Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

World War 1, Australia, 1919

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1915

Subcollections

His Majesty's Australian Transports (HMAT) 1899 - 1946

Overview

Group of unidentified soldiers aboard ship "Katoomba", then still in civilian service.

Historical information

SS Katoomba was built in Ireland in 1913 and spent most of her career in Australian ownership.of McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co including two periods when she was a troopship. She was scrapped in Japan in 1959.
During World War I Katoomba remained in civilian service until May 1918, when she was requisitioned with pennant number D610. She sailed from Australia across the Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal to New York, where she embarked US troops for Europe. She made a second transatlantic crossing bringing US troops to Britain, and was then transferred to the Mediterranean.
When the Armistice of 11 November 1918 was signed Katoomba was in Salonika. She then became the first British troop ship to pass through the Dardanelles since the Ottoman entry into World War I in 1914. On 14 November 1918 Katoomba left Istanbul carrying more than 2,000 troops of the Essex and Middlesex regiments and 26 released Allied prisoners of war. She made six round trips, repatriating a total of 14,000 British and Empire troops in one direction and Turks in the other. In August 1919 she returned to Australia, and was returned to her owners.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-P1900.1985

Item type

Postcards

Themes

War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 1

Year

1915

Geotag

-34.099397242003, 128.58199077394

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