Day 29
10.30pm – Knocking back a steak, chips and eggs with a Pot of Beer in the approved manner. We’re a little out of practice but it sure tastes good!
12.05am – Back on board. What struck us most on our return to Australian soil?
A) The abundance of good food and its availability and;
B) The Australian accent – particularly issuing from the mouths of Australian women. (Remember we have only heard Canadian women, American women, English, Scottish and Irish women for years until now) The Australian accent sounds just like the drawl which outsiders have always been telling us overseas, we speak. We couldn’t notice it when we lived here. We can now.
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| Perth 1945 viewed from Kings Park. |
10.15am – Arrived in Perth. Certainly, a nice little place. Someone has described it as a country town with a City Centre. The financial situation with our foursome is a bit light on but with skilful budgetting, we may get by.
1.30pm – Having another steak with the trimmings with a Pot of Ale for lunch.
3pm – Visiting King’s Park and admiring the view overlooking the city. Also, watched some lawn tennis being played, the first we had seen for a long time.
9.15pm – Off to the Trotting at Gloucester Park. Strained finances limited the punting but Harry’s knowledge of horseflesh limited the damage and we came out with as much as we went in with.
11.30pm – Having yet another steak at a Café in Fremantle before returning to the ship. To bed after a busy day.
31st Day
8am – The gangplank is up but we haven’t pushed off yet. A couple of late comers are clambering aboard via a rope ladder.
8.10am – We have cast off but an even later comer is doing a war dance on the dock. Maybe the pilot boat will take pity of him and deliver him safely on board.
12.30pm –Have covered 51 miles by noon and should round the Cape about 8pm tonight. There is a strong southerly wind. The temperature just about 60o. The swell is heavy causing the Athlone to pitch a bit.
8.10pm – A tannoy announcement has ordered Duty Personnel to remove crockery from the tables as we are about to change course and this will mean we will be taking the swell on the beam.
9.15pm – We have been rolling quite a bit. Discretion being the better part of valour have decided to turn in for an early night!
32nd Day – The last day of 1945. We are still running along the swell but it seems less noticeable this morning. The weather is cool and cloudy.
9.30am – Playing “500” again in the lounge. Lloyd is using his last Bank of England note to keep the score then take home as a souvenir of the voyage.
12.30pm – At noon we had about 1200 miles to go to Port Melbourne.
8.30pm – New Year’s Eve. The first I have ever spent on board a ship. Last year Harry and I spent a freezing night in Llandwrog, North Wales huddled round a wooden stove in a Nissen Hut on the Station, eating from a food parcel sent from home. Next year? Who knows? A broadcast from the ABC Radio in Melbourne advises that the New Year will be a quiet one there. There is a shortage of electricity and gas due to a coal strike.
33rd Day – Welcome to the Year 1946. Our noon position was 300 miles south of the Head of the Bight – 770 miles from Port Phillip Heads.
2pm –We have just caught up to a Ship – “The Rangatata” which, the tannoy broadcast tells us, has several hundred War Brides on board. However, it is almost out of sight on the horizon.
34thDay -A run of 418 miles has put us 130 miles south of Kangaroo Island. There is a heavy cross swell and the ship seems to be rolling more than previously. Having a final card game before going to a cinema show.
10.15pm – Have just seen the show – Joan Fontaine in “The Affairs of Susan” a sophisticated comedy. Excellent entertainment.
35th Day – The final day of the voyage of M.V. Athlone Castle from Southampton, England to Melbourne Australia.8.30am – We have entered the Heads and picked up the Pilot
9.40am – Air-Marshall Jones, Chief of Staff, is following us in a launch. A radio report informs us that he will board the ship and give us a welcome home address.
10.15am – We have stopped while the Port Doctor and Quarantine Officials come on board. The morning is dull, cold and drizzling rain, reminiscent of the North of England! The crowds of people waiting on the docks must be experiencing dampened clothes if not dampened spirits.
12.15pm – We are being pulled alongside now. Despite orders to the contrary everyone is crowding the port rails.
“WELCOME HOME MAURIE” SHOUTS A HOME-MADE SIGN
HELD ALOFT IN THE CROWD
BY MY MOTHER, FATHER AND SISTERS.”
Links to previous parts of Maurie's story -
https://friendsofoddbods.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/homeward-bound-by-maurice-smith.html
https://friendsofoddbods.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/homeward-bound-part-2-by-maurie-smith.html
https://friendsofoddbods.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/homeward-bound-part-3-by-maurice-smith.html
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