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Training |
Recruitment |
Training in Australia
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Voyage
to Singapore |
Training in Malaya
Departed Sydney 4/2/1941; arrived Singapore 18/2/1941
Troopship to Singapore
Troopships to Bombay
In Sydney, embarkation of the troops onto
Queen Mary
(HMT QX),
and Aquitania,
commenced on 2/2/1941, and continued until
4/2/1941. Nieuw Amsterdam had departed Wellington on
1/2/1941, carrying New Zealand troops, and
Mauretania was
in Melbourne taking her troops on board.
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At anchor in Sydney Harbour,
20/10/1940. Queen Mary is about to transport troops to the
Middle East. Australian War Memorial - ID No. 004298 |
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Members of the 22nd Brigade,
aboard the troopship Queen Mary en route to Singapore,
4/2/1941. Australian War Memorial - ID No. P03478.001 |
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Queen Mary
(HMT QX), with nearly
6000 troops on board, and Aquitania departed Sydney on
4/2/1941 and joined up with Nieuw Amsterdam off Sydney
Heads. They headed for Melbourne, escorted by
HMAS Hobart.
They met
Mauretania on 6/2/1941 in Bass Strait and
headed for Fremantle.
Convoy US9 arrived in Fremantle on 9/2/1941
and departed on 12/2/1941, escorted by
HMAS Canberra. The
troops on board Queen Mary thought they were heading for
the Middle East, but a few days out of Fremantle,
Queen Mary,
which was at the head of the convoy, swung around behind the
other ships, came up alongside them again for a farewell pass
and then turned for Singapore. The other three troopships headed
for Bombay, where the troops were transferred to other smaller
ships for the remainder of the trip to the Middle East.
HMS Durban had come from Singapore to
escort Queen Mary,
and the two ships arrived there on
18/2/1941. Queen Mary entered dry dock on 21/2/1941, and
remained in Singapore until 22/3/1941. She then returned to
Sydney, arriving on 1/4/1941, ready to become part of the next
convoy to the Middle East, US10.
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Queen Mary berthed at
Singapore on 18/2/1941. A group of senior British and Australian
officers, greeted the troops on arrival.
Australian War Memorial - ID No. 005907 |
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In dry dock in Singapore,
August 1940. Australian War Memorial - ID No. 128444 |
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(NAA: B883 Service Records; Australian Army
War Diary 1/15/14 - District Records Office Eastern Command
January-April 1941)
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