The Sydney weighed in at 7,300 tons, making it the largest vessel from any country to be lost with no survivors during the war.
The fate of the ship and its crew has remained a mystery, though a parliament inquiry into the tragedy in 1999 accepted accounts by Kormoran survivors that they last saw the ship in flames and heading toward Perth.
It was not immediately clear whether there are plans to raise the Sydney.
Families—65 Years On
Rudd said he had instructed the Defense Department to contact relatives of the sailors who died aboard the Sydney about the find, and described the wreck as a tomb for Australian sailors that would be protected as a sacred site.
"This is over 65 years ago, but pain and family loss even at 65 years removed, is still pain, and very deep pain," Rudd said.
Relatives of sailors who died on the ship welcomed the find as helping to resolve pain caused by not knowing where their loved ones died.
Debra Malycha-Coombs, whose uncle Walter Leslie Curwood was 23 when he disappeared aboard the Sydney, said the mystery had caused enduring pain for the victims' families.
"My mother died over 20 years ago not knowing where he was," Malycha-Coombs told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I can't tell you how I feel—it's so many emotions that all I can do is cry."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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