head.
A third gun from Emden is on display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
