Port Kids for ANZAC

On ANZAC Eve Friday, April 24, a fleet of 3000 replica cardboard lifeboats will be launched on the Port River from 6.30 pm in a special Commemoration for the hospital ship Centaur which was sunk in 1943 with the loss of 268 Australians.

To mark the loss of 179 ambulancemen and 11 nurses, ambulance drivers and nurses in uniform will be among the 5000 people expected at the event, which from this year will gradually be organised and staged by school students, under guidance from Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL.

The names of all those lost on the Centaur, including 45 merchant navy crew, will be on the sides of 268 of the candle-lit lifeboats.

One of the patrons of Port Kids for ANZAC will be Australian Paralympian Jay Dohnt who won a swimming bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics,along with Federal MP Mark Butler and Port Adelaide Mayor Gary Johanson.

Jay will be visiting Adelaide schools to recruit students who are willing to join the Port Kids For ANZAC team to take over ANZAC events from older volunteers.

Above is a new painting of the Centaur by renowned maritime artist John Ford F.A.S.M.A. to mark the Commemoration and the start of the search
for the wreck of Centaur off the Queensland coast.

Framed prints of the new painting are being presented to Prime Minister Rudd, Veterans Affairs Minister, Alan Griffin, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and "shipwreck detective" David Mearns who will take it with him on the official search vessel when the Centaur search begins later this year.

David said: "Thank you, the painting is beautiful. I would be proud to take it with us.

"I did an interview with ABC radio today and mentioned the ANZAC Eve event and how this is being used to teach school children about Australia's war time history."

A copy of the painting is also being presented to the Caloundra RSL who have kept the flame alive for Centaur over many years.

New painting of hospital ship Centaur

A new painting of the Australian Hospital ship Centaur, commissioned for Port Adelaide's 2009 ANZAC Light on the Water commemoration, has been completed by renowned Birkenhead maritime artist, John Ford (F.A.S.M.A.).

3000 candle-lit lifeboats are being made by local school students to commemorate the 11 nurses, 33 Army Medical Corps, 179 Field Ambulancemen and 45 Merchant Navy Crw lost with the Centaur off the Queensland coast in May 1943.

To raise funds for the spectacular Port River ANZAC commemoration on April 24, this brilliant painting is being framed and will be the prize in a raffle to be conducted among the 400 people who attend the 1940s Dance Party fundraiser at the Maritime Workers Hall on Saturday April 4.

Local residents will wear 1940s fashions and hairstyles as they dance to the Bay Big Band and are entertained by singers Marlene Richards, Terry Brooker, Wally Carr, Jenny Loftes and the Not The Andrews Sisters.

Some tickets are still available for this memorable event at $25 per head (concession $20) from Port Mall Newsagency in Port Adelaide or by by phone (08) 8447 2961 or by email at contact@portmallnewsagency.com.au

The staging of the 1940s Dance Party and other events will ensure that public attention is drawn to the historic Waterside Workers Hall at 11 Nile Street, which is one of the few magnificent halls of its type in Australia and should be restored to all its glory.

An enormous chapter of Port Adelaide history has been enacted in and around this building.

1940s Dance Party Fundraiser

Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL is staging a 1940s Dance Party at the Waterside Workers Hall in Nile Street Port Adelaide on Saturday April 4 and it will be a memorable night.

A touch of nostalgia for the older generation, but also a current dance rage around Adelaide, 1940s dancing and hairstyles are back in fashion.

Entertainment will include the Bay Big Band and singers Marlene Richards, Terry Brooker, Wally Carr, Jenny Loftes and the Not The Andrews Sisters.

Young and old will be wearing 1940s fashions and and some locals are donning their old World War Two uniforms.

The 1940s Dance Party, which will run from 8 pm till 11 pm, is a fundraiser for ANZAC Light on the Water 2009.

Those attending the 1940s Dance Party on April 4 will be asked to bring a 1940s Supper Plate and a bar will be open with beer, wine and soft drinks.

Tickets are on sale at Port Mall Newsagency in Port Mall, St Vincent Street entrance, with all proceeds going towards the staging of ANZAC Light on the Water on April 24 at 6.30 pm at Queens Wharf Port Adelaide.

ANZAC Light on the Water this year will be a special tribute to the 11 nurses, 33 Army Medical Corps,

45 merchant seamen and 179 Field Ambulance-men who were lost when the Australian hospital ship Centaur was sunk off the Queensland coast in May 1943.

Many Adelaide nurses and ambulancemen are expected to pay tribute to their colleagues at ANZAC Light on the Water.

Significantly, 2009 is the 70th Anniversary of the start of World War Two and the year of Women at War and the Federal and Queensland Governments are currently preparing to conduct a search to find the wreck of the Centaur.

Ticket sales by phone on 8447 2961 and email at contact@portmallnewsagency.com.au

Awards for ANZAC Light on the Water

The biggest round of applause at the City of Port Adelaide Enfield Australia Day Awards went to the Young Citizen of the Year Jay Dohnt, 19, Ferryden Park swimming champion, who won the Bronze Medal in the 400m freestyle final as a Paralympian in the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

According to Jay, who has also won a Pride of Australia Courage Award, there is no such word as ‘can’t’.

Despite losing both legs below the knees and four fingers on his right hand to meningococcal disease two years ago, he has plunged head first into his future.

After surviving the deadly disease he decided to draw up a list of goals – starting with scuba diving.

Now Jay has his scuba diving ticket and regularly competes with the Parks Swimming Club and in 12 months Jay won six gold medals, one silver and received an encouragement award with the Club.

It was a humbling experience for me to be in the company of such a hero and a reminder of the courage and tenacity of others who were nominated for Australia Day Awards.

I was honoured to be awarded the City of Port Adelaide Enfield Australia Day 2009 Citizen of the Year Award for community work for Semaphore, Semaphore Street Fair and Port Adelaide events and projects including ANZAC Light on the Water and Merchant Navy Day.

And for the Merchant Navy Association SA to receive the City of Port Adelaide 2009 Community Event of the Year Award for ANZAC Light on the Water and Merchant Navy Day.


Federal and State politicians, Councillors, Council Executives and other VIPs were at the Awards Ceremony at Sunnybrae Function Centre, along with families and individuals from families and individuals from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and UK who were awarded Australian Citizenship in a special ceremony conducted by the Mayor and Council CEO Harry Wierda.

Local Federal Member Mark Butler MP gave a special address in which he welcomed all of the new citizens and congratulated those who received the Australia Day Awards.

Our photos show: Jay Dohnt, Merchant Navy Association Secretary Keith Ridgeway with local MP Mark Butler and myself and Harry Weirda, Mayor Gary Johanson and Mark.

Community Event of the Year

ANZAC Light on the Water has been awarded the City of Port Adelaide Australia Day 2009 Community Event of the Year Award.

The framed Award Certificate will go on permanent display in the Seafarers Centre in Port Adelaide.

Federal and State politicians, Councillors, Council Executives and other VIPs were at the Awards Ceremony at Sunnybrae Function Centre, along with families and individuals from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and UK who were awarded Australian Citizenship in a special ceremony conducted by the Mayor Gary Johanson and Council CEO Harry Wierda.

Local Federal Member Mark Butler MP gave a special address in which he welcomed all of the new citizens and congratulated those who received the Australia Day Awards.

Start of World War Two 70 years ago

This year, as the world commemorates the 70th Anniversary of the start of World War Two, people around Around Australia will focus on two significant events in Port Adelaide.

On ANZAC Eve, Friday April 24, the third Light on the Water on the Port River will commemorate the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur in a year when Veterans Affairs marks the World War Two 70th Anniversary with a major focus on the role of women at war.

Eleven Australian Army nurses were among the 268 Australians who perished when the Centaur was struck by a deadly Japanese torpedo off the coast of Queensland on May 12, 1943.

Australian Merchant Navy crew, medical staff and men of the 2/12th Field Ambulance and 44 others made up the rest of those killed.

See video including interview with Sister Ellen Savage who survived the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur.

http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/waratsea/


Merchant Navy Day March on same day

Australia's second Merchant Navy Day march in Port Adelaide on September 3 will be on the very day that World War Two started and a large number of veterans are expected to march.

The first casualty of World War Two was the British merchant vessel Athenia on September 3.

German U-boat Commander, Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp sighted the ship 250 miles off the coast of Ireland.

He maintained radio silence to achieve surprise and surprise is what happened because the British had just declared war that day of September 3, 1939.

Just under 12 hours later, Lemp ordered his men to fire on the ship and four torpedoes crashed into the side of the unarmed passenger ship.

The ship exploded immediately killing all but 112 people.

Lemp later claimed that the sinking of the Athenia was an accident, and that he didn't know it was unarmed and believed it was an armed merchant ship.

German command told Lemp to forget about it, and destroy all evidence he had of the sinking including diaries, papers, and any other article mentioning the sinking.

The Germans were then going to blame Winston Churchill for the sinking of the ship by stating that Churchill had ordered the ship to sink to get the U.S. into the war.

The U.S. and British of course did not believe this story.

Story of Athenia sinking:

http://library.thinkquest.org/26742/batat.html
Battle of the Atlantic

Commemorating the hospital ship Centaur

David Mearns who found HMAS Sydney is keen to find the wreck of the Australian hospital ship Centaur before ANZAC Eve 2009.

David told us that he would like to find the Centaur before Port Adelaide’s major ANZAC event Light on the Water on April 24 commemorates her sinking.

Adelaide school students will make 3000 cardboard candle-lit lifeboats that will float on the Port River to honour those where lost when the Centaur was torpedoed and sunk off Queensland in 1943.

In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald writer Jonathan Dart, David said the task was feasible so long as there was funding.

David Mearns, the world-renowned shipwreck hunter said he has conducted preliminary research on the Centaur and said it would be easier to find than the Sydney and the Kormoran.

He said the only barriers to finding the Centaur were a lack of money and political will.

"On the basis of what I've seen of her, I believe she's findable," he said.

"The information, even at this preliminary stage, is better than what I had to deal with in locating … Kormoran and Sydney.

"I think the water depth isn't a barrier; I don't think there are any environmental problems.

But how it's organised, who funds it - those are all big questions."

Nurses also lost their lives

In the hall of memory at the Australian War Memorial, the large mosaic commemorating the Australian service women of World War II includes the figure of a Greek mythological beast sinking into the sea.

Some say it is the Centaur.

It is the only reference in the hall to a specific event in any of the wars in which Australians have fought.

It reminds us that, like soldiers, sailors, airmen and merchant seamen, in war Australian nurses also lost their lives.

This ship symbolises the courage of Australian women in war and reminds us of all Australians who served in war and have no graves but the sea.

Sister Ellen Savage was asleep in her bunk when the Centaur collapsed around her:

Merle Morton and myself were awakened by two terrific explosions and practically thrown out of bed.

I registered mentally that it was a torpedo explosion.

In that instant the ship was in flames ... we ran into Colonel Manson, our commanding officer, in full dress even to his cap and 'Mae West' life jacket, who kindly said 'That's right girlies, jump for it now.'

The first words I spoke was to say 'Will I have time to go back for my great-coat?' as we were only in our pyjamas.

He said 'No' and with that climbed the deck and jumped and I followed, the ship was commencing to go down. It all happened in three minutes.

The suction of the sinking Centaur dragged Sister Savage down into a whirlpool of moving metal and wood.

Here her ribs, nose and palate were broken, her eardrums perforated and she sustained multiple bruises. Then she was propelled to the surface in the middle of an oil slick.

Sister Savage found her way to a raft that was part of the Centaur's wheelhouse.

During the 36 hours on this makeshift raft, Sister Savage gave whatever medical care she could to survivors despite being badly injured herself.

Sister Savage was the only nurse to survive. For her courage and inspiring behaviour during this period Sister Savage was awarded the George Medal.

The 332 people aboard the Centaur's last voyage had ranged in age from 15 to 67.

Most were Australian, with some English, Scots, and individuals from Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Canada.

Among those aboard were at least eight sets of brothers, including one set of three, and all perished.

There were also the usual stories of good luck and bad luck.

People who should have been aboard but were not, and others who were not supposed to be on board that fateful voyage but joined the ship at the last minute.

When the last survivor had been rescued from the water and the final tally was done, there were only 64 people of the original 332 alive.

Group
Dead Saved Total
Merchant crew (civilian sailors who signed on for six months at a time)
45 30 75
Ship's medical staff (Members of the Australian Army, males in the Medical Corps, females in the Nursing Service)
44 20 64
2/12th Field Ambulance
138 11 149
Attached Australian Army Service Corps
41 3 44

Why did the crew and the medical staff have the lowest rate of deaths?

Largely it was because of the grim geography of death.

The crew knew the ship well, and were quartered at the front and rear ends and below decks.

Some were on duty, or had only recently come off duty and were not fully asleep.

The medical staffs were also either forward or aft, and on the lower decks.

The Field Ambulance and attached Service Corps soldiers were mainly in the middle hospital ward area, right where the torpedo hit.

Story and photos the Centaur and Sister Ellen Savage in a hospital bed ashore from the Australian War Memorial
www.awm.gov.au/