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Letters
Seeking names for the POW memorial at Ballarat
(Se also "Seeking names on POW Memorial" Ted, I have just revisited an old book in my library, it is:The Cruise of the Raider Wolf. by R.A Alexander. Angus and Robertson. Sydney. 1939. In it, the author talks about the Burns Philp Ltd. ship Matunga, of 1,618 tons built in 1900 and sailing under Australian articles with Captain A. Donaldson in command and a crew of 45. Amongst her passengers were reported to be 20 Australian troops for Rabaul, they are unnamed except for Major Flood ( no initials ) A Medical officer, his wife Mrs Flood, Staff Sergeant Alcon Webb from the Medical Corps, a Corporal also in the Medical Corps named O'Grady. Also on board, the ex Administrator a Colonel Strangman. The ship sailed ex Sydney on the 27th. of July 1917 for Rabaul, was captured by Wolf on the 6th. of August 1917, and finally sunk off Waigeu Island Dutch New Guinea on the 26th. of August 1917. I believe all those on board wound up at Kiel when Wolf finally got home after her long voyage. I would have hoped that Alexander who was a wireless operator might have listed all the POW's in his book, but no such luck, it may be worth while trying to search for a crew list of Matunga, and even Burns Philp may be able to help here. I will continue to pursue a crew list on the internet, and will be in touch again if I unturn anything for you Ted. Kindest Regards, Mac.
Burns Philps unable to help - they have no manifests of passengers or crews available for the period I'm interested in. Your note has given me two extra names for the military, and that will ensure that they get a mention of the memorial. Well done! I've arranged a visit to the LEA library next Tuesday [previously known as Defence Central and the librarian has offered to help me check their resources. Keep up the good work, Ted
Pleased to help in a small way. Mac. |
