HMAS Perth (D29) was a Modified Leander-class light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. Harold Bruce Farncomb was her captain from June 1939.
Hector MacDonald Laws Waller became captain on 24 October 1941. He was still in command when the cruiser was lost on 1 March 1942.
On 27 February 1942 she was in Rear Admiral Karel Doorman's cruiser line in the Java Sea. When an 8-inch shell hit Exeter, Perth covered the damaged cruiser with smoke, then followed De Ruyter. Perth was not sunk that day. She and Houston turned back for Batavia.
On the night of 28 February 1942, Perth and the American cruiser USS Houston ran into a Japanese landing force in Sunda Strait.
The fight is the Battle of Sunda Strait, dated 1 March 1942. Japanese cruisers and destroyers sank Perth with gunfire and torpedoes, and Houston was sunk in the same action. The loss of Perth is carried against those Japanese ships together, with no single ship credited. Later ships of the Royal Australian Navy have borne the name Perth as separate hulls.