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Return
to Australia |
Escaped |
Repatriated |
Returned by Ship - 1945 |
Returned by Air - 1945 |
Anzac Day March - Sydney
Departed Java at
2330hrs on 1/3/1942
Arrived Fremantle 8/3/1942
HMAS Bendigo was a "Bathurst" class
minesweeper / anti submarine vessel, built for the RAN at
Cockatoo dockyards in Sydney. She was commissioned with the RAN
on 10/5/1941.
She sailed from Melbourne on 4/7/1941, and headed
north. During the trip, she called at Townsville, spent nine weeks in
Darwin and eventually reached Singapore on 30/9/1941. The next few
months were spent on patrols, escort and anti-submarine work in the
waters around the coast of Malaya, in company with three other sister
RAN corvettes, Burnie, Goulburn and Maryborough.
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| Port Moresby, September.
1942.HMAS Bendigo, in Port Moresby Harbour after escorting a
convoy from Australia. Australian War Memorial - ID
No. 026611 |
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Port Moresby, September. 1942. The
Corvette, HMAS Bendigo, ferrying Australian wounded and sick
from the Port Moresby wharf to the Hospital Ship,
Manunda. Australian War Memorial - ID
No.
026663 |
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Following the continued Japanese attacks in Singapore,
Bendigo headed for Java, and reached Batavia on 17/2/1942. A few
days later they picked up eight AIF soldiers who had escaped from
Singapore, among them was a member of the 2/30th, VX25897 - Pte. Kenneth
William FORBES. Bendigo continued escort and patrol work around
Java and and the Sunda Straits and reached Tjilatjap on 1/3/1942.
However, soon after, all Naval vessels were ordered to evacuate the
area. Some ships were directed to Colombo and others to Fremantle.
Bendigo, together with the British destroyer,
HMS Stronghold, and six other corvettes headed for Fremantle.
Stronghold was sunk not long after leaving Tjilatjap. Bendigo
proceeded east along the Javanese coast before heading south,
and eventually made landfall around Carnarvon in Western Australia,
before finally arriving in Fremantle on 8/3/1942.
The eight A.I.F. 8th Division soldiers
who returned to Australia in Bendigo, went ashore in Fremantle.
(Source:
H.M.A.S. Bendigo, Corvette - by members of her
ship's company. Morley, W.A. : Action Press, 1995)
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Last updated
29/08/2022 |
